At the height of his tenure at Indiana, Tom Crean was considered a top-notch head coach in college basketball. Can he get back to that level with Georgia Basketball?
If you happened to catch the Atlanta Braves game (and you happen to be a UGA hoops fan) last Friday night, you noticed that new UGA Men’s Basketball Head Coach Tom Crean stopped by to talk with the broadcasters. While Crean used the time to spread excitement and hype for the upcoming basketball season, he also went into depth of how he admired the leaders of hardball’s past. Growing up a Detroit Tigers fan, he loved watching Kirk Gibson.
As an admirer of the Braves, he was awestruck at how the likes of Smoltz, Glavine and Maddux could have such perennial success. While Crean is no stranger to success himself, he found himself out of a job a couple of years ago. A far cry from where it all began.
In 1999, Tom Crean landed his first head coaching job at Marquette. In 9 seasons as the Golden Eagles head coach, he led them to the NCAA Tournament 5 times. His 02-03 squad made it to the Final Four. Crean’s time at Marquette saw his teams compile a 190-96 record, an impressive stat for an impressive tenure at his first shot at running a team. And there was one storied program, in particular, that was equally impressed.
In 2008, the Indiana Hoosiers lured Crean away from Marquette where he would lead the down and out program back to relevancy. Crean’s Hoosiers won two Big Ten titles and went to the big dance four times in his tenure.
After a mediocre 2016-17 season, Indiana and Crean parted ways. With a large buyout at $4M and an already planned spring break trip with his family, Crean was able to immediately look at his future. Instead of jumping at other offers in collegiate ranks to once again command a basketball team, Crean went to observe and learn as an assistant with the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA. He found his focus to be on learning the game, leadership and management instead of the daily grind of wins, losses and the long journey to March.
While his record speaks for itself, Crean now brings a new sense of leadership with him to UGA. He has invested in the community, school and his players (Crean graduated every player while at Indiana). A short time off from leading the charge seems to have refocused the successful ball coach. Now, he’s back. And his comeback tour begins in Athens, GA.