New head basketball coach Tom Crean said putting together his first staff at Georgia will be Job 1 and long-time Bulldog assistant Jonas Hayes is someone he certainly wants to meet.

"I spoke with him. I haven't met him yet but I know who he is," Crean said after Friday's introductory press conference. "But we did speak last night. He's definitely someone I want to know, no doubt about that."

Crean conceded that finding assistants with a strong working knowledge of the local recruiting area will be an important factor for him.

"I think knowing the area is going to be important," Crean said. "It's evaluation is what it is more than anything else. It's not just your ability to evaluate, but your staff's ability to evaluate, because in this day and age, you have to talk and know a lot of people."

Since joining Fox’s program in 2012 after a six-year stint as an assistant at Belmont Abbey, Hayes not only played key roles in the recruitment of Yante Maten and Diatta, along with Turtle Jackson, E’Torrion Wilridge and Mike Edwards in 2015, Tyree Crump and Jordan Harris, Rayshaun Hammonds, Nicolas Claxton and Isaac Kante in 2017 along with Amanze Ngumezi and Jojo Toppin, who will join the program next year.

Ashton Hagans and Elias King were also committed to Georgia thanks largely to Hayes before backing out of their decisions. Should Hayes return, the Bulldogs' chances of getting both back in the fold certainly improve.

Whether he hires Hayes or not, it will be up to whomever is on Crean's staff to make the quickest impression it can.

"I've recruited in Atlanta as an outsider, too, and I don't have the magic recipe on that yet, but I do know building relationships and getting them to see us, so that's going to be hugely important," Crean said. "Being accessible, being around, not only starting now but building for the future. That will not be anything that won't be attacked, trust me."

Hayes is also a candidate for the head coaching job at Western Carolina.