Georgia Finally Hires a Coach

Georgia fired Dennis Felton in mid-season appeared to be thoroughly botching their coaching search. They targeted Missouri coach Mike Anderson, and had to wait until he finished a strong run to the Elite Eight. In doing so, Georgia missed out on other coaches like Anthony Grant. If not for the farce of a coaching search in Arizona overshadowing things, Georgia would have been receiving plenty of ridicule.

Anderson rebuffed Georgia and the reported $2 million plus offer to stay at Missouri for a nice raise, but not what Georgia was offering. Georgia's coaching search appeared to be in disarray. As if the program did not expect to be rejected by their first choice if they overwhelmed him with cash.
It was rumored that the Bulldogs were trying to get Jeff Capel from Oklahoma next, and failing that Frank Haith from Miami. Yet, nothing appeared to be happening. It got to the point where there was speculation that Georgia was considering Ed DeChellis at Penn State or Scott Drew at Baylor, and was waiting for the conclusion of the NIT.

Well the Bulldogs finally made their pick, and it is a bit of a surprise. Nevada coach Mark Fox will be the next coach at Georgia.

Fox is an excellent young coach who has been very successful with the Wolf Pack after succeeding Trent Johnson. He has recruited well at Nevada and developed players. He's been considered a hot, young coach for a couple years.

It was expected, though, that if a major conference came calling, it would be one in the Pac-10 or Big 12. He does not have any ties to the south or the east. The native of Kansas, went to school at Eastern New Mexico and got a graduate degree at Kansas. He has been an assistant at Kansas State and Washington.

Naturally, the lack of any connections to anywhere east of the Mississippi has created some immediate doubts.The doubters are probably going to outnumber the believers for a while.