STATESBORO — Georgia Southern’s new men’s basketball coach Mark Byington is still learning about the school and the program.
But he does have some experience with the Eagles’ basketball fans.
As an assistant at the College of Charleston, he remembered the Cougars getting heckled in Hanner Fieldhouse. A fan predicting doom for the visitors by saying, “It’s going to be a long night in Statesboro.”
“I hope he brings 100 more people just like him and sits behind the visiting team’s bench,” Byington said. “I know the passion of the fans here. I know how much they want it. (Georgia Southern) can be a sleeping giant.”
Byington chose to help wake that sleeping giant and was announced as the Eagles’ next men’s basketball coach at a press conference at the Bishop Field House on Monday afternoon.
The financial terms of the contract were not released, but GSU athletics director Tom Kleinlein said Byington has a one-year contract with the university with three years guaranteed by the Georgia Southern University Athletic Foundation.
Byington replaces Charlton Young, who was fired March 12 after four years. Young inherited a mess — a program that spent two seasons on probation and lost scholarships after being found guilty of academic improprieties by the NCAA stemming from the 2007-08 season and the 2008 summer and fall.
Young, who was hired in 2009 accumulated a 43-84 mark, including 14-19 during the 2012-13 campaign.
Byington, 36, spent last season as an assistant at Virginia Tech and was an assistant for nine seasons at the College of Charleston.
In Charleston, Byington was coach Bobby Cremins’ top assistant and was named the Cougars’ interim coach when Cremins took a leave of absence during the final month of the 2011-12 season.
Byington directed the College of Charleston to a 7-4 mark in those 11 games, including a Bracketbuster win over Kent State — where Kleinlein then worked as an assistant athletics director.
When Kleinlein sat down to talk with Cremins, the former Georgia Tech coach told Kleinlein, “you’re getting a young man who knows how to build a winner.”
It was exactly what Kleinlein wanted to hear.
“In the word of Bobby Cremins, (Byington) is a nuts-and-bolts guy who flat out tried to kill me with his work ethic every day,” Kleinlein recalled. “That’s my kind of guy.”
After firing Young, Kleinlein formed a four-man search committee, which included former Georgia Southern star Michael Curry.
Kleinlein interviewed 12-15 candidates. Byington didn’t have collegiate head coaching experience, but had intangibles.
“In my mind, in hiring a coach, the pedigree of who you worked for is as important as getting experience yourself,” Kleinlein said.
Byington didn’t take long making an impact. He met with the team Monday before the press conference.
“What I had to do is look (the players) in the eyes and help them understand what I’m going to do for them,” Byington said. “The biggest challenge right now is building relationships with the current guys on the team as fast as I can. Prove to them that I’m going to help them win and prove how I’m going to help them after basketball.”
Byington embraces the challenges ahead. The school makes football a priority and recently announced a move up to the Football Bowl Subdivision’s Sun Belt Conference.
The Sun Belt could provide a big jump in competition for the basketball program as well. The league’s power ranking is 15th among 32 Division I conferences. The Southern Conference was 28th.
“Georgia is one of the most fertile basketball recruiting areas in the country,” Byington said. “There are good players in Savannah, good players in Augusta. Atlanta is one of the top cities in the country. … We’ll be in different markets, different cities. I think it will help us brand our basketball program, our name nationally.”
Byington didn’t share his coaching philosophy Monday, saying he could adapt his coaching once he evaluates the Eagles’ talent. Southern hasn’t been to national postseason play since 2006 when the Eagles went to the NIT. GSU hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 1992.
Byington would like to change that.
“I feel like the best way to take the product on the floor is doing (hard work) before you get there,” he said.
THE MARK BYINGTON FILE
Age: 36
Playing career: Player of the Year at Salem (Va.) High School; three-year starter at UNC-Wilmington, second-team All-Colonial Athletic Association.
Coaching experience: Assistant coach at Hargrave Military Academy in 2001-02; director of basketball operations at Virginia 2002-03; assistant coach College of Charleston 2003-2012; assistant coach at Virginia Tech 2012-13.
ON THE WEB
Go to savannahnow.com/sports to watch a video of Mark Byington talking about taking over as Georgia Southern men’s basketball coach.