Georgia State men's basketball coach Ron Hunter declined to comment on Georgia Tech's firing of Brian Gregory and the vacancy that is just a few miles from the GSU Sports Arena.
Tech athletic director Mike Bobinski announced in an email at 4:44 p.m. Friday that Gregory wouldn’t be retained as the Yellow Jackets’ coach. He went 76-86 in five seasons at Tech, including 27-61 in the ACC.
It is natural to think that Hunter might at least be on Bobinski’s list of candidates because he has had success in Atlanta, has shown an ability to recruit and his salary demands might not be as exorbitant as other candidate’s.
In five seasons on Decatur Street, Hunter has led the Panthers to a record of 103-61, including a win over Baylor in the 2014-15 NCAA tournament. He also won two Sun Belt regular season conference titles.
Hunter came to Georgia State from IUPUI, where he went 274-219 in 17 seasons.
Hunter has an annual salary of $500,000 and a contract buyout of $600,000 if exercised before the end of April.
He has said many times that he likes to coach at city schools, which Tech is. He has also become adept at bringing back players from Atlanta who went to college elsewhere. In the past few years, Atlatna-area high school standouts Ryan Harrow, Kevin Ware, Isaiah Williams and Devin Mitchell, have transferred to Georgia State. He also recently signed two of the higher-profile high school players in Georgia State history in D’Marcus Simonds and Chris Clerkley
His daughter recently accepted a job in Atlanta.
Georgia Tech owes Gregory $1.3 million and is still paying his predecessor, Paul Hewitt.
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