Gtown's Mum on Coaching Search

Some mixed messages on Georgetown's search for a new head basketball coach. The New York Daily news writes:

Names on Georgetown wish list, according to our guy Clark Francis of Hoop Scoop, include John Thompson III of Princeton, Fran Dunphy of Penn, Billy Taylor of Lehigh, Mike Brey of Notre Dame and Tommy Amaker of Michigan. Apparently, Duke assistant Johnny Dawkins will stay put and appears to be strongest candidate for that job when Mike Krzyzewski steps down five years from now.

Hoyasaxa.com warns:

The search is mentioned in this link to the New York Daily News, though columnist Dick Weiss actually cites "Hoop Scoop", a Louisville-based recruiting web site, for a "Georgetown wish list". Caveat emptor.

The Georgetown search committee numbers only two and neither is talking to recruiting sites. No interviews have been announced to date and no schools have announced permission for Georgetown to interview candidates from their schools.

I wouldn't be surprised if Georgetown takes its time. Before administers fiddle with any short list, the school has to do some serious soul searching on what kind of program it wants to be when it grows up. Right now the the once-storied program is in shambles. Although (like the economy) the decline occured late in the last administration, Coach Escherick drove that program into the ground with his rudderless leadership and undisciplined street ball. I don't know how many games in the last two years where the Hoyas had a commanding lead and then blew it in the homestretch, with missed free throws and turnovers.

Any decent candidate should have serious reservations before accepting the job. Reservation Numero Uno: when will the team move out of the cavernous, always- empty, never-friendly MCI Center and into a newly minted on-campus facility? It's not that the student body lacks an interest. It's more that the team plays at a virtually neutral site on the other side of town. The team, its fans deserve better.

Many of the names listed above I've heard before, except for Brey who entertained several offers last year but opted to stay in South Bend. I've also heard Mike Jarvis's name uttered. But good money is on an inexperienced assistant such as Dawkins and the like. John Thompson III is an intriguing candidate, but would the expectations be too high? It would be similar to Joey Meyer succeeding his father Ray at DePaul in the '80s. The alumni practically ran little Joey out of town with pitchforks and haymakers.

Georgetown also has the option of "officially" abandoning the program altogether and concentrating on academics. The basketball team can downgrade to a lesser division similar to its other programs. It worked for the University of Chicago, which was a perenniel Big Ten champ (first Heisman winner from there) in football until one year it just jumped ship, landing in the netherworld of Division III.

However, somthing tells me Georgetown got used to its golden years and wants to be back on top. Assuming this is the case, Georgetown's best bet is to combine what the U of C did with the golden years. With it's academic reputation already stellar, why not try to emulate Duke, Stanford, and even Northwestern, emphasizing the "student" in student-athlete and becoming the gold standard in academics and athletics for the Big East. What team better to hold the spot?

The problem is now they just have to find the right coach, upstanding players, and a multimillion dollar gym.