Two Names Emerge as Frontrunners in Georgetown's Coaching Search

While buzz for Ed Cooley to Georgetown gets louder, another name is in the running to be the next Georgetown head coach.

Two names have emerged as the leading candidates for the Georgetown head coaching position: Providence’s Ed Cooley and Penn State’s Micah Shrewsberry.

Cooley, whose Providence team was eliminated in the Big East quarterfinals by UConn on Thursday, is widely viewed by many as the frontrunner for the position, but skepticism remains from several sources close to him that he will actually sign on the dotted line with Georgetown, and leave behind everything he has built at Providence.

Cooley and Georgetown are likely to discuss the position in greater detail when Providence’s season ends, but it is no sure thing that Cooley will make the move, even if Georgetown blows him away with a highly lucrative offer, which will be required if Cooley is to make the move away from Providence.

In conversations with multiple sources, Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry has emerged as another serious contender for the Georgetown job. Georgetown athletic director Lee Reed has been in contact with representatives for Shrewsberry already, and discussions are expected to continue.

Penn State’s season is still ongoing, with the Nittany Lions set to take on Indiana in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals on Saturday afternoon. To get to that point, Penn State (21-12, 10-10 Big Ten) scored consecutive upsets against seventh-seeded Illinois in the opening round of the tournament, and then Northwestern, the #2 seed in the tournament, in the quarterfinal round.

Shrewsberry, who was previously an associate head coach under Matt Painter at Purdue, and before that, an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics under Brad Stevens, is only in his second season at Penn State. Over the course of two seasons, he has a career record of 34-29 as head coach.

After going 14-17 in his first season, Shrewsberry has Penn State on the verge of its first NCAA Tournament bid since 2011. Saturday’s semifinal matchup against Indiana will be Penn State’s first appearance in the Big Ten Tournament semis since 2018.

In what will surely be music to Georgetown fans’ ears, Shrewsberry led Penn State to the top scoring defense in the Big Ten in 2021-22, and guided the Nittany Lions to their best defensive season in 11 years, allowing only 65 points per game.

Shrewsberry and his staff signed the highest-ranked recruiting class in Penn State men’s basketball history in November 2021, less than eight months into his tenure at Penn State.

Currently, Penn State has the 30th-ranked recruiting class in the Class of 2023, according to 247Sports.

While several key stakeholders around the Georgetown basketball program continue to push Rick Pitino’s candidacy for the position internally, there continues to be very little momentum for Pitino at Georgetown right now, barring a change of heart by Georgetown President Jack DeGioia.

While no decision has been made, and discussions with other candidates and their agents will surely occur as Georgetown conducts a national search for its next head coach, Georgetown’s search appears increasingly focused on Cooley and Shrewsberry at this stage.