Tom Crean is finalizing a deal to become the next men’s basketball head coach at Georgia, according to a source with direct knowledge of the situation.

Crean interviewed with Georgia officials on Thursday.

Georgia turned to Crean after former Ohio State coach Thad Matta was interviewed by UGA officials, pondered taking the job for nearly two days and then ultimately turned them down.

Crean spent this season as a television analyst after getting fired at Indiana at the end of the 2016-17 season. Crean went 166-135 over nine seasons at Indiana, which included four NCAA tournament appearances and two regular-season championships in his final six years there.

Prior to Indiana, Crean led Marquette to five NCAA tournament appearances and a Final Four during nine years (190-96) there.

Crean takes over a Georgia men’s basketball program that slumped to mediocrity. The Bulldogs reached the NCAA tournament just twice in nine years under Fox, including just once in the past seven seasons. Georgia has always been considered a job with a high ceiling because of the amount of talent in the greater Atlanta area. Tapping that local talent base, always a vexing notion, will be key to Crean’s success there.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski was the first to report Crean’s hiring.

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