Granted a fifth year following the team’s 12-19 season, Georgia Tech basketball coach Brian Gregory has jumped into the offseason. The Yellow Jackets began offseason workouts this week, and Gregory also went on the road recruiting. Earlier this week, he spoke with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution about athletic director Mike Bobinski’s decision to retain him and his plans for the coming season. Answers were edited for clarity and brevity.
Q: How were you informed that you would be staying on?
A: We had a sitdown and went over a bunch of stuff, just like we do at the end of the season, that we're all moving forward. Kind of going from there.
Q: Was it an anxious weekend?
A: I go about my job. I wasn't on the road, but I was on the phone setting up recruiting trips for the following week. If you're worried about things that might happen or whatever the case might be, then you don't do your job, and I'm not going to do that.
Q: Did you have much of a reaction?
A: I went on the road. I had a 4:00 flight out that day. I went home — had my stuff (already) packed — and told my wife I was going on the road.
Q: Are there things already that you know you want to tweak or adjust?
A: Obviously, the one thing is we've got to shoot the ball better. We've got to shoot the ball better. From a coaching staff perspective and from a player perspective, we need to be able to show these are quality shots that we're getting. It's important to understand if we get those shots, you can't shoot 30 percent on those shots that you're getting.
When they occur in the shot clock is always important as well. I think in terms of everything, I think that’s one of the biggest things that we need to get better. There’s two ways to do it. You’ve got to improve and (the other way is) added personnel. I think that’s important that you have to address that in both those avenues.
Q: Do you look at how you coach shooting?
A: I've never been one to completely alter guys' shots, but with some of the shooting percentages, there's got to be some tweaking. A lot of it is more just the discipline of the shot. Obviously, I did that with Charles (Mitchell) and Demarco (Cox's) free throws with great success.
The problem is the players have to be able to buy into it, too, and then actually work on it and do it. I thought both those guys did. I don’t know what Demarco shot from the time that we changed it to the rest of the year, but I guarantee you it was probably over 65 percent. And then Charles shot 33 percent from the free-throw line the year before and was at high 60’s this year.
Q: Do you have a sense for what the field-goal and 3-point field-goal percentages should be?
A: It can't be 39 or whatever it was (40.8 percent). You would like to shoot in the mid 40's from the field and 35 or better as a team (from 3-point range. Tech shot 26.7 percent this season). If you do that, without doing anything else, you go from 62 points a game to 68 or 70 without doing anything different.
Q: What are your options with the last scholarship?
A: We've got a lot of options out there. There's a couple different avenues to look at. There's fifth-year guys that can come in with great experience. There's the junior-college route, and obviously, that has to be a special situation due to the academic requirements and different things like that. The immediate eligibility transfer (for hardship cases) is out now (as the waiver has been eliminated by the NCAA). That's not going to happen. And then there's the high-profile immediate impact high school player.
Q: Regarding the 2016 signing class, I imagine you've built a lot of relationships, but opposing coaches will be telling recruits that they don't know if you'll be here in a year. What's your plan for that?
A: It's not like you can hide it, so you've got to be able to address it with the guys and show them what we have in terms of our vision for next year and the years to come and where they fit in. We've always recruited aggressively and we're going to continue to do the same.
Q: What kind of player is (Alabama transfer) Nick Jacobs (who will be eligible next season)?
A: He can step out to 15 (feet), but he's really good around the basket. He's got a knack to put the ball in the basket. I think he has the potential to score more than we did from that (post) spot last year and rebound more from that spot last year. This spring and summer is going to be huge for him in terms of preparing himself for the grind that the ACC can put on a player.
Q: I'm not surprised, but you sound optimistic and hopeful about what's to come.
A: I deal in reality, too. We need to improve in some key areas. And that means, as coaches and players, we need to meet in the middle of that. I feel confident in our guys that they'll do that. …
Everybody should be disappointed, and no one should be accepting the fact that, OK, we took a big step in our competitiveness within this league. Because you’ve got to remember, at the end of the nonconference season at 9-3, we had a top-30 schedule and we were in the top 30 in the RPI, or at least top 40. In terms of that aspect of the season, you put yourself exactly in the position that you want to be in. I think our strength of schedule at the end ended up being 20th in the country.
So the ACC portion of the season was disappointing. We took a big step up in the competitiveness that we played with. (But) you’ve got to deal in reality. Now the next step is to win those games. You have to accept that fact, you have to embrace that, you’ve got to maybe have a little bit of a chip on your shoulder regarding that, when you see teams that you competed with for 39 minutes and 30 seconds celebrating and having their name called on (Selection) Sunday, all those different things. I know that drives me. I know it drives my staff and I’m betting on our guys, that it drives them as well.
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