There was obviously going to be a learning curve for Patrick Ewing transitioning from NBA coaching to college coaching, but who knew it would be this bad? Ewing, whom Georgetown hired as its head coach last week, revealed some of his recruiting plans on Thursday’s episode of The Dan Patrick Show, and they’re faulty.
Patrick asked Ewing if there would be a place for former Georgetown and NBA star Allen Iverson on his staff:
“I’m not sure if there’s a place [for Iverson] on the staff, but he’s always welcomed. I’m gonna use him every way I can. There’s a kid down in Connecticut who’s a big fan of his. He committed to come to Georgetown, but when JT3 got let go, he wanted us to release him. I know he’s a big Allen Iverson fan. At some point, I’m gonna try to get him and Allen together either on the phone or in person.”
To sum up, Ewing will not hire Iverson on his staff, but he hopes to use Iverson as a direct recruiting tool. Doing so constitutes a recruiting violation, as somebody not on staff cannot be a permissible recruiter. The only exception to the rule is for a family friend or neighbor.
Here is Article 13.1.2 of the rulebook:
All in-person, on- and off-campus recruiting contacts with a prospective student-athlete or the prospective student-athlete’s relatives or legal guardians shall be made only by authorized institutional staff members. Such contact, as well as correspondence and telephone calls, by representatives of an institution’s athletics interests is prohibited except as otherwise permitted in this section.
I’m not sure if this makes it more or less concerning, but this clearly isn’t some slip of the tongue. Ewing just has no idea that sending Iverson to talk to a prospect (in this case top-50 point guard Tremont Waters) would break NCAA rules.
