For Georgia Tech basketball coach Josh Pastner and his staff, simply being visible to recruits at the multitude of AAU tournaments that they attended this summer wasn’t enough. And not even wearing a polo with the “GT” logo was sufficient.
“We had to wear Georgia Tech, nothing but,” he said. “But it had to have the whole word spelled out – ‘Georgia Tech basketball’ – and it had to be big. I wanted us to be a walking billboard.”
The immediate impact of Pastner’s marketing efforts won’t be known until this November, and probably not fully felt for a couple more years. But it apparently helped.
“Everybody talks about how visible he is,” said Norm Parker, director of the powerful Georgia Stars AAU team.
Literally from the day of his hire in April, Pastner has been attempting to make up ground on recruiting and building relationships with the top rising seniors in the state, a loaded group that has the potential to begin the Yellow Jackets’ turnaround. Phone calls, texts, unofficial visits, appearances at AAU games – Pastner and his staff of Tavaras Hardy, Darryl LaBarrie and Eric Reveno have been hustling.
“They were very visible at all of Rayshaun’s games, especially when they played in Augusta,” said Norcross High coach Jesse McMillan of his four-star forward Rayshaun Hammonds. “I was able to go down and watch, and what I could see was either Coach Josh or somebody on staff was pretty much at all of Rayshaun’s games.”
Pastner has set a torrid pace for his staff. In an interview in June, LaBarrie said that in the previous month, “I’ve been a part of more unofficial visits than I have in my nine years of coaching, combined.” Pastner said that prospects as young as rising eighth-graders have come to Tech to meet the staff and tour the facilities and campus.
“I think we set a record for the number of unofficial visits in a four-month period,” Pastner said earlier this month.
Pastner and the staff’s itinerary for July – when coaches are permitted to go on the road to evaluate prospects – included stops in Las Vegas, Charlotte, Orlando, Indianapolis, Washington and Augusta, among other stops. In late June, Pastner sent Reveno and LaBarrie to the U17 world championships in Zaragoza, Spain, where two top Georgia prospects, Pace Academy forward Wendell Carter and Pebblebrook High guard Collin Sexton, led the U.S. to the world title.
Pastner said his travels included a trip to Orlando to watch one game, after which he immediately returned to Atlanta to watch more games at a tournament in Atlanta.
“I love to see the head coaches, and the players recognize that,” Parker said.
Among the class of 2017 targets – Jonesboro High guard M.J. Walker, Greenforest-McCalep Christian Academy center Ikechukwu Obiagu, Carter, Sexton and Hammonds, all ranked in ESPN’s top 40.
The first referendum on Tech’s efforts will arrive in the next few months, as senior prospects make official visits and commitments in advance of the early signing period in November. Tech is in the mix with several players, but none have yet to commit to become Yellow Jackets. Tech will have an official visit this weekend from New York point guard Jose Alvarado, who was named MVP of the city’s Catholic League last season.
Ranked No. 2 in the country by ESPN, Carter is the biggest fish, but his father Wendell Carter Sr. did not sound an encouraging tone in a recent interview.
“I would love for my son to stay at home, but it’s a first-year coach, he’s new on the block and I don’t know what’s going on,” Carter Sr. said. “We’ll see.”
McMillan, the Norcross coach, said that Hammonds has “a lot of interest in Georgia Tech.”
“I feel we’ve made great strides in (recruiting the 2017 class), and we’re working like crazy,” Pastner said. “But ’18 and ’19, we’ll have longer-term relationships. As Georgia Tech coaches, what I would tell people is we’re recruiting at a high level.”
Tech will have six scholarships to offer for the 2017 class. It’s possible that Tech will use four on members of the 2017 class, perhaps signing a couple in November, and also try to work the transfer market.
“I think he’s going to need a year or two,” said Parker, the Georgia Stars director. “He came in a little late (for the 2017 class). He’s going to need to get his players in, but, my goodness, if he can bring the kind of players he brought to Memphis to Georgia Tech and Atlanta, I’m expecting some big things.”
