Georgia State Basketball has a new man leading its program as former University of Tennessee Associate Head Coach Rob Lanier has been named the new head coach according to a release by the school on Friday.

Lanier has been an assistant on Rick Barnes' staff at both the University of Tennessee and the University of Texas as well as Billy Donovan's staff at the University of Florida. Coach Lanier comes to GSU with a strong recruiting reputation and having coached in the SEC for nine seasons. He was the head coach of Siena from 2001 to 2005 and took the Saints to the NCAA Tournament once while compiling an overall record of 58-70. Rob played at St. Bonaventure and coached there from 1992 to 1997. He started his coaching career at Niagara and coached at Rutgers before being hired by Barnes at Texas.

Coach Lanier was the primary recruiter on several 247Sports Composite four and five star prospects including Kenny Boynton, Eloy Vargas and Cameron Ridley. His son is someone to keep an eye on as well as he is a 2020 prospect by the name of Emory Lanier who is a 6'3 guard at the Webb School in Knoxville.

We caught up with Grant Ramey of our 247Sports sister site GoVols247 to get his thoughts on the hire and Lanier:

"He's been a huge asset for Barnes. Players love him. Probably their best recruiter. He's got his stuff together. Only drawback is what he did as a head coach at Siena but obviously that was a long time ago and I'm sure he's a different coach at this point. With all the talent in Atlanta, I think he could do a really good job down there."

Quotes from the GSU Release:

President Mark Becker

In Rob Lanier, we've hired a basketball coach who I believe will take Georgia State basketball to the next level. He has vast experience coaching in some of the nation's premiere college basketball programs, and he has a deep commitment to developing players as students and athletes. Coach Lanier's demonstrated record of recruiting top talent, including numerous All-Americans, also bodes well for the future of Panther basketball. I welcome him to Atlanta and the Georgia State family."

Director of Athletics Charlie Cobb

"We are extremely pleased to welcome Rob and his family to the Panther Family. We believe that under his leadership, our program will continue to rise as one of the premier programs in the country. He understands the core values we have at Georgia State and will help out student-athletes succeed both on the court and in the classroom."

Coach Lanier will be announced at a public press conference on Tuesday morning at 11:00am ET at GSU Stadium.