Patrick Ewing has been involved in basketball for a long time. He put together a Hall of Fame career as a player before moving on to coaching. He’s spent 13 years as an NBA assistant coach, but has never received an offer to serve as a head coach.
That could change following Georgetown’s decision to move on from John Thompson III. The school has yet to express any formal interest in Ewing, but current Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy wasn’t afraid to speak out on his behalf.
“I cannot imagine that you’re at Georgetown and you do not hire Patrick Ewing,” Van Gundy told reporters Monday. “I think that they’re incredibly fortunate that he would think about leaving the NBA to take that job.”
Ewing was an assistant under Van Gundy with the Orlando Magic from 2007-2012.
“Look first of all college basketball a large part of it is recruiting and I think Patrick’s got two things there,” he said. “Number one, he absolutely loves Georgetown University. Always has, always will, and so he can sell the school. The second thing is all these top level players, the main thing they’re thinking about is getting to the NBA. Well, you’ve got a Hall of Fame coach. I mean all of the best big kids have to consider Georgetown right at the top of the list. And on top of Patrick being there, the support he’s going to get from Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo, Sleepy Floyd going back, all the greats. Patrick’s beloved by all those people. And then you take the years he has spent in the NBA, really working hard at becoming a great coach and a great teacher. He’s got the full package.”
Van Gundy added that he doesn’t understand why Ewing has never been interviewed for a head coaching position.
“It’s confusing to me and a little bit disturbing,” Van Gundy said. “Even when people set out to hire ex-players and think that’s a real advantage. For whatever reason it almost always—other than Bill Cartwright—tends to be the guards they think about. It’s amazing to me they’ll go—and I don’t mean this as a knock on anybody—but they’ll go hire guys with no coaching experience and then you’ve got a Hall of Fame player with years and years and years of coaching experience in the league and they won’t hire him. I don’t get it but everybody looks at things differently.”
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