After ending extended NCAA Tournament droughts for their respective teams, women’s basketball coach Nell Fortner and men’s basketball coach Josh Pastner were awarded contract extensions by athletic director Todd Stansbury. The athletic department made the announcements Thursday.
Pastner, who had two years left on his deal after leading the Yellow Jackets to the ACC championship and NCAA Tournament last season, was given a three-year extension, through the 2025-26 season. Fortner had four years left on her original six-year deal. Her two-year extension takes her through the 2026-27 season. Terms were undisclosed.
This past season, the men’s team won its first ACC title since 1993 and made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010, ending what had been the fourth-longest tournament drought among power-conference schools. Moses Wright and Jose Alvarado, both part of Pastner’s first recruiting class, were named the conference’s player of the year and defensive player of the year, respectively.
“Coach Pastner has done a masterful job of building our men’s basketball program into an ACC champion,” Stansbury said in a statement. “Since his arrival at Georgia Tech, he has never wavered from his commitment to build a championship-caliber program through recruiting and developing student-athletes that are great fits for Tech, both on and off the floor. I was so happy and proud to see that commitment rewarded with an ACC title this past season and I look forward to he and his team continuing to compete for championships for years to come.”
Taking the job in April 2019, Fortner stepped into a tumultuous situation following the dismissal of coach MaChelle Joseph and then lost arguably the team’s two best players to the transfer portal. But the Yellow Jackets finished seventh in the ACC in the 2019-20 season, five slots above their preseason projection.
This past season, the Jackets took third place in the conference, the highest finish in team history, and earned an NCAA Tournament bid for the first time since 2014. They advanced to the Sweet 16 for only the second time in team history.
Fortner was named ACC coach of the year, while forward Lorela Cubaj was named the co-defensive player of the year, and guard Lotta-Maj Lahtinen was selected as the conference’s most improved player.
Pastner’s contract called for a $2 million salary for the 2020-21 academic year, and he was scheduled to make $2.2 million for the 2021-22 year on his original contract. Fortner’s salary for 2020-21 was $695,000, with an increase to $715,000 for 2021-22. Both coaches’ salaries for 2020-21 were reduced by a furlough instituted to cut costs for the athletic department as it grappled with lowered revenues because of COVID-19.
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