From the AJC
"On Friday evening, Damon Stoudamire was an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics who had just arrived in Atlanta for a Saturday night game against the Hawks. Thatās when he received a call from a search firm. It was not out of the ordinary."
"Stoudamire was aware that Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner, a friend and colleague, had been dismissed earlier in the day after seven seasons. When he heard about it, he said the possibility of him being a candidate to coach the Yellow Jackets didnāt register with him. And he still didnāt even know what the call was for ā or the purpose of a dinner that the search firm had arranged for that night ā until he got in the car, Stoudamire said."
āHe was like, āOh, by the way, J Batt ā heās the AD at Georgia Tech,āā Stoudamire said. āāHeās going to meet us.āā
Fridayās dinner, Stoudamire said, was āconversation and dialogue, and did that for a couple hours or so.ā The two met again Saturday before the Hawks-Celtics game.
It was Sunday, Stoudamire said, āwhen it got serious, I guess. I donāt know; Iām just going on my end. I got a call. Things started moving along, so I guess in my mind, I was just like, āOK, I must be their guy.āā
Just my opinion, but I think Stoudamire was likely at or very near the top of Batt's list.
Batt obviously liked what he heard and closed things very quickly.