Named Georgia Tech’s 13th head basketball coach on March 28, 2011, Brian Gregory’s five-year tenure on the Flats came to an end following the 2015-16 season.
In his final season, Gregory, led the Yellow Jackets to their first post-season bid since 2010, compiling their most overall wins since that season and their most ACC wins since 2006-07. Tech advanced to the quarterfinals of the NIT before falling to San Diego State and finishing with a 21-15 record.
The Yellow Jackets did this against a schedule ranked the third most difficult in the nation according to the ESPN BPI index – the highest-ranked team not to make the NCAA Tournament – and the 21st most difficult according to CBSSports.com. The 2015-16 season ended with Tech’s 24th post-season appearance in Georgia Tech’s basketball history, and the eighth appearance for the Yellow Jackets in the NIT. It was only the 15th team to win as many conference games in the program’s 37-year history in the league. Only two Tech teams had won more games overall since 1996.
Along the way, Tech defeated five teams that made the NCAA Tournament – Green Bay, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, VCU and Virginia, and defeated two top-10 teams in Notre Dame and Virginia. Among Tech’s 15 losses were 10 the teams in the NCAA Tournament or to Louisville, which would have made the field if not for a self-imposed ban.
Gregory’s first season saw Tech score victories over a pair of NCAA Tournament teams in VCU and NC State and defeat Georgia in Athens for the program’s first victory there in 35 years.
Tech won 16 games each of the next two seasons, something the Yellow Jackets had not accomplished in back-to-back years since 2003-04 and only once since the mid-1990s, won 21 games in 2015-16, most since 2009-10, and won eight ACC games, most since 2006-07. Tech also defeated five top-25 teams, including top-10 teams Miami (2013) and Syracuse (2014) on the road.
The Yellow Jackets defeated rival Georgia for four straight years, something Tech hadn’t done since the early 1960s, and beat the Bulldogs twice in a row in Athens for the first time since 1961.
Gregory and his staff developed a pair of All-ACC players in center Daniel Miller, who made the all-conference third team in 2014 as well as the ACC All-Defensive team two years in a row, and Marcus Georges-Hunt, who made the second team by the coaches and the third team by the media in 2015.
With defense and rebounding the cornerstone tenets of his teams, the Yellow Jackets were consistently one of the better defensive and rebounding teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference and the nation, setting a school record for rebound margin in 2014-15 and matching it in 2015-16.
Four players – Chris Bolden, Marcus Georges-Hunt, Trae Golden and Tadric Jackson – made the ACC All-Academic team, while Georges-Hunt and Jackson have been selected twice. All of the four-year seniors in the Tech program since Gregory arrived received their bachelor’s degrees. Gregory took steps to make sure his program’s academic success was exemplary, and the team’s Academic Progress Report and Graduation Success Rate scores are at their highest levels since the NCAA began tracking schools’ academic performance.
Gregory coached eight seasons at Dayton where he compiled a record of 172-94 and participated in the NCAA Tournament or NIT five times. His 2003-04 and 2008-09 teams earned NCAA Tournament berths and last season the Flyers captured the NIT crown after beating North Carolina in the championship game.
The 1990 Oakland (Mich.) University graduate won 150 games faster (seven seasons) than any coach in Dayton history. Over the last four seasons combined, his teams went 13-4 against BCS-level teams.
Gregory clearly put an emphasis on academics during his tenure at Dayton. Entering the 2010-11 season, every senior who played for Gregory graduated (23-of-23). All seven seniors who played on the 2010 NIT title team graduated the following spring.
Gregory has gone about laying the foundation for similar success in the Yellow Jackets’ program, re-establishing the culture of academic success and compliance off the court while building a roster with student-athletes of high character and work ethic. Four players – Chris Bolden, Marcus Georges-Hunt, Trae Golden and Tadric Jackson – have made the ACC All-Academic team, and Georges-Hunt has been selected twice.
All nine of the four-year seniors in the Tech program since Gregory arrived graduated by the end of the summer following their senior seasons – Maurice Miller and Lance Storrs in 2011; Derek Craig and Nick Foreman in 2012; Pierre Jordan (graduate degree) and Mfon Udofia in 2013; Kammeon Holsey, Daniel Miller and Kammeon Holsey in 2014.
Gregory’s first season saw Tech score victories over a pair of NCAA Tournament teams in VCU and NC State, both away from home, and defeat Georgia in Athens for the program’s first victory there in 35 years.
Tech won 16 games the next two seasons, something the Yellow Jackets had not accomplished in back-to-back years since 2003-04 and only once since the mid-1990s. Tech also has beaten a top-10 team on the road each of those seasons (No. 6 Miami in 2013, No. 7 Syracuse in 2014) and won three ACC road games each of those years after winning a total of three in the four years before that. If not for a series of significant injuries to five contributing players during the 2013-14 season, the Yellow Jackets could have exhibited significant improvement in the win column as well.
The Yellow Jackets have also defeated rival Georgia for four straight years, something Tech hasn’t done since the early 1960s, and beaten the Bulldogs twice in a row in Athens for the first time since 1961.
Gregory and his staff made a big splash on the recruiting trail in their first year on the job, signing four highly-regarded high school players from the Atlanta area to form a class ranked as high as 14th nationally. Tech added three more highly regarded players for the 2013-14 season and two more in the 2014 class.
They developed their first All-ACC player in 2014 in center Daniel Miller, who made the all-conference third team in 2014 as well as the ACC All-Defensive team two years in a row.
Prior to becoming the head coach at Dayton, Gregory spent the second of two highly-successful stints at Michigan State, where he was an assistant coach for two years before being promoted to associate head coach under Izzo for the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons. During those four years, the Spartans won one NCAA championship (2000), made three Elite Eight appearances, two Final Fours and claimed two Big Ten Conference championships. MSU also saw four of its players selected in the first round of the NBA draft and the Spartans signed six McDonald’s All-Americans during that four-year run.
A native of Mount Prospect, Ill., Gregory’s first coaching job came during his first association with Michigan State in 1990 as a graduate assistant to head coach Jud Heathcote. He became a full-time assistant in 1992 and remained there when Izzo replaced Heathcote as head coach. Gregory left to work one season under Stan Joplin at Toledo in 1996, then returned to the Big Ten where he worked as an assistant coach under Kevin O’Neill at Northwestern for two seasons.
Gregory arrived at Dayton with 15 years of coaching experience, including 12 seasons in the Big Ten Conference.
At Dayton, Gregory developed a national reputation as a tireless recruiter, a sideline tactician and a coach who cares about his players – on and off the court.
In the 2010-11 season, Dayton won 22 games (22-14), won road games against Southeastern Conference (Mississippi) and Big East Conference (Seton Hall) schools, and advanced to the championship game of the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament before losing to eventual NCAA Sweet 16 participant Richmond. The Flyers, who won more than 20 games for the fourth consecutive season, knocked off Xavier in the opening round of the A-10 Tournament.
In 2009-10, Gregory’s team won 25 games (25-12) and put together an impressive March run, winning five consecutive games to capture the NIT championship. The Flyers’ NIT title run included a win over Illinois State, road wins at Cincinnati and Illinois, and victories over Mississippi and North Carolina in Madison Square Garden.
Dayton began the 2009-10 season in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Classic where the Flyers defeated then-21st-ranked Georgia Tech in the opening round, 63-59, on Nov. 19, 2009.
In 2008-09, Dayton went 27-8 – the second-most single-season victories in the history of that program – including wins over Marquette and against West Virginia in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
In Gregory’s first season at Dayton in 2003-04, he guided the Flyers to a 24-9 record including the EA Sports Maui Invitational championship (Gregory is the only rookie coach to win the prestigious early-season tournament). That Dayton team, which began the season 9-0 under its rookie coach, finished first in the Atlantic 10’s West Division.
The following season, 2004-05, Gregory guided one of the youngest teams in the country (six freshmen averaged at least 11 minutes a game) to an 18-11 record, finishing tied for second in the A-10 West. CBS Sportsline.com and collegeinsider.com chose Gregory as their Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year. In both 2008 and 2009, Gregory traveled to the Persian Gulf to support the troops in the USO’s “Operation Hardwood,” a USO/Armed Forces Entertainment tour.
Gregory and wife Yvette have two daughters, Isabella and Elyse.
GREGORY AS A HEAD COACH
Season School Overall Conference Postseason
2015-16 Georgia Tech 21-15 8-10 NIT quarterfinals 2014-15 Georgia Tech 12-19 3-15 2013-14 Georgia Tech 16-17 6-12 2012-13 Georgia Tech 16-15 6-12 2011-12 Georgia Tech 11-20 4-12 2010-11 Dayton 22-14 7-9 NIT 2009-10 Dayton 25-12 8-8 NIT Champions 2008-09 Dayton 27-8 11-5 NCAA Tournament 2007-08 Dayton 23-11 8-8 NIT 2006-07 Dayton 19-12 8-8 2005-06 Dayton 14-17 6-10 2004-05 Dayton 18-11 10-6 2003-04 Dayton 24-9 12-4 NCAA TOTAL 248-180 97-119
GREGORY AS AN ASSISTANT COACH
Michigan State (1992-96, 1999-2003)
Associate head coach under Tom Izzo, 2001-03
Assistant coach under Tom Izzo, 1999-2000
Assistant coach under Tom Izzo, 1995
Assistant coach under Jud Heathcote 1992-94
2000 NCAA champions; Two Final Fours
Northwestern (1997-99)
Assistant coach under Kevin O’Neill
Toledo (1996-97)
PERSONAL
Earned master of arts in athletic administration at Michigan State, 1992
Graduated from Oakland University, 1990
Earned bachelor of arts in secondary education
Three-time all-conference selection
Named Academic All-American in 1990
Inducted into Oakland University Hall of Fame in 1997
Attended the U.S. Naval Academy in 1985-86
Played on the Navy team that featured David Robinson and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament
Wife: Yvette
Daughters: Isabella, Elyse
