Pat Forde at Yahoo Rips the Pastner Hire
I know what some of you will say. Get over it, let it go, it's piling on. And you would be right. But it just feels so damn good to be rid of him and that contract.
Forde can write. And it is nice to see national columnists not call Tiger fans delusional or having unrealistic expectations.
"And then there is the temporary insanity that seems to have gripped the Atlantic Coast Conference – specifically Georgia Tech and Pittsburgh. The hires there, made by a pair of respected athletic directors, boggle the mind.
Mike Bobinski at Georgia Tech fired Brian Gregory and replaced him with Josh P-P-P-Pastner. Let’s just say that Memphis fans were happier to see Pastner go than Tech fans were to see him arrive – the only thing keeping him employed was a bloated buyout, part of a silly 2013 raise that gave him a salary of $2.65 million a year. Bobinski hired a guy whose well-appointed program over the past two years had not performed as well as the guy he just fired.
. . .
So there you go, Tech and Pitt fans. Those are the guys who are going to slug it out in the toughest coaching conference in the country, competing nose-to-nose with Mike Kryzyzewski, Roy Williams, Rick Pitino, Jim Boeheim, Mike Brey and Jim Larranaga.
Buy your season tickets today!
"I mean, look, it's not going to happen overnight," Pastner said upon his introduction at Tech. "We're going to have to take a step back to take two steps forward."
Pastner’s last step forward was three years ago, when his 31-win Memphis team earned a No. 6 NCAA tournament seed. The Tigers were routed in the second round by Michigan State and have disappointed ever since.
After dwarfing Conference USA, Memphis and Pastner failed to do the same in the American Athletic Conference – or to even come close. Pastner had every advantage at Memphis – a great arena, a practice facility, a passionate fan base, a ton of tradition and a brand that sold well in recruiting.
He did little with it. The Tigers finished in a three-way tie for third in the league their first year, and were the fifth-best AAC team according to Ken Pomeroy’s rankings. After that it was downhill: tied for fifth in 2015 and missed the NCAA tourney; an abysmal seventh in 2016 and never even merited serious tourney consideration.
Memphis’ final Pomeroy Rating in 2015: 92. Georgia Tech’s, under Gregory: 83. The Tigers’ 10-8 league mark included losses to Tulane and East Carolina.
Memphis’ final Pomeroy Rating in 2016: 72. Georgia Tech’s, under Gregory: 49.
During those two seasons, the Tigers lost to East Carolina twice, Tulane twice and South Florida once. Those are five losses to teams that likely would pull a Boston College and go winless in the ACC.
Pastner’s allure, such as it is, comes from his recruiting ability. Gregory had nine players from talent-rich Georgia on his final Tech roster – but not the right nine. The first challenge for Pastner will be to keep the best players at home. The second (and bigger) challenge will be to actually coach them up to a level where he can beat some of the biggest names in the sport."
(This post was last modified: 04-12-2016 11:20 AM by Tigx.)
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