Thanks Coach Pastner

awbuzz

awbuzz

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Hjacket said:
This is copied from a Facebook post and expresses why this is a huge loss. Of course, ‘as a quirky Jewish guy born in Atlanta, according to some, I don’t count. The post:

While some may be pleased with the dismissal today of Josh Pastner, I’d like to share why I am very sad about this decision. It is not because of the “basketball” decision, although I thought he had earned the right to at least one more year. It is instead because of the decision to let such an extremely fine man go. Bear with me if you will as I explain why I say this.

A friend and fellow GT Alum’s wife was fighting a courageous battle with cancer. My friend Jim was a long term GT basketball season ticket holder and GT basketball had long been a favorite past time of this lovely couple. Knowing my friend and his wife Sandra were in Houston at MD Anderson valiantly fighting her cancer, I reached out to Coach Pastner via e-mail. I had never met, spoken to him, or e-mailed him before. He had no earthly idea who I was other than I told him I was a GT Alum. I am not a current season ticket holder either. I simply explained the situation to Coach Pastner and provided my friend’s e-mail address. Frankly, I was shocked to find a response within a few hours. Coach Pastner was so gracious in his response, but he did not commit to e-mailing my friend. Instead, he pleaded with me saying “I want to call them personally. I need to call them personally. Please send me their cell number.” Think about that - he pleaded with me saying “I NEED to call them personally” - just WOW! Of course I did and of course he called them.

His number was not recognized by Jim when he called so it rolled to voice mail. I’ll let Jim’s e-mail to me explain the impact of Coach’s voice mail:
“What a great surprise it was to hear the voice message from Coach Pastner. His message was uplifting and exciting and humbling....and truthfully it made both Sandra and me cry. He called us by name, wished the best for us, and just wanted to offer us support from him and from Tech in the same manner that he said we had been offering our support to Tech.”

I didn’t intend to let Jim know I had helped arrange the call, but when he was excitedly telling a Pastor at church, whom I had shared about reaching out to Coach, about the call, well the beans got spilled and Jim reached out to me. Jim went on to say further:
“Just one more thing.......no matter what Coach Pastner’s win-loss record is, or will be in the future, I guarantee you he is our all time favorite Tech coach of any sport. Simply because of the power of a one minute and thirty second voice message....”.
I e-mailed Coach with my appreciation and he responded “we are praying very hard for them!”

Later, when Sandra lost her battle, I reached back out via e-mail and updated Coach and you guessed it - he reached right back out to Jim, who shared with me just after Sandra’s service, with tears in his eyes, that Coach Pastner had reached out again.

So now you know why I am so saddened by the fact we won’t have one of the most positive and uplifting people in the world around any more. Tears have come to my eyes writing this while rereading e-mails between me and him and my friend’s e-mail to me describing how much Coach impacted his and his wife’s lives at a time when they needed it most.

I have to agree with Jim and Sandra when they said “no matter what Coach Pastner’s win-loss record is or will be in the future, I guarantee you he is our all time favorite Tech coach of any sport!”

So long Coach - we love you!
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No doubt, CJP is a good person and is true to himself and practices what he says. Small acts of kindness like those described are priceless jewels. Thank you for sharing this.
 
BleedGoldNWhite21

BleedGoldNWhite21

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I’m sad to see him go, but I understand. He’s a great guy and I hope and believe he will find success elsewhere, but he didn’t win enough games. That’s the business. Fair or not.
 

Root4GT

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Coaching a sports team is a challenging but well paying job at the college and pro level. Measuring success is simple, winning games is the bottom line. There is no gray in win or losses. Coaches who lose more than they win get fired. It’s the reality of the profession. All coaches understand that.

Regardless of how good a person a coach is if they don’t win enough they will get fired. Most at the college or pro level get very good severance packages on the way out.

CJP = good guy who didn’t win enough games. Departs with $2.5M severance package. He will be fine. Good luck going forward. Hope he learned a few things while coaching GTBB.
 
iceeater1969

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Root4GT said:
Coaching a sports team is a challenging but well paying job at the college and pro level. Measuring success is simple, winning games is the bottom line. There is no gray in win or losses. Coaches who lose more than they win get fired. It’s the reality of the profession. All coaches understand that.

Regardless of how good a person a coach is if they don’t win enough they will get fired. Most at the college or pro level get very good severance packages on the way out.

CJP = good guy who didn’t win enough games. Departs with $2.5M severance package. He will be fine. Good luck going forward. Hope he learned a few things while coaching GTBB.
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BATT, did him a favor by being decisive and preventing him from being the guy to rebuild our program. Also i hope josh can lesrn to be more decisive in demanding player performance. Josh eventually gets the right lly motivated guys on the floor and they play well and tough. Its all about how fast you get better.

I think he can become a much better game and scheme coach and if he does would love to have him back.
 

lv20gt

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FightWinDrink said:
Considering how low the expectations were when he was hired and how pissed people on here were about it I’d say it went better than expected. Just seemed like we couldn’t get any consistency but I’ll take an acc title
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Even though he didn't work out long term he won ACC CotY, had an ACC PoY, and won an ACC championship. Plus, and this is my opinion but probably not a hot take, the roster is in a much better spot now than it was when he took over. I'd still say he was a successful hire even though he didn't get us all the way to where we would want to be.
 
Augusta_Jacket

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lv20gt said:
Even though he didn't work out long term he won ACC CotY, had an ACC PoY, and won an ACC championship. Plus, and this is my opinion but probably not a hot take, the roster is in a much better spot now than it was when he took over. I'd still say he was a successful hire even though he didn't get us all the way to where we would want to be.
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This is where I am at. I was on the fence on whether or not he should get another season but I think we are definitely a much better team than the one he inherited.
 

Root4GT

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Augusta_Jacket said:
This is where I am at. I was on the fence on whether or not he should get another season but I think we are definitely a much better team than the one he inherited.
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He inherited Okogie and Lammers. Pretty good twosome. Not sure we have two that good. We have more depth now though
 

Root4GT

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Augusta_Jacket said:
Did Okogie play for Gregory? I thought he came in under Pastner. I know Lammers didn't come into his own until Pastner arrived.
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Gregory signed Okogie. He stayed with his commitment when we changed coaches. His freshmen year was Pastner's first year so in my view he inherited Okogie.
 
Peacone36

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T-Bone Burdell said:
WTF dude?
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So I’ve been debating all day as to how to respond to this response. I’ll say this, what is Atlanta? Is it a curly haired Jewish guy that does not curse, play golf or drink pop or alcohol? I mean I’m sorry I’m just a truth teller, but does that fit with the Cheetah, the NAACP and the general AA heritage throughout the city and its suburbs. I’m sorry if it’s an uncomfortable situation but Dennis Gates was the guy, last year. I will always tell y’all exactly what I think is real and it’s often not what you want to hear and for that I apologize. That said, we can be successful via other routes…
 
Northeast Stinger

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Peacone36 said:
So I’ve been debating all day as to how to respond to this response. I’ll say this, what is Atlanta? Is it a curly haired Jewish guy that does not curse, play golf or drink pop or alcohol? I mean I’m sorry I’m just a truth teller, but does that fit with the Cheetah, the NAACP and the general AA heritage throughout the city and its suburbs. I’m sorry if it’s an uncomfortable situation but Dennis Gates was the guy, last year. I will always tell y’all exactly what I think is real and it’s often not what you want to hear and for that I apologize. That said, we can be successful via other routes…
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Some people go with character over racial stereotypes.

Even college athletes can see that.

There was a famous national champion football coach at Miami and a famous national champion basketball coach at UCLA who both recruited and coached against type regularly.
 
Peacone36

Peacone36

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Northeast Stinger said:
Some people go with character over racial stereotypes.

Even college athletes can see that.

There was a famous national champion football coach at Miami and a famous national champion basketball coach at UCLA who both recruited and coached against type regularly.
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Those stereotypes still exist regardless of certain wants or beliefs. While unfortunate, they should be recognized. Is it a wonder that Paul Hewitt pulled high level recruits from Atlanta and Tennessee? Creminis pulled from NY but that is a different dynamic. swing away….
 
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