| | ATLANTA -- Mirroring a move that occurred 19 years ago,
Georgia Tech has turned to a relatively unknown coach to rebuild its
basketball program.
Siena coach Paul Hewitt was introduced Thursday as Bobby Cremins'
replacement at Georgia Tech -- where he becomes the Yellow Jackets'
first black coach. Hewitt had told ESPN.com's Andy Katz on Wednesday that he was accepting the job.
|  | | Paul Hewitt hopes to point the Yellow Jackets back in the right direction. |
"There are very few places I can imagine are better for me," Hewitt said. "Today a dream has come true for me and my family."
Hewitt, who signed a five-year deal, was 67-27 in three years at Siena.
"We were looking for a coach who is a great recruiter, a very
good communicator and an excellent teacher," said Georgia Tech athletic
director Dave Braine. "Paul fits all three of these qualifications
very well."
Hewitt, 36, a former assistant at Villanova and Fordham,
is known as a strong recruiter and favors a running, up-tempo style
popular with fans. Siena averaged more than 6,500 per game over the
last two years to lead the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in
attendance.
"I feel like I'm very prepared to take the job," Hewitt said
today. "I expect to win next year. I have high expectations."
Braine said Hewitt "coaches an exciting brand of basketball,
and he feels confident in being able to bring people back into our
coliseum and recreate the Thrillerdome atmosphere of the 1980s and
early '90s."
Former Southern Cal coach George Raveling, who Hewitt worked under at USC, told ESPN that Braine said he was "blown away" by Hewitt. Braine told Raveling that he saw Hewitt as another Tommy Amaker, the successful young Seton Hall coach.
Hewitt rebuilt a Siena program that went 23-59 in the three years
before he arrived. His contract at the Loudonville, N.Y., school
runs through the 2002-03 season, but includes a buyout provision
that allowed him to take the Georgia Tech job.
Cremins was a 33-year-old coach at tiny Appalachian State when
Georgia Tech hired him as coach in 1981. He pushed the Yellow
Jackets to national prominence, recruiting such players as Mark
Price, John Salley, Kenny Anderson, Dennis Scott and Stephon
Marbury -- who all went on to the NBA.
Under Cremins, Tech went to the NCAA Tournament nine years in a
row and 10 times overall, including the 1990 Final Four. The Yellow
Jackets fell on hard times during the latter stages of Cremins'
19-year tenure, reaching the tournament only once the last seven
seasons.
At Siena, meanwhile, Hewitt guided the Saints to the NCAA tournament
in 1999, its first appearance in 10 years. The Saints finished 24-9
this year, losing to Penn State in the second round of the NIT.
Hewitt takes over a program that has fallen to the bottom of the
Atlantic Coast Conference. The Yellow Jackets (13-17) will lose Jason Collier, their top scorer and rebounder, and shot-blocking center Alvin Jones may enter the NBA draft a year early.
Cremins announced Feb. 18 that he would not return, saying the
Tech program needed a new direction. He accepted $1.5 million to
buy out the final three years of his contract.
Hewitt was a late entry into the coaching search after
higher-profile candidates Leonard Hamilton of Miami and Bill Self
of Tulsa agreed to contract extensions.
Among the others mentioned as candidates for the Tech job were
Appalachian State's Buzz Peterson, Delaware's Mike Brey and
Dayton's Oliver Purnell.
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