Written by Myron Metcalf at ESPN.com
When it became evident the two would soon divorce, after the early bliss of their union had wilted, Memphis and Josh Pastner agreed on a popular exchange utilized by unhappy couples seeking to expedite the separation: cash.
Memphis gave Pastner $1.2 million as part of a contract settlement. The Tigers would have owed Pastner a $10.6 million buyout had it decided to fire him after he’d amassed a 167-73 record and 2-4 tally in the NCAA tournament that never equaled John Calipari’s reign.
So Pastner left for Georgia Tech, where he’s now a serious candidate for ACC Coach of the Year after last week’s wins over Florida State and Notre Dame.
“I loved my time at Memphis. Seven years,” Pastner told reporters during his introductory news conference at Georgia Tech last year. “We won a lot of games. I followed Coach Calipari. I was on his staff for a year and following him, he had the greatest run in the history of college basketball in terms of most wins, and when I got the job, I was 31 [years old].
“So I was able to be at that level, probably in one of the most intense jobs — if not the most intense job and tense situation there is. And I grew. I continued to get better as a coach. I loved my time. I had a great experience there and really looking forward now to taking what I learned from there moving into here at Georgia Tech.”
Pastner’s new post seemed like an appropriate respite from the brood of Memphis fans who’d futilely anticipated a return to the Rodney Carney, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans years, a dream Pastner did not fulfill because he never reached the second weekend of the NCAA tournament with the Tigers. In Atlanta, however, he can build at a Georgia Tech school that has failed to reach the NCAA tournament since 2010 without facing the frenzy he endured at Memphis.
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