Gallery: Paul Hewitt, Head Basketball Coach (2000-11)

In 11 seasons on The Flats, Paul Hewitt guided the Yellow Jackets to five NCAA Tournament appearances, including advancing all the way to the national championship game in 2004, farther than any other Tech team has advanced. He was named ACC Coach of the Year in his very first season in 2000-01 after leading the Jackets to their first NCAA Tournament in five years. Tech returned to the postseason under his direction with the 2003 NIT, and he followed that up by taking Tech to the second NCAA Final Four in program history a year later. His Jackets downed No. 1 Connecticut early that season to win the championship of the Preseason NIT, only to fall to the same Huskies team in the national championship game. For that effort, Hewitt was named the Fritz Pollard National Coach of the Year. The Long Island, N.Y., native built that team by recruiting Georgia Tech Hall of Fame members B.J. Elder, Jarrett Jack and Chris Bosh, and he continued recruiting top talent to help guide the Yellow Jackets to three more NCAA Tournament appearances in 2005, 2007 and 2011. Tech won 190 games over his 11 seasons, an average of 17.2 wins per season that ranks only behind Bobby Cremins’ 18.6 in Tech history. The 2004 team’s 28 wins remains tied for most in program history. Tech beat 34 AP Top-25 times during his tenure, at least one every season except the last. Two of his Tech teams reached the championship game of the ACC Tournament (2005, 2010), both falling to Duke by five points or fewer. Hewitt sent 13 players to the NBA, three of whom remain active today (Derrick Favors, Iman Shumpert, Thaddeus Young), and one (Chris Bosh), who became the first Yellow Jacket player ever inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021.