Tom Crean showed up in Athens with extremely high expectations after things didn't work out for him at blue-blood Indiana. Despite a slow start, getting top recruit Anthony Edwards to commit gave Georgia Bulldogs fans reason to believe the program may be turning around.
Instead of building off Edwards, the UGA basketball program has taken steps backwards and mustered just six wins overall (only 1 in conference) this season, and it has led now to reports that head coach Tom Crean will be leaving the program after the season.
Georgia will face Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament on Wednesday evening in what could be Coach Crean's final game with the Bulldogs program.
Monday night Georgia State won the Sun Belt Conference Tournament and will be the only team representing the state of Georgia in the NCAA tournament. Many discussions have taken place over the years about UGA being a potential sleeping giant if they could just find the right head coach.
DawgNation's Mike Griffith spoke to John and Hugh on Monday before the news of Crean's dismissal came to light and said that coaching isn't the issue, but that the money poured into the program is the real limitation of the program.
One would think with the Atlanta recruiting base just a short drive away, and being in the SEC, that Georgia would be among the top available jobs this offseason.
In terms of Tom Crean's future, he had massive success at Marquette, good success but ultimately unable to reach extremely high expectations at Indiana, and next-to-no success at Georgia. A trip to the broadcast booth could be his next stop or a step down to the mid-major level might make sense for him to prove himself once more.