I’m curious when people knew that each of
our last 4 coaches had peaked/weren’t going to succeed (Caution - you must be over the age of fifty to answer all 4)
JT 2 - I suspected that he had peaked when his 1988 Olympic team lost because of his inflexibility, but the final nail in his coffin was the Princeton game in the NCAA Tournament in 1989. That was a 1/2 punch that I knew he would never fully recover from - even though he “coached” for another 10 years. Except for the Iverson years Thompson’s last 10 Georgetown teams weren’t good - I think that he lost his fire, and some of his confidence, after he was badly outcoached by Carril.
Esherick - This one is easy for me. February 18, 2004. That’s the day that he lost to a St John’s team with 5 scholarship players, and that at certain points in the game were playing 5 walk-ons. He was already in trouble, but this game sealed his fate.
JT3 - March 22, 2013. That’s the day that we lost to Florida Gulf Coast. Thompson had already had the Davidson, Ohio, etc NCAAT failures, and had become a punching bag for Tournament analysts, but there was no coming back from the FGCU loss. I was at that game and you could see it in his face, and hear it in his post-fame comments.
Ewing - This might be the one with the largest variety of responses, but to me it was December 2, 2019 - the day that Akinjo and LeBlanc transferred. These 2 had been all-Big East freshmen the season prior (and Akinjo was named Newcomer of the Year) and were 2 starters. Not only did they leave - they left 7 games into the next season. I knew that from then on Ewing was going to have a tougher time recruiting, and that it would be impossible for him to have any continuity with his rosters. And other than the tail-end of the 20-21 season it has been pretty much straight downhill since the 2028-2019 season. Of course Ewing has had so many disasters that there are multiple correct answers to this question.
Thanks for indulging me - I am going a little stir crazy counting the days until Ewing is gone, and then anticipating the next ill-advised coaching hire that DeGioia will make a week or 2 later.
our last 4 coaches had peaked/weren’t going to succeed (Caution - you must be over the age of fifty to answer all 4)
JT 2 - I suspected that he had peaked when his 1988 Olympic team lost because of his inflexibility, but the final nail in his coffin was the Princeton game in the NCAA Tournament in 1989. That was a 1/2 punch that I knew he would never fully recover from - even though he “coached” for another 10 years. Except for the Iverson years Thompson’s last 10 Georgetown teams weren’t good - I think that he lost his fire, and some of his confidence, after he was badly outcoached by Carril.
Esherick - This one is easy for me. February 18, 2004. That’s the day that he lost to a St John’s team with 5 scholarship players, and that at certain points in the game were playing 5 walk-ons. He was already in trouble, but this game sealed his fate.
JT3 - March 22, 2013. That’s the day that we lost to Florida Gulf Coast. Thompson had already had the Davidson, Ohio, etc NCAAT failures, and had become a punching bag for Tournament analysts, but there was no coming back from the FGCU loss. I was at that game and you could see it in his face, and hear it in his post-fame comments.
Ewing - This might be the one with the largest variety of responses, but to me it was December 2, 2019 - the day that Akinjo and LeBlanc transferred. These 2 had been all-Big East freshmen the season prior (and Akinjo was named Newcomer of the Year) and were 2 starters. Not only did they leave - they left 7 games into the next season. I knew that from then on Ewing was going to have a tougher time recruiting, and that it would be impossible for him to have any continuity with his rosters. And other than the tail-end of the 20-21 season it has been pretty much straight downhill since the 2028-2019 season. Of course Ewing has had so many disasters that there are multiple correct answers to this question.
Thanks for indulging me - I am going a little stir crazy counting the days until Ewing is gone, and then anticipating the next ill-advised coaching hire that DeGioia will make a week or 2 later.
