10 things to know about Josh Pastner
Here are 10 things to know about Josh Pastner, who was introduced Friday afternoon as the men’s basketball coach at Georgia Tech, succeeding Brian Gregory.
• Overall record as a head coach: 167-73 in seven seasons, all at Memphis.
• At age 16, he took over as coach (from his dad) of the successful AAU program called Houston Hoops. Among the players who played in the program: future NBA players Kendrick Perkins, Stephen Jackson, T.J. Ford and Emeka Okafor and future NFL player Marcus Spears.
• At age 13, he began to show his evaluation skills and salesmanship by publishing the Josh Pastner Scouting Report, a look at Houston-area high school players that became popular among numerous Division I basketball coaches, including Arizona’s Lute Olson, well before Pastner arrived to play for Olson at Arizona.
• He claims not to use profanity and never to have consumed alcohol or soft drinks.
• Played for Olson at Arizona and later was a graduate assistant for Olson. Pastner also was a de facto assistant coach while a player, working with Mike Bibby, Miles Simon, Jason Terry and Richard Jefferson on their jump shots and mechanics.
• He also was an assistant under John Calipari at Memphis before succeeding Calipari when he left for Kentucky.
• According to his bio published by Tech, in 20 seasons as a college player or coach, Pastner’s teams have made 17 NCAA tournament appearances and one NIT appearance.
• He also has been part of teams with 20 or more wins in 17 seasons, including four seasons with 30 or more wins.
• He enrolled at Arizona for fall semester 1996 and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in December 1998.
• He earned a master’s degree from Arizona in one year.
