When Georgia State athletic director Cheryl Levick compiled her list of potential new basketball coaches, Ron Hunter was not on it. The IUPUI coach was considered a good candidate -- he had built a program and won at an urban school similar to Georgia State -- but he had been there 17 years. She figured he wasn't leaving.
Meanwhile, Hunter was in Indianapolis preparing for his conference tournament and fulfilling Levick's assessment of him.
"I thought I was going to retire there," Hunter said.
On Monday, however, Hunter stood on a platform in a Georgia State student center ballroom, posing for a photo next to Levick and wearing a blue Panthers hat. With a five-year deal worth about $375,000 annually, he will start working with his new team on Tuesday.
"It's amazing how things happen," Hunter said. "I didn't really even know this job was open until the middle of last week."
A late entry into the candidate pool, connected to Georgia State by the school's search firm and his agent, Hunter, 46, vowed to win at the school, even though 13 of his 14 Panthers coaching predecessors were unable.
"I’ve never lost in my life," Hunter said. "I'm not going to lose at Georgia State."
His enthusiastic speech to students, alumni, school officials and media hit some of the same hopeful points that Rod Barnes made four years and two days earlier. Barnes was fired Feb. 27 after four seasons and a .358 winning percentage.
Winning won't be Hunter's only challenge. This past season, the school had fewer than 300 season-ticket holders and an average attendance of 915. Hunter promised an up-tempo offense and a full-court press defense.
Hunter decided to leave Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis -- he had previously been a strong candidate at Oregon State, Ball State and Cleveland State – for a few reasons. As a program builder, he was looking for a new challenge after leading IUPUI from NAIA status to NCAA Division II to annual contention in the mid-major Summit League. He was twice the league's coach of the year and his teams since 2003 never finished lower than fourth.
He called Georgia State a "special" opportunity. He saw potential -- membership in a top mid-major conference in the Colonial Athletic Association, only one metro Atlanta mid-major school to recruit against and a big-thinking administration -- and decided to leap. IUPUI and Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the latter employing him an an assistant, are urban universities similar to Georgia State, and Hunter said he'll implement the same plan he used in the past.
"If this was a job at a traditional campus, I don't know if the job fits me," said Hunter, who said his hope is to have all of his players from metro Atlanta.
After meeting with school president Mark Becker Sunday, Hunter returned to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and told his wife Amy, "It's time."
While candidates such as Jacksonville coach and former Georgia Tech assistant Cliff Warren, Clemson assistant Rick Ray and Florida State assistant Andy Enfield were considered, among others, Levick moved quickly once Hunter became a candidate. When she and her search committee of senior associate AD James Greenwell and associate AD Marvin Lewis met with Hunter last week, Levick said the meeting began as an interview but turned into a recruiting pitch.
"We left and went, ‘Oh, my god, this is amazing,'" she said.
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