Former Tech assistant Chad Dollar headed to Auburn
Former Georgia Tech assistant coach Chad Dollar has accepted an assistant coaching position on the staff at Auburn. The school sent out a news release Saturday.
After leaving Tech by mutual agreement with new coach Josh Pastner, Dollar had accepted an assistant position at Illinois State on April 21. Dollar had been on coach Brian Gregory's staff from his hire in 2011 to his dismissal in March.
“It happened real quickly,” Dollar said of the hire at Auburn. “(Auburn coach Bruce Pearl) was looking for somebody recruiting the Southeast area and also someone that has coached in this area and it kind of worked out.”
Dollar, from Atlanta, had strongly considered staying at Tech to keep his family in the area. Moving to Auburn would seem a reasonable alternative.
The Tigers finished 11-20 last season, Pearl’s second at Auburn. Dollar and Pearl have known each other through recruiting. Pearl recruited Atlanta often while he was at Tennessee. Dollar was in charge of Tech’s in-state recruiting for Gregory, helping bring in Yellow Jackets such as Marcus Georges-Hunt, Charles Mitchell, Adam Smith, Tadric Jackson and more. Dollar will obviously be an asset to Auburn in that vein.
“Coach Pearl is one of the top coaches in the country and is in the process of building Auburn basketball and taking it to another level,” Dollar said. “They’ve done a good job of recruiting and they’ve got some pieces here in place and also some pieces that are coming.”
About the Author
Ken Sugiura is a sports columnist at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Formerly the Georgia Tech beat reporter, Sugiura started at the AJC in 1998 and has covered a variety of beats, mostly within sports.
