Following up on something that HoopDirt.com first mentioned last month (Daily Dirt – 4/2/18)…
High Point University men’s basketball head coach Tubby Smith announced that G.G. Smith has joined the program as the Panthers’ associate head coach.
Smith comes to High Point after serving five years as the head coach at Loyola University Maryland. He was an assistant coach for six seasons under Jimmy Patsos before taking over the helm of the Greyhounds program.
“G.G. brings a lot of coaching experience to our staff, especially as a head coach for last five years, and we’re happy to have him on board,” HPU head coach Tubby Smith said. “His experience coaching at this level is critical and he understands the landscape, from recruiting to scheduling to budgeting and all the other areas. His knowledge of the game is valuable; he is certainly someone I trust to help me run the program. We are excited to have him as part of the Panther family.”
As a member of the Loyola coaching staff, Smith helped guide the Greyhounds to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1994 when Loyola won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title in 2012. That season, the Greyhounds won a school Division I record 24 games and also were successful in a school-best 13 conference games. Smith guided the Greyhounds to the College Basketball Invitational in 2016-17 and picked up the upset over host George Mason in the first round.
Prior to joining the staff at Loyola prior to the 2007-08 season, Smith was an assistant at nearby Johns Hopkins University in 2006-07, helping the Blue Jays to a 24-5 record and berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament.
He spent two seasons, 2004-06, at Armstrong Atlantic State University. The Pirates finished 23-8 in 2005-06 and earned a No. 2 seed in that season’s NCAA Division II Tournament. Smith was an assistant at Tennessee Tech University in 2002-2003 when the Eagles went 21-10 and were the runners-up in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.
After graduating from Georgia, Smith was an assistant coach for a year at Lexington (Ky.) Catholic High School before spending two years, 2000-02, as a graduate assistant coach at the Kentucky under Tubby Smith. The Wildcats advanced to a Sweet Sixteen and won a Southeastern Conference regular-season title in his time at Rupp Arena.
Smith graduated from Georgia in 1999 with a degree in health and physical education. He was a three-year starter and earned All-SEC Third-Team honors and aided Georgia in advancing to the NCAA Tournament twice, including the 1996 Sweet Sixteen.
He holds the Georgia records for wins in a season (24) and 3-pointers in a game (9).
Smith then earned his master’s degree in education in sports management from Kentucky in 2002.
Smith, and his wife, Lorie, have a daughter, Jayna, and a son, Ross.
