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Georgia Basketball: Jonas Hayes confirmed as assistant coach

By Alistair Penny

BLOOMINGTON, IN - DECEMBER 2: Head coach Tom Crean of the Indiana Hoosiers looks on against the Pittsburgh Panthers during the first half of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge game at Assembly Hall on December 2, 2014 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
BLOOMINGTON, IN - DECEMBER 2: Head coach Tom Crean of the Indiana Hoosiers looks on against the Pittsburgh Panthers during the first half of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge game at Assembly Hall on December 2, 2014 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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Reports are coming out that Jonas Hayes is going to be staying with Georgia Basketball as Tom Crean starts to build out his staff.

Georgia Basketball got some good news this morning. Jonas Hayes has meant a tremendous amount to the UGA program since he arrived in Athens in 2002. Dawgnation.com is reporting that Hayes is going to be the first hire that new head coach Tom Crean is going to make. Hayes looks like he’s going to be staying in Athens.

Hayes had a fantastic impact on the team during his 3 years as a player. He then worked his way up the coaching ranks the hard way, starting out at high school. He then coached in the mid-majors before finally coming back to UGA as operations coordinator in 2012.

After a year in that role, he became an assistant coach and has been a dynamic recruiter ever since. Hayes has tremendous connections in Georgia high schools. He’ll be a terrific member of this staff working alongside Crean.

Many have said that Crean’s biggest weakness is his unfamiliarity with the south-east. The state of Georgia is full of talent and Crean is known to be a great recruiter. His lack of connections and experience here should be mitigated by keeping Hayes on staff. There aren’t many other assistants that have his level of experience in the state.

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Hayes has also shown the ability to develop players. He was the primary recruiter and coach for Yante Maten, who might be the best player UGA has had in more than a decade. Overall, this is in an excellent guy for UGA to keep on staff. It gives Georgia a great chance to bring in some solid recruits over the next couple of years and help Crean to start his career off at Georgia with a bang.

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