Getting fired isn’t normally the best strategy for career advancement. For Scott Cross, it may have been the best thing that could have happened to him.
Cross was hired by Georgia Tech in March to replace Damon Stoudamire. But had he not been let go by his alma mater Texas-Arlington in 2018 after three straight 20-plus win seasons, a move that still defies explanation, he might never have been given the opportunity to coach at college basketball’s highest level.
“I wouldn’t be here today if not for that, so for sure it’s the best thing that could happen to my career,” the new Yellow Jackets coach told HoopsHQ. “I honestly would never have left if I had been treated right by the AD and president, because that was my alma mater and we loved it there.”
Forced to start over, Cross spent a season assisting Jamie Dixon at TCU before building another consistent winner at Troy. The 51-year-old spent seven seasons with the Trojans and said he would have been just as content to stay with the Sun Belt Conference program, which he led to NCAA Tournament appearances in each of the past two seasons, until Georgia Tech athletic director Ryan Alpert called with an offer he couldn’t refuse.
This time he left by choice.
“I was a Kenny Anderson, Dennis Scout, Brian Oliver fan back in the day,” Cross said of the 1990s vintage Yellow Jackets that won three ACC championships and went to a Final Four under coach Bobby Cremins. “I loved those teams and these jobs are really, really hard to get. So you have to be in the right place at the right time. I mean, we won back-to-back championships and NCAAs (at Troy). I could be coaching for another 50 years there and that would be hard to repeat. Even though we had things going, it was just the right timing to make a move.”
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His first task upon arriving in Atlanta was assembling a staff, including two top assistants with high-major resumes – Wes Flanagan from Ole Miss and Keneth Mangum. But he also surrounded himself with familiar faces, bringing Brandon Gilbert and Kelvin Lewis with him from Troy.
Cross took a similar approach to building his roster. Among his first commitments was transfer forward Victor Valdez, a 6-foot-7 senior who appeared in 98 games over three seasons and was a key contributor to both of Troy’s NCAA Tournament teams.
While Valdez projects to be a major contributor on the court after averaging 14.8 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists last season, his greatest asset to his new team could be his familiarity with Cross and the culture he hopes to build at Tech.
Not that Cross needs much help in that department. His vision for the program has already convinced its top two recruits, big man Moustapha Diop and combo guard Kaiden Bailey, into honoring their commitments and staying with the Yellow Jackets.
Diop, in particular, was a huge recruiting victory. Not only is the athletic 6-foot-10 native of Senegal a top-100 recruit, rated by most services as a four-star prospect, he also has connections to the Atlanta area, having prepped at nearby Walker High School and spent a season with Overtime Elite.
Cross’ predecessors Brian Gregory, Josh Pastner and, most recently, Stoudamire all had trouble tapping into the fertile talent pool surrounding Tech’s downtown campus. His successful pursuit of Diop is an early sign of determination to break that pattern.
“It’s very important,” Cross said. “If you go to the NBA Top 100 Camp, there’s 10-plus guys from this area, so you know, you can start here and build a great roster if you get one or two of those guys. We want to get a couple of those guys every year. We want to develop them and we want to find ways to build a program around those guys.”
In the meantime, Cross has concentrated on the transfer portal to help set the foundation for that building plan.
Colby Garland and Nasir Whitlock give Tech an experienced backcourt combination of mixing and matching at both guard positions. Garland, a 6-foot senior who has played for three different schools over the past three seasons, averaged 20.3 points and 4.6 assists for San Jose State last year while Whitlock went for 20.5 points and 3.3 assists at Lehigh.
Frontcourt additions Tylis Jordan from Ole Miss and Jackson McVey from neighboring rival Georgia are more of a question after redshirting their freshman seasons at their respective SEC schools. But Cross can afford to be patient with them thanks to the return of inherited players Cole Kirouac and Kam Craft.
Kirouac is a 7-foot sophomore who improved steadily in his first season with the Yellow Jackets, while Kraft is a solid 6-foot-6 rotational piece with the ability to score, rebound and defend.
“You want guys that fit. Good people who are coachable and you obviously need a couple point guards, four or five wings and you probably need at least five posts,” Cross said. “But once you get those covered, it’s just getting the best talent that you can get. I feel pretty good about the roster. I mean, there’s some areas that we have to get better at, but I’m sure most teams in the country probably are in a similar boat.”
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