Eagles set to hire coach

Georgia Southern is expected today to announce its new men's basketball head coach at an 11 a.m. news conference.

It will not be Dip Metress.

Instead, the Eagles are expected to announce Georgia Tech assistant coach Charlton Young as their replacement for former head coach Jeff Price, who stepped down in March.

The 37-year-old Young, who set school records for career assists and 3-pointers, is a member of the Georgia Southern Sports Hall of Fame. Since June 2005, he has worked for the Yellow Jackets as the team's main recruiter.

Young was believed to be the front-runner, while Metress, who led Augusta State to consecutive NCAA Division II Final Four appearances, was on the school's short list.

"Good for him," Metress said in a cell-phone conversation. "He played there. He's in the school's hall of fame.

"I knew he was the lead guy."

On Wednesday night, Metress was watching his former All-American center, the 7-foot, 291-pound Garret Siler, in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament in Portsmouth, Va. Siler is participating in the country's oldest amateur tournament, also known as a pre-NBA Draft camp for the nation's top seniors.

In Metress' five-year tenure with the Jaguars, he is 115-43, including an 11-3 mark in the Division II Tournament. His Augusta State teams have won a pair of Peach Belt Conference regular-season titles, a pair of regional titles and a conference tournament championship.

Reach Chris Gay at (706) 823-3645 or chris.gay@augustachronicle.com.