2025-26 Big East Thread

[DFW HOYA]

the Ed Cooley experiment seems to be blowing up at Gtown. The dozens of Hoyas fans left seem to have completely turned on him.

Georgetown's problems are not its coach, it is structural. You could bring in another coach tomorrow and without correcting the issues, he will fail.

[Scoop Snoop]

Georgetown's problems are not its coach, it is structural. You could bring in another coach tomorrow and without correcting the issues, he will fail.

Just a guess, but does DFW stand for Dallas Ft. Worth?

I'm curious as to whether you are in or near DC and attend the games. Not trying to be difficult-just asking.

What is it that Georgetown needs to do IF they want to revitalize the fan base? What are the "structural" issues?

[Hards Alumni]

Just a guess, but does DFW stand for Dallas Ft. Worth?

I'm curious as to whether you are in or near DC and attend the games. Not trying to be difficult-just asking.

What is it that Georgetown needs to do IF they want to revitalize the fan base? What are the "structural" issues?

Spend money, not suck, better facilities. 

[Billy Hoyle]

https://x.com/Leb_Zeppelins/status/2014395573558821196

[Scoop Snoop]

https://x.com/Leb_Zeppelins/status/2014395573558821196

        Thanks for not posting this in the morning. I would have spilled my coffee all over myself, I laughed so hard.

[DFW HOYA]

Just a guess, but does DFW stand for Dallas Ft. Worth?
I'm curious as to whether you are in or near DC and attend the games. Not trying to be difficult-just asking.
What is it that Georgetown needs to do IF they want to revitalize the fan base? What are the "structural" issues?

I am a Georgetown alumnus, but grew up and live in Dallas-Ft. Worth. I attend a couple of  football and basketball games a year. If you think basketball games are frustrating, try FCS football.

The structural issues are varied but revolve around three orbits:

Organizational
1. Men's basketball does not report through the Georgetown athletic department and thus is not directly managed by the athletic director. The head coach gets a lot of leverage to do what he wants before there is pushback.

Financial
1. Georgetown's $17 million men's basketball budget is overweight. Georgetown's new president may have other ideas about this in 2026-27.
2. There are no significant ties to the private sector in Washington in the way of corporate promotions and sponsorships and they simply don't support the team as is the case at other schools.
3. Donor giving is way down, and the response was to institute surge pricing. A midcourt seat costs $67 to see DePaul next week,  and as much as $262 for Villanova. Alumni see prices like this and walk away.

Experiential
1. The University does not promote basketball as a priority among its alumni, students, or the local area. Its official social media and web site give it no attention, and away games are not marketed to out of town alumni. How many Georgetown fans do you see gathering at Fiserv every year?

2. The fan experience is as poor as any in the Big East, including Wintrust. Its relationship with Capital One Arena is a challenging one. Georgetown gets no revenue back from parking, from concessions, or suites--it is simply a six-figure rental for four hours, nothing more. Some games have drawn less than 2,000 actual people in the building, but the rent is fixed either way.  However, there are no other facilities in Washington (outside of playing at other schools' arenas such as George Mason or the Univ. of Maryland) which could reasonably host Big East games, short of moving back on campus to a 2,000 seat gym built in 1951, essentially forfeiting revenue for better attended games. Georgetown is 10th of 11 in the Big East in attendance and would be 11th of 11th playing at home, given that the Georgetown campus has fewer than 40 surface parking spaces and relies on two underground garages of roughly 400 cars each. Think of it this way: the Al McGuire Center is roughly twice as large.

3. Georgetown increasingly attracts what I call an "angular" student, as opposed to being "well rounded". They are high-income, high SAT students (1480 to 1580) who are there primarily for internships and well paid job opportunities, and less about community and lifetime memories. If basketball is not a part of their college experience in 2026, they won't suddenly get interested in it at age 30 or 40, they're gone.

Basketball was a big part of my college experience as the sports editor of the campus newspaper and it's a priority all these years today. The fact is that Georgetown has lost probably 15-20 years of graduating classes who have no positive experience, either on their own or through the University itself. That manifests itself in fewer gifts to the University, fewer attendees at reunions, and far fewer people who are worried about a 15 point loss at Villanova. Many students, I would suspect, have no idea what Georgetown's record is this year, and fewer young alumni.

None of these problems are specific to Ed Cooley, and no one hates him. (This seems to be a Providence thing.) If Georgetown brings in another coach but does not address these problems, nothing changes and high level recruits do not want to come to places where nothing changes. That's Temple University football, playing every season before tens of thousands of empty seats at Lincoln Financial Field. Right now, that is where Georgetown University is.

https://brobible.com/sports/article/temple-football-lincoln-financial-field-crowd-fans/

[Scoop Snoop]

Thank you for your response. Wow! This is really eye-opening, an autopsy of a school's team's self-inflicted destruction. One thing that I cannot understand...why bother hiring a guy like Cooley at his salary if there is no plan or willingness to turn things around? It seems to me that a coach from a mid-major would have been all that was needed.

[DFW HOYA]

Thank you for your response. Wow! This is really eye-opening, an autopsy of a school's team's self-inflicted destruction. One thing that I cannot understand...why bother hiring a guy like Cooley at his salary if there is no plan or willingness to turn things around? It seems to me that a coach from a mid-major would have been all that was needed.

The former president would pay market rate. The next president likely won't.

[1SE]

It's a cautionary tale.

Georgetown as a Universoty can get away with neglecting basketball because, well, they're Georgetown.

Marquette on the other hand likely pays a huge penalty as an institution if mbb turns Gtown or DePaul. I wouldn't go as so far to say survival is threatened, but it would definitely because a very different type/tier of University.

[muwarrior69]

It's a cautionary tale.

Georgetown as a Universoty can get away with neglecting basketball because, well, they're Georgetown.

Marquette on the other hand likely pays a huge penalty as an institution if mbb turns Gtown or DePaul. I wouldn't go as so far to say survival is threatened, but it would definitely because a very different type/tier of University.

Not just for Gtown but the entire conference albeit UCONN. The schools may have the financial resources, like St.John's with their billion dollar sugar daddy. The question like DFW just outlined is how many of the Big East school administrators are willing to spend it so they can compete for a national title and then realize the resources they do have will never be enough to compete with schools that have billionaire alumni and alumni bases that far exceed their own?

[DFW HOYA]

It's a cautionary tale.

Georgetown as a University can get away with neglecting basketball because, well, they're Georgetown. Marquette on the other hand likely pays a huge penalty as an institution if mbb turns Gtown or DePaul. I wouldn't go as so far to say survival is threatened, but it would definitely because a very different type/tier of University.

Men's basketball doesn't add a single student to Georgetown's enrollment: the class is full whether it's 5-25 or 25-5. Marquette, Butler, and especially Xavier need basketball to drive enrollment. (Tangentially, Georgetown is under an enrollment cap enforced by the city of Washington DC, so even if there was a groundswell of interest they couldn't admit any more.)

[brewcity77]

Tangentially, Georgetown is under an enrollment cap enforced by the city of Washington DC, so even if there was a groundswell of interest they couldn't admit any more.

I never knew that. Is that just because of space constraints?

[Nukem2]

I never knew that. Is that just because of space constraints?

Apparently there is no true specific  cap. More of an interplay of zoning, development agreements and neighborhood concerns along with the space constraints.

[muwarrior69]

Men's basketball doesn't add a single student to Georgetown's enrollment: the class is full whether it's 5-25 or 25-5. Marquette, Butler, and especially Xavier need basketball to drive enrollment. (Tangentially, Georgetown is under an enrollment cap enforced by the city of Washington DC, so even if there was a groundswell of interest they couldn't admit any more.)

So, theoretically, Milwaukee could impose a cap on Marquette?

[Scoop Snoop]

So, theoretically, Milwaukee could impose a cap on Marquette?

You need to find another hobby.

[brewcity77]

So, theoretically, Milwaukee could impose a cap on Marquette?

D.C. has restrictions in terms of building height restrictions and the cost of land is significantly higher, so expanding likely isn't an easy option. If you can't go up, and you can't go up, there's really no room to grow. Milwaukee doesn't have those sorts of limitations as we've seen with Marquette's expanding footprint.

[DFW HOYA]

Apparently there is no true specific  cap. More of an interplay of zoning, development agreements and neighborhood concerns along with the space constraints.

6,675. See page 16.

https://georgetown.app.box.com/s/i6ij3qaavvdbt3cgroy0ir0594obm01d

[Nukem2]

6,675. See page 16.

https://georgetown.app.box.com/s/i6ij3qaavvdbt3cgroy0ir0594obm01d

Sounds consistent with what I found. The cap was adapted internally to allow greater on campus student residences in response to the various external factors such as zoning and development agreements as opposed to a specific cap enforced by the city?

[Scoop Snoop]

6,675. See page 16.

https://georgetown.app.box.com/s/i6ij3qaavvdbt3cgroy0ir0594obm01d

The references to increasing the number of graduate students and the other stated academic goals helps me understand why Georgetown seems willing to let the basketball program continue to be low priority. I want to quickly add that I am not agreeing with it.

Georgetown's attitude translates into the loss of a market where the BE could really benefit from exposure with a solid team.

How many years left on Cooley's contract? Any possibility that the administration might then decide to go down to mid-major status? Then they could play on campus after the Capitol One contract expires.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Game times are changing on Saturday and some games on Sunday are moving because of the incoming storm.