Writer: Georgia Tech Should Pursue Bama’s Grant

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Mark Bradley of The AJC believes Georgia Tech should offer its head coaching position to Alabama’s Anthony Grant.  Even though he doesn’t believe Grant would take it.


Alabama is a school that has never been afraid to get excited about basketball.  CM Newton and Wimp Sanderson had superb teams there, and even Mark Gottfried had a couple.  (The) Tide administration has every reason to think Grant will lift this program onto the SEC’s top shelf, and Alabama surely has more money to throw at Grant — who’s already making $1.83 million per season, or half a million more than Paul Hewitt was earning — than Tech could.


But…


If Dan Radakovich could land Grant, I’d say call off the search and have the press conference tomorrow.


Grant did a tremendous job in his second year in Tuscaloosa.  But it was just a year ago that his first team was struggling and some were wondering if he was cut out for the Bama gig long-term.

His track record is a short one.  Yes, he was a Billy Donovan assistant, but so was John Pelphrey.  And while his three CAA titles in three years at VCU were darn fine, he still has only five years as a head coach on his resume.

This isn’t a knock on Grant.  He looks to be a sharp, hard-nosed, up-and-comer (tried think of more cliches, but couldn’t).  But Trent Johnson and Pelphrey were believed to be great hires after their first seasons at LSU and Arkansas, respectively.  In other words, it’s still early yet.  Let’s give Grant a little more time in the SEC before we send his bust to Springfield, Massachusetts.

This site would have given him SEC Coach of the Year honors — just barely over Donovan — but that doesn’t mean he’s a guaranteed phenom yet.

And while Bama fans will be quick to debate that point, they might want to agree instead.  If they want to keep Grant around, it’d be best for them if no one noticed what kind of a job he did in 2010-11.