Headed back down Byington returns to Georgia Southern for big-time men’s basketball matchup

By JACKSON HEPHNER The Breeze

On March 11, 2020, Georgia Southern men’s basketball defeated Georgia State in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference tournament, 81-62. Former Georgia Southern student Brian Reynolds (’19) called it one of the biggest wins in Eagles’ history. It put them in prime position in the tournament semifinals, just two wins away from making March Madness for the first time in 30 years.

Then, as Reynolds said, “the world shuts down via COVID next day.” March 11 was the last time then-Georgia Southern head coach Mark Byington coached a game in his tenure.

After the Eagles defeated Georgia State, the Sun Belt suspended all regular season competitions and conference championships. Eight days later, Byington resigned after seven years with the program and announced he was headed to JMU.

Georgia Southern redshirt junior forward/ center Johnny McFatten was a freshman during Byington’s final season. He remembers getting a paragraph-long text from Byington while on the plane ride back from the Sun Belt tournament in Atlanta. The coach told his team he was leaving.

“I was kind of just like, ‘Dang,’” McFatten said. “Like, and it kind of really hurt because I mean, he was a nice dude. I like Mark Byington. He was a cool coach and I really enjoyed him in his time here.”

That was three seasons ago. This Thursday, Byington is returning to Statesboro for the first time to coach against his former program. The Eagles are now coached by Brian Burg, who Byington said is “doing a good job.” However, Georgia Southern has hit growing pains in the transition. Burg is 38-42 in three seasons with the Eagles. Byington went 131-97 from 2013-20.

“He’s just been so underwhelming,” former Savannah Morning News writer McClain Baxley said of the Burg tenure thus far. “Pretty much all the talent that was there left. They haven’t really brought any exciting players in.”

Eagles’ sophomore guard Calvin Wishart transferred after Byington’s departure to UC Santa Barbara. He led Georgia Southern in assists (79), 3-pointers (59) and 3-point percentage (38.3%) while an Eagle. Redshirt junior Quan Jackson transferred to UAB after starting all 33 games of Byington’s final year and leading the Sun Belt and ranking sixth in the country in steals (86).

While it didn’t help remedy the situation when Byington won the CAA regular season title in his first year with the Dukes, Baxley, McFatten and Reynolds all said there were no hard feelings over how Byington left.

Before Byington, Georgia Southern wasn’t a basketball school, Reynolds said. But as its football program began to decline with back-to-back losing seasons in 2016 and 2017, basketball improved, going 39-17 from 2016-18, and the culture started to shift. Now, the culture at Georgia Southern shifted back toward football after four bowl appearances since 2018.

“Seeing the students section kind of dip a little bit,” Reynolds said, “seeing attendance kind of dip a little bit kind of hurts me a little bit just because it was just fun to go to games when we were at least decently good.”

Still, Reynolds understood Byington taking a job closer to his hometown of Salem, Virginia. At the time, Reynolds said he was happy Byington left for a then-CAA member, JMU, rather than a Sun Belt rival like Appalachian State or Georgia State.

Looking back, Reynolds thanks Byington for being a great coach for the Georgia Southern basketball program and university as a whole. Baxley said he won’t expect any hatred from the Southern faithful Thursday night.

McFatten is the only current Georgia Southern player who Byington coached. He said he hasn’t brought up Byington’s departure a lot with his teammates, calling the matchup “just another game.” McFatten talked to Byington when the Eagles visited Harrisonburg earlier this season. He said his former coach told him he was proud of him.

“He was just a cool dude. Cool coach,” McFatten said. “I thank them for giving me the opportunity to come to college and play basketball with this team. Like I’m forever thankful for that.”

As for the coach himself, Byington said he doesn’t think there’ll be “a feeling of nostalgia or anything like that” Thursday. Rather, his focus will be on beating “a really good team in a difficult building.” But looking back on his time in Statesboro, Byington is content with his tenure and departure.

“You know, I give every single thing I have all the time to try to help [any] program, help those players, help that team,” he said. “I’m doing the same thing I did at Georgia Southern here at James Madison. And after that, when it’s time to leave, time to do something else, you know, it’s just sometimes an inevitable thing or a natural thing.”

CONTACT Jackson Hephner at hephnejt@ dukes.jmu.edu. For more men’s basketball coverage, follow the sports desk at @TheBreezeSports.

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