ATHENS — Georgia basketball coach Mike White completed his coaching staff Tuesday, and they’ll need to hit the ground running.
White hired Antonio Reynolds Dean from Clemson and named him associate head coach. An Atlanta native, Reynolds Dean was a standout recruit at Douglass High before launching a Hall of Fame career at Rhode Island. Since college, he has coached at Rhode Island, College of Charleston and Northeastern before landing at Clemson.
“I’m thrilled to welcome Antonio home to Georgia,” White said in UGA’s news release. “There is a common thread throughout every step of Antonio’s basketball career – winning.”
Reynolds Dean was a two-time All-State player at Douglass. He starred as a post player at Rhode Island, where he led the Rams to three NCAA Tournaments and a run to the Elite Eight. As a coach, Reynolds Dean tutored the post players of three different teams that all earned postseason bids.
“Antonio is universally regarded as an excellent recruiter who develops his players,” White said. “Everywhere he’s coached, he’s signed major contributors and developed all-conference post players.”
In that regard, Reynolds Dean and the Bulldogs need to get busy. On Tuesday, senior Noah Baumann announced he has entered the transfer portal. He is the 10th player from last season’s team to do so.
With only Jabri Abdur-Rahim (6.9 points per game, 3.2 rebounds per game), Braelen Bridges (12.9, 5.6) and Jailyn Ingram (10.7, 6.0) returning and one addition via the transfer portal so far, Georgia still faces an almost total rebuild after going 6-26 last season. The Bulldogs have nine scholarships to fill between now and next fall, with the spring signing period opening Wednesday.
“I’m extremely excited,” Reynolds Dean said in the news release. “I’ve coached all around the country for various years, and there is nothing that would excite me more than coaching in my home state at the University of Georgia. I am overcome with joy because I’m a competitor, and I can’t wait to join with coach White and his staff in the mission to restore the tradition of Georgia basketball. I am grateful that coach White has given me this opportunity and can’t wait to get started.”
Baumann averaged 8.1 points and 3.5 rebounds in 22.1 minutes a game coming off the bench for the Bulldogs last season. He transferred to Georgia from USC.
The Bulldogs have since added Justin Hill via the transfer portal. A rising junior from Longwood, Hill is a 6-foot, 185-pound guard who led the Lancers in scoring (14.2 ppg) and assists (4.2 pg) last season. Longwood is a Big South program in Virginia that went 26-7 before bowing out to Tennessee (88-56) in the NCAA Tournament last month.
White came to Georgia from Florida to replace coach Tom Crean, who was dismissed after a dismal season. White brought assistant coaches Erik Pastrana and Akeem Miskdeen with him from Florida. He also added former Bulldog Charles Mann as director of player personnel, Bryce Douglas as special assistant to the head coach and Ben Gonzalez as director of operations, among other support staffers.
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