Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Rick has the pleasure of talking to one of the classiest guys in basketball for this “Tech of Sports.”
Former North Carolina star, longtime NBAer and current Men’s Basketball Coach at NCAA DII, Clark Atlanta, George Lynch.
With the men’s DII and DIII championships also to be crowned in Atlanta this April, Lynch hopes his squad will be a part of the action. Lynch is in his second year as head coach of the Clark Atlanta University Panthers men’s basketball team.
Lynch’s squad finished 14-12 in 2018-19, 10-7 in Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play. The Panthers ranked in the top half of the SIAC in scoring offense, scoring defense, offensive and defensive rebounding, and scoring margin, and were third in turnover margin, assists-to-turnover ratio. They finished second in 3-point field goals made and free throw percentage.
Lynch spent 12 years in the NBA after being a first-round draft pick by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1993. A defensive force, Lynch also was the first rookie since Magic Johnson to score 30 points in a game. He played for four NBA teams during his career (L.A. Lakers, Vancouver Grizzlies, Philadelphia 76ers, and the New Orleans Hornets), playing the NBA Finals with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2001. He was also a second-team All-NBA defensive player that year.
After his playing career, Lynch worked with Southern Methodist University in player training and development and ran a non-profit youth basketball organization in the Dallas area. In 2010, he joined the University of California-Irvine, first as an assistant athletic director for Community Relations and then as a strength coach for the men’s and women’s basketball programs. He served in the same capacity at SMU from 2012 to 2015 before becoming the school’s player development coach in 2015. He has been assistant coach with the Grand Rapid Drive of the NBA’s “G” League since 2017.
Lynch, a graduate of the University of North Carolina, helped lead the Tar Heels to the 1993 Atlantic Coast Conference championship, along with the NCAA National Championship where he was the Most Valuable Player of the NCAA East Regional. Lynch, a four-year letterman, was captain of the 1993 team, was on the NCAA’s All-Tournament team.
