Georgetown and Ed Cooley Both Take a Risk on Each Other - With Hope For a Massive Payoff

Georgetown and Ed Cooley are betting that they can both help each other level up. With Cooley's coaching ability and Georgetown's resources, that isn't a bad bet to make.

Many would call the decision to hire Ed Cooley as Georgetown’s next head coach a “safe hire”. But the decision— for both school and head coach— was anything but a safe choice for either side when you dig a little deeper.

And perhaps that’s why Monday felt so invigorating as a fan of Georgetown: to ride the high of landing the school’s top coaching target, while also feeling the simmering anxiety that comes from the inherent risk of poaching a Big East rival’s head coach— a move that invites backlash and criticism of the university, and one that could blow up in the school’s face if Cooley can’t take things to another level with the resources that he will have at his disposal at Georgetown.

In a coaching search that Georgetown University cannot afford to get wrong, to see the school move aggressively and decisively to target the man to lead its men’s basketball program into a new era is refreshing, after seeing the university dawdle and delay during its last coaching search, which led to it hiring Patrick Ewing.

In Ed Cooley, Georgetown has found a charismatic leader, and someone who knows how to run a major college basketball program successfully— on and off the floor. Ed Cooley can help restore the ties between program and student body, between program and fanbase, and between program and city. At a school like Georgetown, that matters— or at least it used to.

Those relationships, that emotional bond between team and community, has been lost in the last 5+ years. Cooley, aside from his coaching acumen, has proven to be not just a fine basketball coach, but a community leader too. Cooley is someone who knows how to bring people together and unite them behind one common purpose.

But there is risk too. And that’s OK. Because there was going to be risk involved no matter who Georgetown hired (yes, even with Rick Pitino).

For Georgetown, the risk is with paying a top-10 salary for a coach with only one Sweet Sixteen appearance on his resume in 12 seasons at Providence.

The university also has put an enormous target on its back among its Big East peers after largely going behind the backs of Providence College leadership to get this deal done with Cooley. Providence athletic director Steve Napolillo said on Monday that he was not contacted by Georgetown about its desire to speak with Cooley until Sunday morning.

While the school did nothing wrong in agreeing to terms with Cooley, the fact of the matter is that the move will not be viewed kindly by its Big East rivals, and will lead to contentious feelings for a while to come— especially with Providence. Unwritten rules, and such.

Cooley is the first head coach in the history of the Big East to move within the conference to another school. Georgetown is in uncharted waters right now, and is sure to have ruffled some feathers. The potential fallout for the school with other Big East schools will be interesting to monitor in the coming years.

For Cooley, the risk is even greater. The damage he has already done to his image and reputation with the Providence College fanbase and community is significant— and perhaps even permanent. To put it kindly, Cooley did not handle his exit from Providence with aplomb and grace. He will pay a very real price for that, especially when he returns to boos and jeers next season when Georgetown travels to play Providence.

The expectations at Georgetown will be much different than they were at Providence for Cooley. At Providence, Cooley had both low expectations and the connection as a native of Providence. He was beloved there. He could do very little wrong, as long as he stayed at Providence.

But now he is off to Georgetown, a Big East rival. All that goodwill he built up is erased.

With the salary that he is making at Georgetown, the bar will be raised considerably higher for Cooley. One Sweet Sixteen appearance in 12 years will not cut it. He will be expected to make the NCAA Tournament almost every year. Sweet Sixteen appearances will need to come at a faster clip than once every 12 years at Georgetown. For the salary he is set to earn, making the Elite Eight and Final Four should be the standard now.

In 12 seasons at Providence, Cooley has one Big East Tournament title, one Big East regular season title, three NCAA Tournament wins, and and a 118-99 record in the Big East. At the salary he is going to make at Georgetown now, that type of resume will not cut it.

For a coach known for his sterling reputation and top-notch character, it is surprising to see Cooley, a native of Providence, Rhode Island, depart Providence in such a hasty (and perhaps insensitive) way for a job that will carry such lofty expectations and pressure to get results. Questions will be asked about why Cooley decided to leave now, even if Georgetown was indeed his dream job and he just wanted a new challenge.

We may never know the answers to those questions. Ultimately, it is Cooley’s choice to make. It’s a massive gamble with significant risk, but also enormous upside too.

And that’s what makes this hire so exciting as a Georgetown fan: upside.

Much is made of the “high floor” that Cooley brings with him to this job, and rightfully so. But not enough is made of what Cooley can do with the significant resource advantage that Georgetown has over Providence. The upside that Cooley has at Georgetown— with its superior facilities, bigger operating budget, superior NIL warchest, and richer local talent base to recruit from— is major, and should enable Cooley to level up as a coach.

Cooley has overachieved at every head coaching job he has had. In fact, of Providence’s 14 winning records in conference play during its 44 years in the Big East, Ed Cooley has been the coach for eight of them.

His 3-6 record in the NCAA Tournament gets picked on, but his critics often leave out that those three wins are the same amount of tournament wins that Providence had in the previous 24 years after Rick Pitino left the Friars program.

From 2014-2023, Providence made it to the NCAA Tournament seven out of those nine years with Ed Cooley at the helm. Before that, the Friars only advanced to the NCAA Tournament seven times in 27 years from 1987-2013.

Fact of the matter is, Ed Cooley has consistently done more with less at the schools he has coached at. Providence is a very hard place to win consistently, and yet Cooley has managed to do that pretty well during his 12 seasons as a Friar.

Now, Georgetown is betting that Ed Cooley as a head coach at Georgetown will be a better head coach than Providence head coach Ed Cooley was. They are not paying for previous performance, but instead for what they believe to be future production. It’s anyone’s guess how that will end up…and that risk of the unknown should be both exciting, because of what Cooley has shown he can do, and anxiety-inducing, because of the razor-thin margin for error that Georgetown has with this hire.

Ed Cooley is everything that Georgetown needs in this moment. Hopefully, Georgetown will be everything that Cooley needs too, and this new partnership will be one that brings Georgetown into a fresh, new era. For now, the school is off to a strong start. Now, it’s on Cooley to deliver and reward Georgetown’s confidence in him as the man to lead them into this next phase of Georgetown men’s basketball.