In a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately sport like college basketball, Georgetown University head men’s basketball coach John Thompson III hasn’t done much for his Hoyas of late.
After a gut-wrenching 74-73 loss to St. John’s on Wednesday night in the first round of the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden— its sixth straight— Georgetown finished with 14 wins and 18 losses, its worst season since it went 3-23 in the 1971-72 season. John Thompson Jr. was hired the next year and slowly turned the Hoyas into a national basketball power.
JTIII hasn’t done a great job of upholding the legacy of the program his father built over the last few years. It’s the first time Georgetown has had back-to-back losing seasons since 1972-73, the first time the Hoyas have missed the NCAA Tournament in two straight years since Craig Esherick’s five-plus dark seasons in between the Thompsons’ tenures, and the first time Georgetown has missed three tournaments in four years since Esherick.
That’s a long introduction to a short question that will define Georgetown’s direction for the foreseeable future: What’s the state of this Georgetown program and, more importantly, is this program better off without John Thompson III?
“After a loss like that, right now I don’t think it’s time to do that,” Thompson III told reporters at Wednesday’s postgame press conference.
Wednesday’s loss was a contentious game against an old rival highlighted by a heated exchange and a near-fight between Thompson and St. John’s head coach Chris Mullin after a flagrant foul committed by Red Storm forward Amar Alibegovic. The two coaches had to be separated by players and assistant coaches, but Thompson III said that was in the spirit of competition, nothing more.
The season-ending loss intensifies rumors and speculation regarding Thompson’s job status. During an 81-55 blowout loss to Villanova — who Georgetown would have faced Thursday afternoon, had it defeated St. John’s — on Saturday, home fans at the Verizon Center called for JT3’s firing. The subsequent postgame press conference was interrupted by a school official who limited the questions to that specific game rather than Thompson’s tenuous job status.
Four days before that, an ESPN report alleged that some former Georgetown players were afraid to publicly address the situation, saying “everyone knows a change needs to be made, but no one will dare stand up and say it.”
Asked on Wednesday when the appropriate time will be to address the future of the program, Thompson III said it certainly wasn’t after the St. John’s game.
“Right now at this time, I’m concerned about the young men that are in there,” he said, “and later on tonight, tomorrow, I don’t know when, I’ll sit back and assess the season and all that.”
Thompson III took over the program from Esherick before the 2004-05 season and reached the Final Four in his third full season with a team headlined by future NBA players Roy Hibbert, Jeff Green and DuJuan Summers. It was the only time in Thompson’s 13 seasons that the Hoyas won the Big East Tournament championship.
In the 10 years since that Final Four appearance, Georgetown has missed the NCAA Tournament four times and failed to reach the Sweet 16 even once. Under Thompson’s guidance, the Hoyas have won just three NCAA Tournament games since that Final Four run, against Eastern Washington, Belmont and Maryland-Baltimore County. As a two seed in the 2015 tournament, Georgetown fell to 15th-seeded Florida Gulf Coast in one of the biggest upsets in the history of March Madness.
Thompson III’s 2017 recruiting class is ranked 37th by ESPN, third in the Big East, but 24/7 Sports ranks the class outside the top 50 and just fifth in the conference.
Will the university give Thompson III more time to turn this around? Does he deserve it? Would a coach with JT3’s resume and a generic last name still have this job given the program’s recent lack of success?
Former Georgetown star Allen Iverson, who played for John Thompson Jr., defended the Hoyas’ current coach on Wednesday.
“I still believe he’s the right guy, I really do,” he added. “I know him. I know he knows basketball. He grew up under the greatest coach ever to me. I talk basketball with him all the time. I know. Obviously, I’m optimistic about this whole deal. It’s in my blood.”
It definitely seems like Georgetown is at a crossroads on what it should do with Thompson, and there’s no easy solution. Does the university divest itself from its storied past or hold on to him and trust that the family that’s built this program over the last 45 years will once again bring this traditional power back to prominence.
The last two seasons have been pathetic, but the decay has gone on for much longer. The Georgetown program was nationally prominent for years under JT, Jr. and suffered under an interim coach (Escherick). JT,III had some solid years, but has gotten very little performance out of a very talented roster in the past 10 years. If he was not the son of a legend, JT III would have been gone a while ago. The dynamic is unique. JT, Jr. is an icon, and deserves incredible deference. That deference has kept his son where he is. He’s a technically flawed coach and not a great motivator.