Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner has gone almost three weeks without hiring his first assistant coach. That may be about to change.
Pastner told Shiloh High coach Kim Rivers that he was planning to act soon.
“Coach Pastner said he’d have his staff by this week,” Rivers said Wednesday. “Hopefully we’ll know something by this Friday.”
Pastner has a reputation for being deliberate with his coaching hires. He confirmed as much in an interview earlier this month.
“I will take my time – it could be a long time – on hiring my staff,” he said. “I’m going to be very meticulous and I think the most important thing for me to do is to hire the staff that I believe is best, that’s aligned and has the same mission of mine, to get Georgia Tech basketball back to where we all want it to get back to.”
Pastner has had other matters to tend to, namely retaining Tech’s three signees, leading the returnees through offseason workouts and traveling to AAU tournaments to evaluate prospects. However, Sunday was the final day that coaches could evaluate prospects at tournaments until July, and coaches aren’t permitted to visit prospects off campus again until September, meaning Pastner now has more time to devote to filling out his staff.
Forward Christian Matthews of Fort Washington, Md., has indicated he will stand by his letter of intent and attend Tech. Wheeler High forward Romello White was undecided as of this past weekend. Okogie, a two-time Gwinnett County player of the year by the Gwinnett Daily Post, is leaning toward staying with Tech, but wants to meet Pastner's staff first, Rivers said.
“It’s really kind of hard for a young man at 17 to totally commit with just the head coach,” Rivers said.
In Okogie’s case, for instance, he had particularly developed relationships with both head coach Brian Gregory and assistant coach Chad Dollar.
“It’d be nice to know the rest of the staff and who’s going to be on the staff, what type of experience they have,” Rivers said.
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