After his team’s game against Texas-Rio Grande Valley Wednesday, Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner declined to comment on the suspension of guard Justin Moore or the paid administrative leave of assistant coach Darryl LaBarrie.
In his opening statement to media after the 78-68 win at McCamish Pavilion, Pastner said he would defer to the statement put out by the athletic department earlier in the day. The three-sentence news release announced the leave for LaBarrie (as the school investigates an alleged NCAA rules violation) and the two-game suspension for Moore for violating NCAA rules, but did not include a statement from Pastner or athletic director Todd Stansbury.
“I’m not trying to avoid anything,” Pastner said in explaining his deference to the statement.
Pastner later answered a question that apparently was an oblique statement on the team’s string of NCAA troubles, which began when team members Josh Okogie and Tadric Jackson were suspended for NCAA violations concerning preferential treatment. Jackson was suspended three games and Okogie six for receiving plane tickets, meals and apparel from a friend of Pastner’s.
“There’s always stuff,” he said. “There’s just stuff. That’s just part of it. I always look at the beginning of the year, you’re in the middle of the ocean in a ship and you’re trying to get to land and rarely do you navigate those waters to get to land without going through storms and/or rocky waves. We’re just in a little bit of a storm right now. But as I told our guys, there’s no excuses. We’ve got to find a way to get it done and we’ve got to stay focused on the task at hand and that’s just part of it.”
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