For the second consecutive offseason, Georgia basketball coach Tom Crean is going to have to replace a key assistant.
Joe Scott, who was with Crean and the Bulldogs the past two seasons, is leaving UGA to become head coach at the Air Force Academy. The Falcons made the announcement Monday.
“I would like to thank (Air Force athletic director) Nathan Pine for the opportunity to return to the Academy, as we pursue our common goal of re-energizing Air Force basketball,” Scott said in a statement released by the school. “Thank you to our superintendent, Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria, members of the search committee and everyone else at the Academy connected with the search process. It was a first-class operation all the way.”
The only surprise is that Scott is returning to a place where he already served as a head coach. He led Air Force’s men’s basketball program from 2000-04. That was his first of three head-coaching gigs.
Scott also was head coach at Princeton and Denver. He has a 235-240 record in 16 seasons as a head coach. He was an assistant at Holy Cross for two seasons before he joined Crean at Georgia in 2018.
With the Bulldogs, Scott was known as perhaps the best strategist on the staff. He is the consummate “X’s-and-O’s” coach.
This is the second consecutive year that one of Crean’s coaches left to become a head coach. Amir Abdur-Rahim left last year to take over the program at Kennesaw State.
Abdur-Rahim was replaced by John Linehan. The Bulldogs went 16-16 this past season, which was shortened after a first-round Bulldogs win in the SEC Tournament.
