John Thompson III won 3 Big East championships, made a Final Four, made the NCAA (8) or NIT (3) his first 11 years, was fired after 2 bad years and hasn't been hired since.
Article says that not only did Georgetown set a Big East record with 29 consecutive losses, their .051 winning percentage in conference play the last 2 seasons was the worst in all of D1.
(03-09-2023 11:15 PM)NJ2MDTerp Wrote: [ -> ]I hope GU turns it around. College basketball is fun in the DMV when UMD, GU and GMU are all playing well. On another note, St. John's may dump Mike Anderson in favor of Rick Pitino.
https://nypost.com/2023/03/09/st-johns-s...marquette/
UMD, GU & GMU are DC and the Beltway.
UVa has dominated the DMV since Tony Bennett arrived.
I could see the Hoyas having interest in Rick Pitino or Mike Brey.
I think Georgetown was able to overcome an antiquated athletic department model because their conference had some football-focused schools in the Old Big East, AND they had a Hall of Fame coach. But now that the Big East is 11 programs ALL with a really strong basketball tradition, no bad teams and no football-first teams, they're basically suffocating under the weight of running a Patriot League athletic department.
Half their conference doesn't care about the commissioner's cup, they care only about MBB NCAA bids. You've got schools who had ridiculously streamlined athletic departments so they could be good enough that the C5/C7 called them eventually (Xavier & Dayton were planning for the Big East split since at least 1995).
And Georgetown is funding 27 sports like they're Fordham or Cornell. I know, I know, Georgtown's MBB budget is 3rd in the Big East! But does that count the cost of renting out the NBA Arena? All of the Big East's schools besides UConn are generating almost all their athletics revenue from MEN'S BASKETBALL, and it's MBB revenue that funds every sport. So it stands to reason that the school with 27 sports is going to struggle to keep up with the school that has 15 sports.
Is there a John Thompson IV ready to coach the Hoyas?
(03-10-2023 02:48 AM)JSchmack Wrote: [ -> ]I think Georgetown was able to overcome an antiquated athletic department model because their conference had some football-focused schools in the Old Big East, AND they had a Hall of Fame coach. But now that the Big East is 11 programs ALL with a really strong basketball tradition, no bad teams and no football-first teams, they're basically suffocating under the weight of running a Patriot League athletic department.
Half their conference doesn't care about the commissioner's cup, they care only about MBB NCAA bids. You've got schools who had ridiculously streamlined athletic departments so they could be good enough that the C5/C7 called them eventually (Xavier & Dayton were planning for the Big East split since at least 1995).
And Georgetown is funding 27 sports like they're Fordham or Cornell. I know, I know, Georgtown's MBB budget is 3rd in the Big East! But does that count the cost of renting out the NBA Arena? All of the Big East's schools besides UConn are generating almost all their athletics revenue from MEN'S BASKETBALL, and it's MBB revenue that funds every sport. So it stands to reason that the school with 27 sports is going to struggle to keep up with the school that has 15 sports.
Georgetown won the men's soccer tournament in 2019 though so they seem to care about that sport for some reason. I think they have a winning program in men's lacrosse as well. I do find it odd though that none of the Big East schools minus UConn seem to emphasize women's basketball when they are literally basketball first schools. They always seem to underfund and half ass their women's programs.
Rick Pitino is still 70 years old. Dont care about how much energy he has. Why would he want a pressure filled job at his age ? He should be thinking about retirement.
It hurt my increasingly old man's heart seeing Mullin and Ewing unable to bring back the magic.
(03-10-2023 06:58 AM)darkdragon99 Wrote: [ -> ]Rick Pitino is still 70 years old. Dont care about how much energy he has. Why would he want a pressure filled job at his age ? He should be thinking about retirement.
Because a lot of these high level coaches are competitive psychopaths.
(03-10-2023 06:50 AM)darkdragon99 Wrote: [ -> ] (03-10-2023 02:48 AM)JSchmack Wrote: [ -> ]I think Georgetown was able to overcome an antiquated athletic department model because their conference had some football-focused schools in the Old Big East, AND they had a Hall of Fame coach. But now that the Big East is 11 programs ALL with a really strong basketball tradition, no bad teams and no football-first teams, they're basically suffocating under the weight of running a Patriot League athletic department.
Half their conference doesn't care about the commissioner's cup, they care only about MBB NCAA bids. You've got schools who had ridiculously streamlined athletic departments so they could be good enough that the C5/C7 called them eventually (Xavier & Dayton were planning for the Big East split since at least 1995).
And Georgetown is funding 27 sports like they're Fordham or Cornell. I know, I know, Georgtown's MBB budget is 3rd in the Big East! But does that count the cost of renting out the NBA Arena? All of the Big East's schools besides UConn are generating almost all their athletics revenue from MEN'S BASKETBALL, and it's MBB revenue that funds every sport. So it stands to reason that the school with 27 sports is going to struggle to keep up with the school that has 15 sports.
Georgetown won the men's soccer tournament in 2019 though so they seem to care about that sport for some reason. I think they have a winning program in men's lacrosse as well. I do find it odd though that none of the Big East schools minus UConn seem to emphasize women's basketball when they are literally basketball first schools. They always seem to underfund and half ass their women's programs.
DePaul women's hoops is rather strong, with the program often winning 20 games or more each year. But I do see your overall point about BE women's basketball.
(03-10-2023 07:01 AM)BcatMatt13 Wrote: [ -> ] (03-10-2023 06:58 AM)darkdragon99 Wrote: [ -> ]Rick Pitino is still 70 years old. Dont care about how much energy he has. Why would he want a pressure filled job at his age ? He should be thinking about retirement.
Because a lot of these high level coaches are competitive psychopaths.
Correct. They are blinded by their egos.
(03-10-2023 06:58 AM)darkdragon99 Wrote: [ -> ]Rick Pitino is still 70 years old. Dont care about how much energy he has. Why would he want a pressure filled job at his age ? He should be thinking about retirement.
Seven-time National Championship coach Nick Saban is age 71.
So is Super Bowl and *BCS champion Pete Carroll.
Five-time NBA champion Greg Popovich — who seems to recognize life is about more than basketball — is 74.
Maybe they enjoy their jobs?
(03-10-2023 09:49 AM)PeteTheChop Wrote: [ -> ] (03-10-2023 06:58 AM)darkdragon99 Wrote: [ -> ]Rick Pitino is still 70 years old. Dont care about how much energy he has. Why would he want a pressure filled job at his age ? He should be thinking about retirement.
Seven-time National Championship coach Nick Saban is age 71.
So is Super Bowl and *BCS champion Pete Carroll.
Five-time NBA champion Greg Popovich — who seems to recognize life is about more than basketball — is 74.
Maybe they enjoy their jobs?
Many coaches enjoy their jobs, P-Chop. No doubt. But that doesn't mean they should stay in their jobs and drive their respective programs into the ground.
There seemingly are lots of coaches whose egos don't allow them to look in the mirror and say, "I'm not getting the job done. I'm hurting the program. I need to step aside." We saw this with Phil Fulmer at Tennessee (a UT grad and an affable man who simply could not bring himself to step down for the good of the Vol football program and his alma mater).
That's the key point.
On that note, credit to Randy Edsall for realizing it and stepping back to take an administrative role. That allowed Jim Mora Jr to come in and take UConn FB to the next level.
Patrick Ewing has been my favorite basketball player for 40 years, and likely always will be.
But thank God finally. I opposed the hire from the git. Need to go outside the family and get a quality coach.
(03-10-2023 07:01 AM)BcatMatt13 Wrote: [ -> ] (03-10-2023 06:58 AM)darkdragon99 Wrote: [ -> ]Rick Pitino is still 70 years old. Dont care about how much energy he has. Why would he want a pressure filled job at his age ? He should be thinking about retirement.
Because a lot of these high level coaches are competitive psychopaths.
Exactly! Just look at Larry Brown - there aren’t enough NCAA violations in the world to keep him away from the bench.
If anything, I bet Rick Pitino specifically wants one last redemption story to cap off his career. Turning around one of the major Big East brands (whether it’s St. John’s or Georgetown) would seem to be a perfect fit.
(03-10-2023 05:15 AM)CliftonAve Wrote: [ -> ]Is there a John Thompson IV ready to coach the Hoyas?
Maybe its time for Georgetown to petition the Ivy League!
They already collude with them on student financial aid.
(03-10-2023 07:01 AM)BcatMatt13 Wrote: [ -> ] (03-10-2023 06:58 AM)darkdragon99 Wrote: [ -> ]Rick Pitino is still 70 years old. Dont care about how much energy he has. Why would he want a pressure filled job at his age ? He should be thinking about retirement.
Because a lot of these high level coaches are competitive psychopaths.
A lot of coaches, especially ones who tried the NBA and returned to college, just enjoy the teaching and development side of coaching: Making kids better at basketball over FOUR YEARS.
And Iona is a perfect place for that. Some coaches also hate the recruiting, scheduling, and fundraising stuff that comes with being a head coach.
I think you reach a point in your career where who you work for matters a lot more than where you work. At Iona, he can basically do what he wants to do, have someone else do the stuff he doesn't like doing, for as long as he wants -- because Iona isn't getting anyone else with a National Championship to coach them, probably ever.
I would not be surprised if that's the case and Iona is Pitino's last coaching job.