Scott Cross, who has won seven conference championships and 350 games in 19 seasons as a head coach – including five-straight 20-win seasons and back-to-back Sun Belt Conference regular-season and tournament titles at Troy – has been named the 16th head coach in Georgia Tech men’s basketball history, Georgia Tech vice president and director of athletics Ryan Alpert announced on Friday.
Cross, who comes to the Yellow Jackets after seven successful seasons as the head coach at Troy (2019-26), also served as the head coach at Texas-Arlington for 12 years (2006-2018). He earned his 350th career victory in this month’s Sun Belt Conference championship game, which lifted Troy to its second-straight conference title and NCAA Tournament berth. The Trojans won at least 20 games in each of Cross’s final five seasons at the helm, and he has 10 20-win seasons in all as a head coach, including five at UT Arlington.
In all, he’s led his teams to four regular-season conference championships, three conference tournament titles, three NCAA Tournaments and eight total postseason berths as a head coach, to go along with his 350-260 career record (.574).
He was named the 2026 Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year after leading Troy to the league’s regular-season and tournament crowns. It was the third coach-of-the-year honor of his career (2017 Sun Belt, 2012 Southland).
“We’re thrilled to name Scott Cross the 16th head coach in Georgia Tech men’s basketball history,” Alpert said. “Coach Cross is a proven winner with 350 career victories and seven conference championships on his resume. His combination of experience, success and development of student-athletes, both on and off the court, makes him the perfect person to carry on the proud tradition of Georgia Tech men’s basketball. He is a great fit for our program, the Institute and the Georgia Tech and Atlanta communities.”
“We are thrilled to welcome Coach Cross to Georgia Tech,” Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera said. “His winning record and proven leadership speak for themselves, but what sets him apart is his understanding what it means to develop student-athletes as competitors, scholars, team players and leaders, and that aligns perfectly with Georgia Tech’s values.”
Player development has been a staple of Cross’s career. He’s coached three conference players of the year (2025 – Troy’s Tayton Conerway, 2017 – UTA’s Kevin Hervey, 2010 – UTA’s Marquez Haynes) and 25 players that have earned all-conference honors in his 19 seasons as a head coach, including 12 first-team selections. The total includes four first-team all-Sun Belt honorees and six total all-conference selections in his seven seasons at Troy.
In his seven successful seasons at Troy, he also coached two Sun Belt Freshmen of the Year (2024 – Myles Rigby, 2022 – Duke Deen), an SBC Newcomer of the Year (2022 – Efe Odigie) and the league’s Sixth Man of the Year (2024 – Conerway).
In his 19 seasons as the head coach at Troy and UTA, 19 of his players have gone on to sign professional contracts, highlighted by Kevin Hervey, who became the first UTA player ever selected in the first two rounds of the NBA Draft when he was picked 57th overall in 2018.
In addition to his three coach-of-the-year honors, Cross is also a two-time National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) District Coach of the Year (2012, 2017), was a 2012 finalist for the Hugh Durham National Coach of the Year award and was recognized for his actions on and off the court when he was named a finalist for the 2016 Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award.
Cross took over a program at Troy that had only posted one winning record in the previous nine seasons and quickly established it as the Sun Belt’s premier program, as it is the only team in the conference that has recorded five-straight 20-win seasons and is also the only team with five-straight 10-win seasons in Sun Belt play. The Trojans’ success under Cross resulted in a boom in fan support, as Troy set both single-season and single-game attendance records during his seven seasons with the program.
He first established himself as an elite program builder at UTA, where he took over a program that hadn’t recorded a 20-win season since 1990 and went on to reach the 20-win mark five times in his 12 seasons at the helm. He coached the Mavs to the five highest win totals in school history, including a school-record 27-9 mark in 2016-17, which included a regular-season win over Texas and postseason triumphs over BYU and Akron that lifted UTA to the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament. In 2015-16, the Mavs earned road victories over Ohio State and Memphis en route to a 14-3 start, the best in school history.
Cross was named the head coach at UTA, his alma mater, in 2006 after serving as an assistant coach for eight seasons (1998-2006). He also spent one season as an assistant at TCU (2018-19), where he helped lead the Horned Frogs to a 23-14 record and an NIT semifinals berth.
“I am truly honored and humbled to be named the head coach of Georgia Tech men’s basketball,” Cross said. “I want to thank President Cabrera and director of athletics Ryan Alpert for their belief and trust in me and my vision for this program. We will build a culture defined by discipline, toughness and accountability. Our players will represent Georgia Tech with pride, compete relentlessly and embrace the responsibility that comes with wearing the jersey. This is a program with a proud tradition, a world-class institution and a passionate fan base. I’m excited to get to work.”
Cross starred as a player at UTA from 1995-98, appearing in 82 games and making 58 starts in his three seasons with the program, gaining a reputation as a fierce competitor on the court and a scholar-athlete off the floor. As a senior, he averaged 11.9 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game with a .415 3-point percentage, which ranked second in the Southland Conference.
In the classroom, he was a two-time Academic All-American (second-team as a senior, third-team as a junior) and graduated from UTA in 1998 with a perfect 4.0 grade point average in marketing.
Cross and his wife, the former Jennifer Harris, have three sons: Austin, Cody and Tyler.
Cross will be introduced to the Georgia Tech community at a press conference that will be held on Monday, March 23 at 11 a.m. at McCamish Pavilion. It will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra, the ESPN app and Georgia Tech athletics’ official YouTube channel (@georgiatechathletics).
THE CROSS FILE
Personal
Hometown: Garland, Texas
Alma Mater: Texas-Arlington, 1998 (bachelor’s – marketing)
Family: Wife – Jennifer; Sons – Austin, Cody and Tyler
Playing Experience
1995-98: UT Arlington
Coaching Experience
1998-2006 – UT Arlington (assistant coach)
2006-18 – UT Arlington (head coach)
2018-19 – TCU (assistant coach)
2019-26 – Troy (head coach)
2026- – Georgia Tech (head coach)
https://ramblinwreck.com/cross-named-georgia-tech-mens-basketball-head-coach
