On a recent trip to Birmingham, Alabama, where his wife and two daughters still reside, new Georgia Tech assistant basketball coach Terry Parker broke out some of his old trading cards.
One of the cards commemorated a triple-double that occurred 11 games into the 1995-96 NBA rookie season of a point guard named Damon Stoudamire. Parker long has admired Stoudamire’s basketball journey, which includes 13 seasons as a pro player, college head coach and NBA assistant.
When Stoudamire – who was named the 13th coach in Tech history in March – called Parker with an offer to join his new coaching staff, the former Alabama-Birmingham assistant jumped at the opportunity.
“It’s just great to have the opportunity to be at Georgia Tech and help restore this program back to its rightful place in ACC basketball,” Parker said.
Parker has 13 years of Division I experience, gained at UAB, Indiana State, Utah Valley and Nicholls State. Parker, who led DeKalb County in scoring as a senior at Redan High School in 2002, helped UAB win 78 games in three seasons.
It was along that journey as an assistant at Indiana State during the latter part of last decade that Parker’s relationship with Stoudamire materialized. He and Stoudamire, the head coach at the University of the Pacific, were heavily recruiting a prospect who wound up choosing Stoudamire.
The recruiting loss was a blow to Parker at the time, but being a worthy adversary for Stoudamire made the first-year Tech coach file away the name in his mental Rolodex.
“Terry has had to cut his teeth and work his way up,” Stoudamire said in a statement when announcing his staff in May. “He’s unassuming in his ways, but he’s well respected in coaching circles. In talking with people, everything I’ve heard is positive. He exudes everything I look for in a coach, on and off the court. Relationships are powerful in this business, and he has them. I really look forward to being around him and watching him ascend in this profession.”
Parker has been with the Yellow Jackets for six weeks, and although his proximity to Atlanta the previous three seasons at UAB allowed him to become familiar with his hometown again, he said he has enjoyed being able to continue to rekindle local relationships in the area. And while his role on the UAB staff mainly focused on recruiting, guard play and defensive strategies, he said each of Stoudamire’s assistants is tasked with doing a little bit of everything this summer until they find their respective niche.
Parker added he has been thoroughly impressed with the entire staff’s willingness to “row the boat in the same direction,” which is something he typically hasn’t seen during his college career.
The Louisiana Tech graduate also thinks experiencing the sort of success he had at UAB will help him move the Jackets in the right direction.
“It’s a very similar situation,” Parker said. “Having the opportunity at UAB, we kind of kept building that program, and we’re trying to do the exact same thing (here). With the pieces that we have coming back and with the opportunities that we have surrounding us, as far as the support – really that’s the main thing.
“In college basketball the support that you have from the administration, from the community, all of those things are valuable when it comes to trying to restore something to its rightful place. The people at Georgia Tech, the community, the alums who care about where it’s supposed to be – those people are really getting back involved with Georgia Tech basketball, and that’s only going to help us get to where we need to get to.”
