NCAA Basketball: Retrospective look at 2011 offseason coaching hires

By Joey Loose | Jun 19, 2021

COLLEGE PARK, MD - JANUARY 11: (L to R) Head coachs Mark Turgeon of the Maryland Terrapins and Archie Miller of the Indiana Hoosiers shake hands before a college basketball game at the XFinity Center on January 11, 2019 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

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NCAA Basketball Head coach Ron Hunter of the Georgia State Panthers (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /

8. Ron Hunter (Georgia State)

Things hadn’t been going according to plan for Georgia State in recent years. The Panthers had joined the CAA six years earlier and had not been competitive, having finished under .500 in each of their last seven years. They were again hunting for a new head coach, but this time they needed to actually take a step forward as a program. This time, they really nailed it.

Ron Hunter already had a ton of coaching experience by the time Georgia State snatched him up. He got his career started with a stint coaching at Milwaukee before joining Herb Sendek’s staff at Miami OH, his alma mater. Hunter then had a 17-year stint as head coach at IUPUI, leading the program into D1 and their first NCAA Tournament back in 2003.

Hunter spent eight years with the Panthers and had an incredible impact. As Georgia State joined the Sun Belt, he turned them into the conference’s most successful program, making three NCAA Tournaments. The highlight was the 2015 team, who upset 3-seed Baylor on a game-winning shot by his son RJ. This great turnaround and success led Hunter to taking the Tulane job in 2019, but it’s undeniable that he got this program back to winning.

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