Georgia Tech fires head coach Brian Gregory, former Hersey standout

ATLANTA - Georgia Tech fired men's basketball coach Brian Gregory on Friday, less than 48 hours after another disappointing season ended in the NIT.

The move was announced by athletic director Mike Bobinski, who had said a year ago the Yellow Jackets would need to show improvement for Gregory to keep his job.

While Georgia Tech made the postseason for the first time in his five seasons as coach, that wasn't enough. The Yellow Jackets won a pair of NIT games before losing at San Diego State 72-56 on Wednesday night.

Gregory was dismissed with an overall record of 76-86, which included a dismal 27-61 mark in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

"This was a difficult decision because of the character and integrity that Brian has demonstrated throughout his time at Georgia Tech," Bobinski said in a statement. "I have great respect for Brian as a person and for the effort he's put forth on our behalf. He and the student-athletes under his direction have represented Georgia Tech in a first-rate manner and we're greatly appreciative of the improvements he's overseen in our program's academic performance.

"However, as we look to the future, we believe a change in leadership is needed for our program to achieve higher and sustained levels of competitive success."

The 49-year-old Gregory acknowledged that this season was a disappointment after the Yellow Jackets missed out on an NCAA bid, despite being bolstered by several one-and-done transfers. Most of the team's top players are seniors, leaving the next coach with a massive rebuilding job at a once-powerhouse program that hasn't been much of a factor since reaching the national championship game in 2004.

"I'm not going to sugarcoat it," Gregory said last week. "I wish we were playing (in NCAA) and had an opportunity."

Georgia Tech's financially strapped athletic program will owe Gregory more than $1.3 million for the final two years of his contract, and the school is still owes his predecessor, Paul Hewitt, $2.7 million over the next three years - the remainder of a $7.2 million buyout he received after being fired in 2011. That means the Yellow Jackets will be paying three coaches after they hire Gregory's successor.

Despite the drain on the budget, Bobinski decided he could wait no longer to make a change, especially in light on dwindling attendance at McCamish Pavilion and the clear disgruntlement of big-money boosters.

Gregory previously coached at Dayton, where he went 172-94 in eight seasons and guided the Flyers to a pair of NCAA Tournament bids.

He was never able to do that at Georgia Tech, which hasn't been to the NCAAs since 2010 and has made only one appearance in the last nine years.

Georgia Tech was a perennial national contender in the 1980s and '90s under Bobby Cremins, who lured dynamic players such as Mark Price, John Salley, Kenny Anderson, Dennis Scott and Stephon Marbury to Atlanta.

The Yellow Jackets began to fade, however, and Cremins agreed to step down after the 1999-2000 season. His successor, Hewitt, was hailed as a rising star in the college coaching ranks after Georgia Tech advanced all the way to the 2004 NCAA title game in San Antonio before losing to Connecticut, the deepest tournament run in school history.

Hewitt was rewarded with a contract that guaranteed him an annual six-year rollover, a clause Georgia Tech would come to regret when the team failed to follow up its greatest season. The Yellow Jackets made the NCAAs only three times in Hewitt's last seven season, never getting past the season round. Finally, he was fired after going 13-18 in his final year.

Enter Gregory, who didn't even come close to matching Hewitt's modest success after that national runner-up finish. Though, in an interesting twist, Gregory did last longer at Georgia Tech than Hewitt did in his next job. The former Georgia Tech coach moved to George Mason in 2011, only to be fired again last year.

Georgia Tech's next coach will inherit a program with plenty of things to like.

The school totally rebuilt its arena, moving into 8,600-seat McCamish Pavilion in 2012, to go along with a state-of-the-art practice facility. The campus is located in the heart of Atlanta - an enticing urban setting for recruits - and the state of Georgia has an abundance of high school talent, much of it right within the sprawling metro area.

Even so, Gregory ran out of chances to turn things around.