P. Becker and Director of Athletics Cheryl L. Levick announced Ron Hunter as the new head men's basketball coach at Georgia State University. Previously, Hunter spent 17 years as head coach at IUPUI. Known for his affiliation with Samaritan's Feet, a charity that donates shoes to children, Hunter brought with him a tradition of playing one game per season barefoot in an effort to raise awareness to his cause. Hunter inherited a team mostly put together by his predecessor, a lineup that had only managed 12 wins the previous season. With this team, he finished with a 22–12 record– which was just the ninth winning season the program had achieved since its inception in 1984. His son, R. J. Hunter, remained in Indianapolis to finish his high school career with his mother while Hunter coached in Atlanta. R. J. was actively recruited the elder Hunter to play at Georgia State, where he committed over Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and Iowa. R. J. would eventually go on to become the school's all-time leading scorer while breaking many other offensive records. Coach Hunter became the third Georgia State coach to take the Panthers to the NCAA tournament during the 2015 iteration of the event. After beating Georgia Southern in the SBC tournament, Coach Hunter tore his achilles tendon while running to his son R. J. Hunter in celebration, garnering attention from the media before their trip to the NCAA's. Due to his injury, Hunter was forced to coach in the NCAA Tournament from a rolling stool. After a dramatic comeback over the third seeded Baylor Bears capped by a deep three-pointer shot by his son, R. J., Coach Hunter fell off his stool in celebration. This resulted in a media firestorm resulting in multiple interviews, features, and a spot in "One Shining Moment" at the conclusion of the tournament. The Panthers would be eliminated from the tournament in the next round by Xavier. After the 2018–2019 season, Ron Hunter had the most wins in Georgia State history (171) and guided GSU to six post-season berths in his eight seasons at the helm. Under Ron Hunter, GSU also won Sun Belt Conference titles in 4 of his last 6 seasons, which included regular season championships in 2014, 2015 & 2019 and tournament championships in 2015, 2018 & 2019. During Hunter's tenure, the program produced the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year three