UPDATE: Working on stories now following today's news conference. I'll have a piece on Fox, a piece on Damon and a story on player reactions. If you want some of the juicy details of the event, definitely check out my Twitter posts (see below). But here's a few of the need-to-know bits of info:
-- Damon met with Fox for the first time yesterday. He interviewed five candidates yesterday and chose Fox.
-- Fox's wife is the associate AD at Nevada. While she won't have a job waiting for her here, that played into the "CEO of basketball" moniker that Damon was looking for.
-- Fox's deal is 6 years at 1.3 million annually.
-- Talked with three players -- all said they had to Google Fox to find out who he was.
-- Trey Thompkins on the potential of transferring: "No comment." He said he'll want to talk a lot more with Fox before he makes up his mind, which doesn't sound all that promising. Obviously he was hoping for a hire that would force him to stick around. This wasn't it.
-- Fox said he doesn't know too much about the team yet, but admits there will be obvious struggles next season. Said he won't simply hand out scholarships to fill the roster. He would rather hold them for next year. He wouldn't give a time table on when he thought UGA would be competitive at a national level.
-- Fox said he has met with or talked to all of the players and the two incoming recruits. Said he has not yet decided on how he will handle Zac Swansey or Troy Brewer, who have said they plan to transfer.
-- More to come this afternoon.
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The news conference to announce Mark Fox as the next Georgia head coach will happen at 11 a.m. Assuming I have cell phone service, I'll add some Twitter updates throughout the day.
You can follow my Twitter posts HERE.
Posts
9 comments:
David,
I know Coach Fox has only met with the team once, but have you heard any rumors or rumblings about the reactions of our players? I'm sure they don't know much about him, but do you have any reason to believe we'll lose any players (outside of swansey and brewer)? i.e. Trey III, Ware...
Regarding the hire... at the very least, the uncertainty surrounding Fox provides a sense of hope.
Thanks.
What about the unsigned SG that committed to him at Nevada but has yet to sign??? His name is Mark Mclaughlin and was the 76th best player in the country 2 years ago (before heading to prep school). Hopefully Fox brings him to Athens too.
He said pretty much unequivocally that we would NOT bring any of us former Nevada recruits with him to Georgia.
any of his...sorry
Thanks Anon... was just about to write the same thing
David,
What kind of feelings did you get coming from Trey? You think he is gone?
David -- Thanks for the updates. What was your general sense after meeting/seeing/hearing him? Did he have a command presence about him? Or, did he seem overwhelmed? I know these can be hard to gauge and first impressions are often not all that accurate, but I just thought I would ask what your general take was post-press conference.
I'd be very surprised if Trey leaves, but I think he is definitely taking a wait-and-see approach. It just doesn't make a lot of sense for him to leave though unless he's figuring on being a four-year guy at this level, and I've never gotten the impression that's how he views himself.
Check out my latest post, Chicago. I liked Fox quite a bit. I'm not sold on any future success yet, but I think he's a good choice for the job.
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