LSU to hire former Georgia Tech head coach Damon Stoudamire to staff

LSU is set to hire former Georgia Tech coach Damon Stoudamire to its staff, The Field of 68’s Jeff Goodman reported. He is the latest notable addition under Will Wade.

Stoudamire spent the last three seasons at Georgia Tech, where he went 24-55 overall and 19-39 in ACC play. The Yellow Jackets did not make the NCAA Tournament under his watch, but appeared in the 2025 NIT. Georgia Tech announced Stoudamire’s departure after this past season, and the Yellow Jackets went on to hire former Troy headman Scott Cross as the next head coach.

Prior to his time with Georgia Tech, Stoudamire was on the Boston Celtics’ staff from 2021-23 and served as the head coach at Pacific from 2016-21. The Tigers went 71-77 overall under his watch, including 34-47 in West Coast Conference play. Stoudamire also won WCC Coach of the Year in 2020 after leading Pacific to a 23-10 overall record and 11-5 mark in conference play.

Stoudamire got into coaching after a 13-year career in the NBA after going No. 7 overall in 1995 out of Arizona. He won Rookie of the Year in 1995-96 with the Toronto Raptors, where he played until 1998. He then played for the Portland Trail Blazers from 1998-2005, Memphis Grizzlies from 2005-08 and the San Antonio Spurs in 2008.

After starting out as director of basketball operations in 2008-09, Stoudamire returned to the Grizzlies as an assistant from 2009-11 and re-joined the college game at Memphis from 2011-13. He headed back to his alma mater in 2013-15 as an assistant at Arizona before again serving on the staff at Memphis from 2015-16. That’s when Pacific gave him his first head coaching opportunity.

Damon Stoudamire is the latest former head coach to join Wade’s staff at LSU. Texas Southern coach Johnny Jones stepped down this week and accepted an assistant role with the Tigers. Former Western Kentucky and Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury is also on board as associate head coach. Stansbury spent the last two seasons under Penny Hardaway at Memphis.

Wade is gearing up for his second stint at LSU after spending last season at NC State and the previous two years at McNeese State after his firing as Tigers head coach in 2022. On3’s Wilson Alexander reported a reunion between Wade and LSU had been “looming” for a year before a deal came together. The Tigers parted ways with head coach Matt McMahon to make it happen.