After seven seasons as the head coach of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Josh Pastner has been dismissed as head coach of the program the move was first reported by John Rothstein of CBS Sports.
Pastner’s firing comes on the heels of a 15-18 season for the Yellow Jackets including 6-14 in conference play. While the Yellow Jackets won the ACC Tournament in the 2020-2021 season, earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, the Yellow Jackets never reached the level of success envisioned when Pastner was first hired.
Expecting a long rebuild, his tenure would begin with a solid 21-16 campaign in 2016 which included a deep NIT run, finishing as the runner-up. The program, however, would take a step back over the next three seasons, going 44-51 including 23-33 in conference play. After winning the ACC Tournament in the 2020-21 season, the Yellow Jackets would once again take steps back each of the last two seasons, going 12-20 and 15-18 overall respectively while going a combined 11-29 in conference play.
The former Arizona guard also spent seven seasons as the head coach at Memphis earlier in his career, leading the Tigers to three Conference USA Tournament titles and a pair of Conference USA regular season titles.
Additionally, according to Zach Klein of Channel 2 in Atlanta, the Yellow Jackets are targeting College of Charleston head coach Pat Kelsey to be the Yellow Jackets’ next head coach.
Kelsey is currently in his second season with the Cougars, leading them to a 31-3 record overall including 16-2 in conference play and a CAA Tournament berth, sending the Cougars to the NCAA Tournament. Kelsey before finding himself in Charleston spent nine years with Winthrop which saw the Eagles earn three NCAA Tournament berths though their 2019-20 berth was of course canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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