EwingTown

[burger]

Georgetown going the way of Depaul......

This was all about appeasing the alumni......

Be careful what you wish for.....

Should have had a Miller type candidate waiting in the wings before they moved on this.....

Ewing is "so" risky.....and could really damage their franchise.....

[tower912]

Or..... this is a great hire by Georgetown.    A famous alum who has spent the last 15 years learning from the best as an NBA assistant.   An instantly recognizable figure that will unify the fanbase.     Using his name and NBA experience, he brings in a cadre of really good assistants.    After a short blip while he figures our what his system is going to be and installs it, Georgetown returns to its former stature.         

A coin flip, really.    Every hire is.   

[bilsu]

I think it will depend on his agility to recruit bigmen. The downside of this is the really good bigmen only stay one year.

[tower912]

I think it will depend on his agility to recruit bigmen. The downside of this is the really good bigmen only stay one year.

He is 50+.   His agility is shot.    So I don't know how being old and slow will help his ability to recruit bigs. 

[burger]

Ewing's name will be able to recruit......

He is totally an unproven coach with a ton of probably great mentoring......(15 years as assistant)

Is he Buzz and has learned a ton or his he Joey Meyers and a dear in the headlights....

So the question is.....Has it stuck.....

Real risky......We shall see......

Mullin has an "in-game" strategy assistant that coaches the "timeouts"

Mullen may deliver a message and approve the play....but the assistant does the X's and O's.....

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Ewing's name will be able to recruit......

He is totally an unproven coach with a ton of probably great mentoring......(15 years as assistant)

Is he Buzz and has learned a ton or his he Joey Meyers and a dear in the headlights....

So the question is.....Has it stuck.....

Real risky......We shall see......

Mullin has an "in-game" strategy assistant that coaches the "timeouts"

Mullen may deliver a message and approve the play....but the assistant does the X's and O's.....

Have to...
put on...
ignore...
#donedeal

[MU82]

Great line bro.  Are you vying for an assistant's spot at Gtown?

They can't afford me.

I mean, would Georgetown parents buy me a sporting goods gift card at the end of the season like my kids' parents did? I think not!

[Buzz Williams' Spillproof Chiclets Cup]

As soon as I saw the headline yesterday, I thought of the Onion article from a few years back: http://www.theonion.com/article/fans-admit-they-have-no-clue-why-they-want-former--18501
"Fans Admit They Have No Clue Why They Want Former Player to Manage"

This feels like a huge gamble. Maybe this will be a sneaky home run hire. I reserve my right to be wrong. 

That being said, there are 75 D1 programs in "high major" conferences (The 6 leagues you think of). That means 75 head coaches. 72 of those 75 head coaches had prior experience either as a head coach, or as a college assistant coach before they got their current gig.

ACC: 15 out of 15
Big Ten: 14 out of 14
Big XII: 10 out of 10
SEC: 13 out of 14
Pac-12: 12 out of 12
Big East: 8 out of 10
Total: 72 out of 75

The three who didn't have any prior experience as a head coach, or college assistant coach, are Chris Mullin at St. John's, Avery Johnson at Alabama, and now, Patrick Ewing at Georgetown.

Yes, Ewing has years of experience as an NBA assistant, but college is, quite literally, a different game. Of course, we can debate the level to which Ewing can apply his NBA assistant experience as a high major college head coach until Kingdom Come. However, at the very least, there should be no debate that Ewing's resume is HIGHLY UNUSUAL for a D1 high major coach. I can't help but think that Ewing was hired primarily as a "name" hire that would provide a link to the elder Thompson glory days, to provide a top headline for a program slipping into irrelevancy.

[Dawson Rental]

Could this be a good hire? Absolutely. I think Ewing is more likely to install an appealing play style then JT3, and I think he's smart enough to build a solid staff to acclimate him to the college game.

That said, I'm not a fan of how this transpired. Getting turned down 4 times to settle on the alumni option is a bad look.

Interesting question, which looks "worse" from the outsider perspective? Georgetown being turned down publicly by numerous targets and selling on the effective "interior hire", or Marquette not putting out as many feelers and virtually going straight to the interior hire of Buzz Williams in 2008?

Agreed.  But bringing a risky, but flashy, hire at this point has to be better for Georgetown's brand than bringing in a more orthodox, but disappointing hire.

[Dawson Rental]

Ultimately, winning the news cycle is less important than winning games. The MU administration had the guts to make the Buzz hire knowing it would be underwhelming, but apparently knew something the rest of us didn't. Apparently Georgetown thought it was important to put out feelers to a number of home run hires even if they thought they were unlikely. If any of them had landed it would've been worth it, and if Georgetown declines from here on out, it will be because Ewing doesn't win, not because they asked four other coaches first.

Some of us on Scoop liked the Buzz hire, we could see who was getting recruits looking at MU in Crean's last year.

[Dawson Rental]

So how long does Ewing's rebuild take? And how soon will the "fire Ewing" threads start on GU scoop after they miss the tournament next year?

If Ewing can keep the roster intact, Georgetown won't need a rebuild.  Talent wasn't the problem at Georgetown.  Anyone remember JJJ's remark about how he knew he could drive in and dunk on Georgetown's defense?

[Pakuni]

Is he Buzz and has learned a ton or his he Joey Meyers and a dear in the headlights....

Joey wasn't a terrible coach or a "dear" in the headlights. Long after his old man (and his old man's recruits) were gone he was still putting together 20+ win/tournament teams.
The main reason for his failings was being undercut by his administration (Bill Bradshaw in particular), which suddenly decided to stop letting in the kids with academic issues that the program hard largely relied on in its glory days. There were a couple of high-profile cases in particular in which Joey landed a commitment from a top recruit, only to see the kid denied admission (Ronnie Fields, for example). This, in turn, led to many of the state's top high school programs to turn their backs on him.
At the same time, the U of Illinois was making inroads in recruiting the CPL thanks to some, shall we say, unscrupulous recruiting tactics that were bringing the top city kids (Marcus Liberty, Lowell Hamilton, Nick Anderson, etc.) downstate.
It's no coincidence that after Joey was canned, DePaul started landing city's best players again ... temporarily, at least ... under Pat Kennedy.

Joey was by no means a great coach, but he's not the guy to blame for the fall of DePaul hoops.

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

Every hire is a risky one except maybe the handful of programs that get to select their coach (KY, Kansas, UNC and maybe a few others) -- even they whiff sometimes.

Where was the outrage with the Mike Hopkins hire - he was a 21 year assistant.

I don't know he will be successful at running a college program, but I don't think it is inconceivable that they took a shot on him.

[Pakuni]

Every hire is a risky one except maybe the handful of programs that get to select their coach (KY, Kansas, UNC and maybe a few others) -- even they whiff sometimes.

Where was the outrage with the Mike Hopkins hire - he was a 21 year assistant.

I don't know he will be successful at running a college program, but I don't think it is inconceivable that they took a shot on him.

Hopkins may not be the best example, though. He turned down many opportunities to be a head coach elsewhere because he'd been led to believe that Boeheim would have retired by now and he'd replace. When it finally became apparent this year that Boeheim wasn't leaving, Hopkins took a gig elsewhere.

Tom Thibodeau was an assistant for nearly 30 years.

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

Hopkins may not be the best example, though. He turned down many opportunities to be a head coach elsewhere because he'd been led to believe that Boeheim would have retired by now and he'd replace. When it finally became apparent this year that Boeheim wasn't leaving, Hopkins took a gig elsewhere.

Tom Thibodeau was an assistant for nearly 30 years.

Fair - my over-arching point is that assistant coaching is relevant experience to become a head coach.  I am just surprised at that being a reason he won't be successful. 

[Loose Cannon]

Joey wasn't a terrible coach or a "dear" in the headlights. Long after his old man (and his old man's recruits) were gone he was still putting together 20+ win/tournament teams.
The main reason for his failings was being undercut by his administration (Bill Bradshaw in particular), which suddenly decided to stop letting in the kids with academic issues that the program hard largely relied on in its glory days. There were a couple of high-profile cases in particular in which Joey landed a commitment from a top recruit, only to see the kid denied admission (Ronnie Fields, for example). This, in turn, led to many of the state's top high school programs to turn their backs on him.
At the same time, the U of Illinois was making inroads in recruiting the CPL thanks to some, shall we say, unscrupulous recruiting tactics that were bringing the top city kids (Marcus Liberty, Lowell Hamilton, Nick Anderson, etc.) downstate.
It's no coincidence that after Joey was canned, DePaul started landing city's best players again ... temporarily, at least ... under Pat Kennedy.

Joey was by no means a great coach, but he's not the guy to blame for the fall of DePaul hoops.

Absolutely Dead on. not a great coach but a good coach, posters should check out his record

[B. McBannerson]

Some of us on Scoop liked the Buzz hire, we could see who was getting recruits looking at MU in Crean's last year.

If what you said were true, that makes Bobby Hurley's comments about Buzz and Tyshawn Taylor at odds.  Hurley wasn't exactly sold on Buzz for his star player. 

http://www.zagsblog.com/2008/04/15/taylor-still-seeks-release/


Nick Williams didn't bother to stay at MU either.  Buzz was responsible for Otule and Fulce from that class. 

[Dawson Rental]

If what you said were true, that makes Bobby Hurley's comments about Buzz and Tyshawn Taylor at odds.  Hurley wasn't exactly sold on Buzz for his star player. 

http://www.zagsblog.com/2008/04/15/taylor-still-seeks-release/


Nick Williams didn't bother to stay at MU either.  Buzz was responsible for Otule and Fulce from that class.

You got me on Taylor, although what happened there was Tyshawn had a better than expected senior year and had some better options in the Spring (like Kansas) than he had in the fall, if he could get out of his committment.  Still he was more of a Crean guy, making him an exception.  If you don't know that Buzz's appearance at MU resulted in a resurgence in MU's recruiting, then you either weren't there or weren't paying attention.  Why do you think he got the HC job?

[Bocephys]

You got me on Taylor, although what happened there was Tyshawn had a better than expected senior year and had some better options in the Spring (like Kansas) than he had in the fall, if he could get out of his committment.  Still he was more of a Crean guy, making him an exception.  If you don't know that Buzz's appearance at MU resulted in a resurgence in MU's recruiting, then you either weren't there or weren't paying attention.  Why do you think he got the HC job?

Thick Neck:

[brewcity77]

Thick Neck:

Win. Absolute win. Literally laughing out loud, thanks for that.

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

You got me on Taylor, although what happened there was Tyshawn had a better than expected senior year and had some better options in the Spring (like Kansas) than he had in the fall, if he could get out of his committment.  Still he was more of a Crean guy, making him an exception.  If you don't know that Buzz's appearance at MU resulted in a resurgence in MU's recruiting, then you either weren't there or weren't paying attention.  Why do you think he got the HC job?

That is my recollection also. I thought I read something about Kansas being his dream school and they didn't have a spot in the fall. Then someone turned pro, Crean went to I4, and Buzz used the open spot on Jimmy Butler.

[The Lens]

John Dodds told me that Buzz absolutely saved the visit for Ty Taylor back in November 2008 as TC couldn't connect with the kid.  Now who knows if that is true but I think whne Ty had a chance to go to Kansas, Bob Hurley was going to say ANYTHING he could to get him there.  He saw an opening and went for it.

[Pakuni]

John Dodds told me that Buzz absolutely saved the visit for Ty Taylor back in November 2008 as TC couldn't connect with the kid.  Now who knows if that is true but I think whne Ty had a chance to go to Kansas, Bob Hurley was going to say ANYTHING he could to get him there.  He saw an opening and went for it.

Agreed.
Taylor's de-commitment had way more to do with a chance for him to play at Kansas than with Buzz or Marquette (except that Buzz/Marquette weren't Bill Self/Kansas)

[reinko]

Regardless of what you think of the hire...this is pretty rich of G'Town


@dcsportsbog
Patrick Ewing tells @JunksRadio that Georgetown has a nepotism clause and his son won't be allowed to stay on his staff

[hairy worthen]

They can't afford me.

I mean, would Georgetown parents buy me a sporting goods gift card at the end of the season like my kids' parents did? I think not!

Well, sure you get a lot of gift cards, but you spend a lot of gift cards too.