HIGH POINT, N.C. (WGHP) — High Point University has fired head men’s basketball coach G.G. Smith.
Smith was in his first full season leading the High Point Panthers basketball team and went 14-17 with a 6-12 record in Big South conference games in the 2022-23 season. He went 3-3 with a 2-3 Big South record in the 2021-22 season after taking over the job mid-season.
Smith is the son of Tubby Smith, who won a national championship with the University of Kentucky as their head coach in 1998. Tubby Smith attended HPU from 1969-1973 and coached his alma mater from 2018-2022 when he resigned and passed the reigns to his son.
The court that the Panthers play on is named after Tubby Smith.
G.G. Smith was an assistant at HPU during the entirety of his father’s tenure with the program. Before that, he was the head coach of Loyola University Maryland from 2013-2018.
The University released the following statement about the dismissal:
“High Point University athletics director Dan Hauser and GG Smith have mutually agreed to a change in the head coach leadership of the men’s basketball program, effective immediately.
Statement from HPU
‘I would like to thank GG Smith for his leadership and commitment to our men’s basketball program and the High Point community over the last five years,’ Hauser said. Smith joined the HPU basketball staff in May 2018 and was announced as the 13th head men’s basketball coach in school history in February 2022. He compiled an overall record of 14-17 with a 6-13 record in Big South Conference play. A national search for the next head coach will begin immediately. The HPU athletics department will not make further comments on the search until the process is complete.”
