Five officially announced as part of Cross' new staff at GT

New Georgia Tech head coach Scott Cross is busy at work building his full staff as it was officially announced by the school on Tuesday that he has added five members to the fold in recent days.

The previous reported hires of associate head coaches Wes Flanigan and Kenneth Mangrum were confirmed. (Read more details on Flanigan here and Mangrum here.)

Cross had several positive things to say about the additions of Flanigan and Mangrum.

“I have known Coach Wes Flanigan for over 10 years and have always admired him as a coach and a recruiter,” Cross said in the GT Athletics release. “He has recruited some of the top players in the country from Atlanta and will be instrumental in our recruiting process of high-level student-athletes that will help us win championships. Wes has worked with some of the brightest minds in basketball and will also be a great asset on the court for us. He will fit right in with the rest of our staff as we hit the ground running.”

“Coach Mangrum was a member of my staff in Arlington during the most successful time in the history of the program where we won 72 games in three years, including a conference championship, as well as two wins in the NIT,” added Cross. “In addition to Arlington, he was part of turning programs around also at Troy and Vanderbilt. At Troy, he helped build our first two 20-win seasons before helping Vanderbilt return to prominence as a top-25 program. Coach Mangrum has always recruited the Atlanta area and understands the challenges and opportunities of recruiting at the very highest level.”

Also announced were the addition of three assistant coaches — Brandon Gilbert, Kelvin Lewis and Chris Kreider.

Gilbert has 20 years of experience coaching, most recently serving under Cross as an assistant at Troy the last six seasons, where the pair helped the Trojans to five straight 20-win seasons and back-to-back Sun Belt Conference titles and NCAA Tournament appearances the last two seasons. He is known for playing a large role in Troy’s recruiting over the past few years, including signing Troy’s first Sun Belt Player of the Year, Tayton Conerway, who won the award in 2025.

“I am extremely excited that Brandon Gilbert will be joining our staff here at Georgia Tech,” Cross said in Tuesday’s release. “Coach Gilbert has been a huge part of our success over the last few years at Troy. He has been in charge of developing all of our post players, and he has done an outstanding job in that area. In addition, he will be on the road recruiting where he has already shown the ability to sign a conference MVP when Tayton Conerway won the honor in 2025! Coach Gilbert has been on my staff for each of my 20-win seasons over the past five years, and he played a big part in us winning back-to-back conference regular-season and conference championships.”

Lewis also joins Cross at Georgia Tech after being an assistant for him at Troy the last three seasons. He played at Houston before going on to play 13 years professionally in the NBA G-League and at various stops in Europe before transitioning to the coaching ranks in 2023-24.

“Kelvin Lewis is one of the best player development coaches that I have been around,” said Cross. “He is also one of the best up and coming coaches in the country. He is very well connected in Atlanta and has shown to be a tremendous recruiter. Kelvin is one of the most well-rounded coaches that I have had the privilege of coaching alongside and he will be a great asset for the Georgia Tech men’s basketball program.”

Finally, Kreider joins the Tech staff with more than 20 years of experience in coaching, most recently spending the last two seasons at Rice. He had other stops at SMU, Georgia State, Rice, VMI, George Mason, Georgia Southern and USC-Aiken where he served as associate head coach, assistant coach or recruiting coordinator.

“After speaking with Coach (Rob) Lanier at Rice, I knew Chris was the right guy for my staff,” said Cross. “He has Atlanta connections from his time as an assistant coach at Georgia State, and he even spent a couple of his early years on staff at Georgia Tech. Chris knows and studies the game and will be a huge asset to our basketball program both on and off the basketball court.”