John Thompson III’s departure opens one of the country’s highest-profile coaching jobs at at a time when Indiana and Oklahoma State are also in the market.
Georgetown isn’t talking publicly about potential replacements, but there is at least one alumnus who comes up consistently in any discussion of the Hoyas, as well as a short list of coaches who are inevitably in the mix whenever there is an opening at a major program.
Expect some of these names to be in the mix:
• Former Hoya Patrick Ewing, 55, is currently an assistant coach with the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets and could be the favorite to land the job should he be interested. Ewing played four years for Georgetown and was the leader of the 1984 national championship team coached by Thompson’s father.
Ewing is a Georgetown legend who would be welcomed back with open arms, but he’s been an NBA assistant coach for more than 15 years and may not want to slide to the college ranks. He was considered for the Sacramento Kings’ head coaching position before current coach Dave Joerger became available.
• Rhode Island coach Danny Hurley, 44, led the Rams to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1999 this season, and has finished above .500 three of his five seasons as coach.
The Rams have seen improvement in each of Hurley’s five seasons as head coach, and were ranked in the top 25 nationally at the start of the season. Going from Rhode Island to Georgetown would be a big jump, but it could be one Hurley is ready to make.
• Tommy Amaker, 51, currently coaches Harvard and previously held head coaching positions at Michigan and Seton Hall. Amaker led Harvard to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances from 2012-15 and has made the Crimson relevant again.
He has previous experience coaching in the Big East and could be ready to return to a big-name program after spending a decade at Harvard.
• Tom Crean, 50, was recently let go by Indiana after spending the past nine years coaching the Hoosiers. Crean led the Hoosiers to four NCAA Tournament appearances and has plenty of experience coaching a big-time program.
Crean is one of the most experienced coaches on the market and will likely be looking to coach at a similar big-name program.
The school announced Thursday that former NFL Commissioner and Georgetown alum Paul Tagliabue will lead the national coaching search.
Whoever is tabbed as Thompson’s replacement will be without their top recruit for next season. Tremont Waters, a 5-foot-10 point guard from West Haven, Connecticut, will de-commit from Georgetown pending release from his National Letter of Intent. The news was confirmed by an Instagram post on Waters’ account.
“After observing everything that’s been occurring lately and thoroughly thinking of this next decision, I want to respectively remove myself from Georgetown University,” Waters wrote in the post.
As if losing their top recruit wasn’t tough enough, the Hoyas also lost last season’s second-leading scorer. L.J Peak announced Wednesday that he will be declaring for the NBA draft and signing with an agent. He averaged 16.3 points per game in 2017.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.