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Saturday, April 4, 2009

Wrapping Up the Hoops Hire

Georgia holds is second scrimmage of the spring today, and I'll have notes, quotes and stats from the practice session early this afternoon.

In the meantime, however, here's a quick run-down of the basketball events that transpired yesterday.

-- Believe it or not, Mark Fox says coming to Georgia was always a dream job for him, but he admits that winning won't be easy.

-- Fair or not, Damon Evans' first high-profile hire as athletics director will go a long way toward cementing his reputation. And on this one, the jury is still out.

-- Georgia's players aren't entirely sure what to think of the new head coach, but they are happy for the process to finally be over.

-- Fans were led to believe a big name could land at Georgia. Mark Fox isn't a big name, so while he may be the right man for the job, he still has a lot to prove.

-- What started as a methodical search ended in a frenzied day of interviews and airline flights with Mark Fox finally receiving an offer while wearing jeans and tennis shoes.

-- The AJC finds out three off-the-court facts about Mark Fox.

-- Georgia's still a football school, but Mark Richt is happy to share a bit of the spotlight with the new basketball coach.

-- Mark Fox says he doesn't know his new roster too well. He's not likely to be overjoyed when he finally does.

-- Fox wasn't who most people expected to land the job, but his background could make him the perfect person to turn things around for the basketball program.

-- Fox's interest in the Georgia job dates way back.

-- Despite the media firing plenty of questions at him, Fox seemed cool under pressure.

-- Looking back, it's crazy how many times the media got it wrong before they finally got it right.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great continuing coverage of the Fox hire. Any more word on Thompkins's possible transfer?

JM said...

If I'm reading this right, there were apparently 5 or 6 other candidates who got to the interview process, including at least one or two in Atlanta on Thursday.

Any chance these names have leaked out anywhere?

MikeInValdosta said...

Man, If only this hire would have been made 4/3/08. I know you can't dump a guy after winning the SEC, but I would have liked for Fox to have a little more to work with his first season.

Now, if we can just get some "Hayes twins" to transfer in.

David Hale said...

Bama -- No new word. Trey is going to take some time to get to know Fox and see where things are going. It really doesn't make sense for him to transfer and sit out a year, so I think unless he's really unhappy with what Fox plans to do at UGA, he'll be back. But I doubt we know for sure for a few more weeks.

JM -- No names have leaked out, and both Haith and Purnell have had varying levels of denial, but I'm nearly certain that at least one of them was involved in the late interview process.

Mike -- As fun as the SEC tourney run was for UGA fans, it probably did set the program back at least a year and probably more.

Anonymous said...

Interesting that Fox's wife was born in Athens. Would love to know more about that, David.

Groth said Cindy Fox, who was born in Athens, Ga., plans to remain in Reno until the end of the school year. The Foxes have two children, son Parker, 8, and daughter Olivia, 6.

David Hale said...

That's the first I'd heard of that. I actually spoke with her for a while yesterday and she never mentioned any ties to Athens at all. Interesting.