Mark Price interviewed for the head coaching job at Georgia Tech after Paul Hewitt was fired in 2011.

He was passed over for Brian Gregory.

He thought he might have a better shot at an NBA job and interviewed with the Cavaliers in 2014 before they hired David Blatt.

“A lot of (Tech) people felt like he did not have experience, and they were scared to go with a coach who had never been a head coach,” said Price's former coach at Tech Bobby Cremins. “They might have mishandled him a little bit because he really got excited about that. But it all works out for a reason. And now he’s a head coach, he’s got his own program, and he’s started a whole new life.”

» See what else Cremins had to say about Price

The former Georgia Tech point guard and NBA star who rarely bothered with the rim had to settle for a circuitous route to his first head coaching job with the Charlotte 49ers. At age 51 he is atop a Division I program and he shed the “shot doctor” title he picked up in multiple consulting and assistant coaching jobs in the NBA.

“I took a little bit different path, but I’m finally here,” Price said.

» Read more about Price's journey to coaching on myAJC