Georgia Tech hires ex-Troy coach Scott Cross on 5-year deal
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- Georgia Tech hired former Troy coach Scott Cross on a five-year deal, replacing Damon Stoudamire who was fired after failing to reach the NCAA tournament in all three of his seasons as head coach.
- Cross led Troy to back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances and back-to-back Sun Belt regular-season championships, compiling 350 career Division I wins over 19 seasons at UT Arlington and Troy.
- Cross went 225-161 at UT Arlington from 2006-07 to 2017-18, and his dismissal after three straight 20-win seasons is described as "one of the biggest administrative blunders in recent college basketball history"; UT Arlington has since churned through three coaches with just one 20-win season.
- Georgia Tech has reached just one NCAA tournament since 2010 (under Josh Pastner), finishing last in the ACC this season at 2-16 in league play and 11-20 overall while closing on a 12-game losing streak.
- First-year athletic director Ryan Alpert — who came from Tennessee in July — landed Cross as one of his first marquee hires, with Tech officials telling candidates they would fund the program competitively in the ACC.
- Troy finished this season 22-12 overall and 12-6 in Sun Belt play, with Cross's third career NCAA tournament appearance ending in a loss to Nebraska on Thursday.
Why it matters: First-year AD Ryan Alpert is betting on Cross's back-to-back NCAA tournament runs at Troy to fix a Georgia Tech program that finished 2-16 in ACC play — the league's worst — and has reached the NCAA tournament just once since 2010. Tech officials also publicly pledged competitive ACC funding during the search, pairing the new coach with a financial commitment previous regimes didn't deliver.
