Deafening Silence: Will Georgetown Leadership Continue to Hide?
A continued lack of accountability and transparency from university leadership raises questions about Georgetown's commitment to fielding a top-tier, competitive men's basketball team moving forward.
When John Thompson III was fired by Georgetown, Georgetown President Jack DeGioia said in a statement, “We are committed to taking the necessary steps to strengthen our program and maintaining the highest levels of academic integrity and national competitiveness.”
There wasn’t much national competitiveness on display in front of a lifeless Capital One Arena on Sunday afternoon, as Connecticut easily dispatched of the Hoyas, 86-77, in a nationally-televised game on CBS.
In fact, Georgetown hasn’t been competitive at all in Big East play this season, as they look all but guaranteed to finish 0-19 in the conference. And yet, the silence from the university on the job status of Patrick Ewing grows louder and louder, and DeGioia’s stated commitment to fielding a nationally competitive team rings increasingly hollow.
The way that the university and athletic department are going about handling this season has become embarrassing and unacceptable. While schools like Nebraska put out late-season statements announcing that their own embattled and underachieving head coach, Fred Hoiberg, will be returning, Georgetown’s leadership continues to hide and hope that it can just ride out this excruciating nightmare of a season without showing a shred of accountability or transparency to its withering fanbase.
The amount of speculation about Patrick Ewing’s job status is only going to increase in the next couple of weeks, and it’s not fair to anyone— both the fans and Patrick Ewing himself— to let this speculation continue to run rampant.
If Georgetown intends to bring Ewing back, then a simple joint statement from athletic director Lee Reed and President DeGioia would nip this all in the bud. While it would anger many fans, surely, it would also end the speculation and turn the focus to finding some way (any way) to improve this team next season.
And yet, silence.
Does the administration at Georgetown think they can just bring Ewing back next season without any explanation to their fans about why they are bringing back a head coach with a career record of 30-64 in the Big East?
Do they think they can just pull a fast one on their fans and run this thing back next year like nothing has happened?
Ewing was asked by the Washington Post’s Gene Wang after the game on Sunday if he has thought about his future as head coach.
“Of course I want to be back here,” said Ewing. “But in this position, in this job, whatever happens will happen. I’m hoping I’ll be back and doing something that I love at a place that I love, and getting us back to being the king of the hill.”
That wasn’t a response you would give if you are certain that you will be returning as head coach next season. But still, there are no signs from any corner of the university that Ewing is on his way out. The only sign of potential change is rumblings of potential staff changes on the horizon. But nothing is certain at this point.
Georgetown men’s basketball is one of— if not the worst— high major college basketball teams this season. Patrick Ewing has a career record of 68-80 (.459). The program has not had a conference record above .500 under Ewing.
Jack DeGioia’s stated goal of being nationally competitive is not being met. What more does DeGioia or the Board of Directors need to see to know this experiment has run its course, and failed? Five years is more than enough time for any college coach.
If the program thinks it can get away with operating behind the same shroud of secrecy that began in the 80s under John Thompson Jr., it has badly miscalculated.
Fans are right to demand accountability from a program where losing is becoming the norm, with no apparent impetus for change.
If chief of staff Ronny Thompson is going to miss Senior Day for his team so that he can call a George Mason game for NBC Sports in Fairfax, why should fans of this team continue to care? Clearly the son of John Thompson Jr. doesn’t care, so why should the fans be held to a different standard?
Will Georgetown be brave enough to publicly own whatever decision it makes with Ewing in the coming weeks and be accountable to its fans for the first time in a long time? History tells us no, it will not.
This is the same university that made no public announcement of the contract extension that it gave to Ewing after winning the Big East Tournament but then getting demolished by Colorado in the NCAA Tournament.
It’s also the same university that still refuses to include Ronny Thompson on the team’s staff directory despite Thompson being a salaried employee of the university.
If this program can’t be honest and transparent with its fans, then the fans shouldn’t feel obligated to continue to spend their time and money on this program.
The worst case scenario for Georgetown when it hired Patrick Ewing is no longer approaching, it is here. It is inconceivable to bring back a head coach that has lost as many games as Ewing has over a five-year period, and yet, that seems to be where this thing is headed right now.
If that is the case, Georgetown will alienate a large segment of what remains of its dying fanbase, and everything that John Thompson Jr., Ewing, and so many others helped build will have been laid to waste.
It’s time for Jack DeGioia to live up to his words from 2017. Georgetown men’s basketball is on the precipice of long-term irrelevance. Keeping the status quo will push this program off the cliff for good. It is time for change, and there is no better time to start showing accountability and transparency to your fanbase than now.