There has been a strong push and lot of excitement about the idea of Mark Price becoming the next head basketball coach at Georgia Tech. I'm here to tell you why the Yellow Jackets should ignore these thoughts.
Lack Of True Coaching Experience
Mark Price was a great player and athlete. He racked up the numbers and won All-America awards and All-Star nominations. However, within the industry he is not regarded as a coach. Rather, he is a shooting consultant. While Price can focus on small, minute details, we don't see much proof that he knows how to handle and manage the every day operations of a basketball team.Do we want to hand over the reins to a once great Atlantic Coast Conference basketball program to someone starting out fresh?
Be Wary Of Former Player Love
First, see NC State and Sidney Lowe.
Second, there are a lot of reasons why some of the best coaches today are the ones who weren't the stars during their playing careers. They sat on the bench and had the ability to pick the coach's brain, to understand the strategy and why things happened. Star players aren't always given that learning opportunity because they are the ones doing and producing rather than thinking and devising.
Don't Forget The Football Coaching Search
In 2007, Alumni wanted a fellow alum to take over the football program, Bill Curry. This proved that 98% of Georgia Tech alumni wear blinders and do not perceive the sporting world around them. Coach Curry is a great man but he was clearly not going to fit the needs of the Institute. Rather, Dan Radakovich proved that he can sift through all the noise and find the individual that we need the most and best meshes with our system and found Paul Johnson, an individual that very few noticed during the search.
It's a lose-situation for Mark Price unless he becomes the next Roy Williams...and even he had a chance to get his feet wet before he was challenged with meeting expectations at the alma mater.
EDIT: Craig Neal and Mark Price interviewed together as a package deal