Georgia Basketball is a legitimately good job right now

The Georgia Basketball head coaching job is up for grabs and there are lots of candidates because this is a legitimately good job right now.

While things didn’t work out for Mark Fox in Athens, Dawg fans need to give the now former coach some credit. He left the Georgia Basketball program in a much better place then he found it in.

Fox built a consistent team during his time here. He won 20 or more games 4 times in his 9 seasons and brought up some really good players. His undoing was that he was never able to take these teams over the top and win the big games. Whoever takes over for him, is going to get a program with a lot of potential.

While UGA will lose Yante Maten this year, there is talent coming back. Rayshaun Hammonds is a really exciting player who could step into Maten’s shoes next season. Now there is no guarantee that he’ll be as good, but he’s the highest ranked recruit UGA signed in a long time.

Tyree Crump was massively underused this past season. When he saw the court, it was clear that he could be the Dawgs top scoring option. But Fox never seemed to trust him and rarely gave him the minutes he deserves. Under a different coach who is prepared to unleash Crump, Georgia could finally start to score more points.

Then there is recruiting. UGA has Amanze Ngumezi coming in this year and he’s another exciting player. There is always a lot of talent in Georgia every year. Fox, for all his good work, was never able to bring in the top guys in the state. Atlanta is a hub for good young basketball players right now. That talent is why UGA is such a good job for a recruiting-minded head coach.

Next: UGA and Mark Fox part ways

The sheer volume of quality local players, alongside the stability that Fox brought, will mean that the next head coach has a real chance to be successful. If Grey McGarity is prepared to open the chequebook a bit, I believe he should be able to attract a really quality candidate for the job. There’s a lot of good things happening at UGA right now. I for one think that Basketball can be one of them. They just need to find the right leader to take them to the next level.