Busy trying to find talent in the transfer portal to build up his roster, Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner now has another opening to fill, as associate head coach Eric Reveno has accepted a position with the same title at Oregon State. Pastner confirmed the transition Tuesday, which was first reported by The Oregonian.
Reveno was the last remaining assistant coach on Pastner’s original staff from the 2016-17 season. He primarily was responsible for coaching Tech’s post players, developing Ben Lammers (ACC Defensive Player of the Year), James Banks (two-time ACC All-Defensive Team), Moses Wright (ACC Player of the Year, with the help of assistant coach Anthony Wilkins also) and helping Rodney Howard make strides in his first season as a starter. Banks called Reveno “my Sherpa” for his guidance.
Reveno also spent considerable time in the summers evaluating prospects in Europe. That mission, though, resulted in the signing of only one European player, center Saba Gigiberia, who recently went into the transfer portal.
Former Tech star B.J. Elder, who has been the team’s associate director of player personnel since 2019, will move up to the coaching staff on an interim basis, which will enable him to coach players during offseason workouts and also take part in off-campus recruiting.
Reveno is from the West Coast, played for Stanford and had coached only at Stanford (as an assistant) and at the University of Portland (as head coach) before coming to Tech in 2016 following his dismissal at Portland after 10 seasons there. Reveno has aspirations to be a head coach again, and Pastner said in a text message that the move was made in the purpose of that objective, as well as to return to the West Coast.
Reveno embraced the notion that the role of coaches goes far past basketball instruction. During the summer of 2020, after the Yellow Jackets team came together on a videoconference call in the wake of the protests over the death of George Floyd, a comment made by walk-on Malachi Rice about the importance of voting spurred Reveno to action.
He spearheaded a movement for the NCAA to grant all of its athletes a day off from all team-related activities on every Election Day, resulting in the NCAA passing legislation for the “All Vote, No Play” rule later that year. He was honored by the National Association of Basketball Coaches as a “Guardian of the Game” for his efforts.
Pastner’s assistant coaching staff had been intact for the past four seasons. Oregon State had two openings on its coaching staff after coach Wayne Tinkle fired two assistants following the Beavers’ 3-28 season.
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