Sports fans are perhaps as knee-jerk as ever before these days, and that seems especially true at the collegiate level. Change, however, isn’t always good.
How quickly fans forget. Georgia Tech‘s fan base couldn’t seem to get rid of Brian Gregory fast enough, and to be fair he’d had plenty of time to prove himself on the Flats. If the program was in bad enough shape to need a new head coach, why do fans then expect a rapid turnaround out of thin air?
In his first season in Atlanta, Josh Pastner made something out of nothing, taking a rag tag group mix of raw youth and unheralded veterans to the NIT final, winning 21 games in the process. Pastner won ACC Coach of the Year and his team racked up several individual honors as well.
Perhaps it was too good of season. That happens sometimes, as early success leaves fans with a short memory of the state of their program and the luck it sometimes takes to succeed with someone else’s players. Players that those same fans didn’t thing were quite good enough for their team before the new coach took over.
Josh Pastner was 21-16 overall and 8-10 in conference play in his first campaign at Tech. So far in the 2017-18 season, the Jackets are 11-17 and 4-8 in the ACC. For a coach that was told by the administration that he wasn’t expected to win a single conference game in his first season, Pastner is already well ahead of schedule, considering expectations.
The gold standard at Georgia Tech has long been the coaching career of Bobby Cremins. So, when fans start longing for the days of the man who’s name is on Georgia Tech’s court… history has something to say. Instead of comparing Josh Pastner to the Bobby Cremins we know now, let’s take a look at beginning of his 19 years coaching the Yellow Jackets.
During his first season in Atlanta, Bobby Cremins led the Jackets to a 10-16 record overall and only went 3-11 in the ACC. For the 1982-93 campaign, his team went 13-15 with a 4-10 conference record. The 1983-84 Yellow Jackets went 18-11 and went 6-8 in the ACC, and finished the season with a first round loss in the NIT.
Imagine if #GeorgiaTech fans weren't patient with Bobby Cremins' rebuild. @accmbb @BarstoolGT @GTMBB pic.twitter.com/5xx4gBN7Kc
— Blake Silvers (@JBlakeSilvers) February 21, 2018
There’s a lesson to be learned here, about the patience it takes to build a basketball program to last. If Georgia Tech had given up on Bobby Cremins after a pair of bad season and a third that was mediocre at best, that 27-8 1984-85 ACC title team that made it to the NCAA Elite Eight would have never happened. The next year, Tech made the Sweet Sixteen and would made the next seven tournaments, including a Final Four appearance and another Sweet Sixteen during that run.
Cremins ended his career at Georgia Tech 354–237, making the NCAA or NIT post seasons 14 of 19 seasons. The gold standard was given a chance to have touch times. He was given the chance to look ugly during the process of constructing a college basketball beast that helped make the Atlantic Coast Conference the best league in America.
Josh Pastner maxed out the capability of the Memphis program and has already proven in Atlanta that he can make magic happen. With only one full recruiting class and plenty of wins considering where the program was before he took it over, Pastner deserves at least two more years to let the process play out.
If fans want to be Louisville or whatever other programs are burned to the ground by the FBI, they should keep complaining and making unreasonable demands. A solid, long lasting basketball program isn’t built overnight, within the rules.
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Fans should enjoy the small victories within each game and not get too caught up in the wins and losses… yet. If by the fifth season of his career in Atlanta, Pastner hasn’t produced, then it’s time to worry. That time is nowhere near, so patience is key.