THE FLATS – Georgia Tech men’s basketball head coach Damon Stoudamire was named a finalist Wednesday for the Ben Jobe Award, which is bestowed annually to the top minority head coach in Division I college basketball.
In his second season at the helm of the Tech program, Stoudamire has led the Yellow Jackets to a 16-14 overall record and a 10-9 mark in the Atlantic Coast Conference, clinching a top-8 seed for the ACC Tournament which begins next week. The won-loss marks represent a significant improvement over the Jackets’ 14-18 record (7-13 ACC) in his first season in 2023-24. Tech has won seven of its last nine games since the start of February and has earned three wins against Quad 1 teams in the process, earning a first-round bye in the conference tournament for the first time since 2021.
Stoudamire has managed the Yellow Jackets through a bevy of injuries to rotation players. Tech has played with just eight scholarship players for most games since the middle of December, as four main starters and reserves have missed a total of 66 games, and has forged its late-season run using just six or seven players.
Tech concludes its regular season Saturday when it visits Wake Forest at 2:15 p.m. The game will be televised live on The CW Network (Peachtree TV in Atlanta).
The Ben Jobe Award has been given by CollegeInsider.com every year since 2012. Stoudamire won the award in 2020 while he was the head coach at Pacific University.
The finalists for the award are:
| Alvin Brooks | Lamar |
| Penny Collins | Tennessee State |
| Chris Crutchfield | Omaha |
| Travis DeCuire | Montana |
| Dennis Gates | Missouri |
| Penny Hardaway | Memphis |
| Cornelius Jackson | Marshall |
| Kevin Johnson | Southern |
| James Jones | Yale |
| Mike Jones | UNCG |
| Robert Jones | Norfolk State |
| Chris Markwood | Maine |
| Erik Martin | South Carolina State |
| Ritchie McKay | Liberty |
| Antoine Pettway | Kennesaw State |
| Richie Riley | South Alabama |
| Daniyal Robinson | Cleveland State |
| Kelvin Sampson | Houston |
| Patrick Sellers | Central Connecticut State |
| Takayo Siddle | UNCW |
| Duane Simpkins | American |
| Tony Skinn | George Mason |
| Shaka Smart | Marquette |
| Damon Stoudamire | Georgia Tech |
| Drew Valentine | Loyola Chicago |
The Ben Jobe Award is named in honor of one of the most iconic coaches in the history of basketball at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He is best known as the head coach of Southern University, a position he held for 12 seasons. He was also head coach at Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Talladega, Tuskegee, and South Carolina State, and was an assistant coach on Bobby Cremins’ first staff at Georgia Tech in 1981-82.
His record at Southern was 209-141 and included four NCAA Tournament appearances. He also coached the Jaguars to one NIT appearance, five SIAC championships, 11 SWAC titles and two NAIA Tournament Championships. Perhaps his most memorable moment as a coach was leading No. 15 seed Southern to a 93-78 win over No. 2 Georgia Tech in the first round of the 1993 NCAA Tournament. It stands as one of the great upsets in the history of the event.
Coach Jobe passed away on March 10, 2017.
The recipient of the annual award is determined by a 10-member voting committee, which consists of current and former head coaches, as well as two senior staff members of collegeinsider.com.
The 2025 award will be announced in San Antonio, Texas, site of the men’s Division I Basketball Championship.
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
ABOUT GEORGIA TECH MEN’S BASKETBALL
Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball team is in its second season under head coach Damon Stoudamire. Tech has been a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference since 1979, won four ACC Championships (1985, 1990, 1993, 2021), played in the NCAA Tournament 17 times and played in two Final Fours (1990, 2004). Connect with Georgia Tech Men’s Basketball on social media by liking their Facebook Page, or following on Twitter (@GTMBB) and Instagram. For more information on Tech basketball, visit Ramblinwreck.com.
