ATLANTA (AP) — Four days after walking off the court for the final time as Troy's coach, Scott Cross officially started his tenure at Georgia Tech.
Georgia Tech introduced Cross as its 16th coach in program history with a news conference Monday at McCamish Pavilion. The 51-year-old took Troy to the NCAA Tournament as Sun Belt champions each of the past two seasons. He now has the challenge of rebuilding a struggling Yellow Jackets program.
“We didn't pick Coach Cross,” Georgia Tech athletic director Ryan Alpert said. "Coach Cross picked us. We saw someone who valued this place, our academic mission and our desire to win.”
Since its most recent NCAA Tournament appearance in the 2020-21 season, Georgia Tech has finished at or below .500 in five consecutive seasons. The Yellow Jackets have a 69-93 overall record, including 30-68 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, in that span.
The program is a long way away from its past heights, including Final Fours in 1990 and 2004, as well as four ACC Tournament championships. Cross referred to Georgia Tech's history as a reason for taking the job.
“Georgia Tech has been to a national championship," he said. "If they can get there before, we can get there again.”
As with any new coach, resource management and funding will be a key point. Georgia Tech's roster will need a major overhaul coming off an 11-20 season and a last-place finish in the conference.
The transfer portal opens next month, and will likely require the Yellow Jackets to upgrade the roster before the 2026-27 season.
“We're not going to fund the program 18th and expect to win a conference championship," Alpert said. "We’re going to fund it competitively and give our coach and program an opportunity to win.”
Cross has experience in successfully building rosters. His 2024-25 NCAA Tournament team at Troy lost four of its five starters to the transfer portal, but he rebuilt the team and won the Sun Belt again in 2025-26.
Cross emphasized the need to get “OKGs” — his acronym for “our kinda guys” — as a key focus of his roster-building strategy, underlining the importance of finding players who fit his program and style of play.
“We will be a blue-collar program that focus on doing all the little things right," Cross said. "My motto is take the stairs. There are no short cuts on the basketball court, there are no shortcuts in the classroom and most importantly there are no shortcuts in life.”
Cross also noted the importance of using the recruiting area to his advantage to supplement the transfer portal. As coach of Troy he gained plenty of experience recruiting the Atlanta area and the region in general. He plans to take advantage of those connections at Georgia Tech.
“The city of Atlanta has some of the best basketball in the world," he said. “We will definitely start (recruiting) in Atlanta.”
Cross will be one of at least two new head coaches in the ACC next season. Syracuse fired Adrian Autry on Wednesday.
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