Georgetown Takes a Home Run Swing with Hire of Kevin Nickelberry
The boom-or-bust hire of former LSU assistant Kevin Nickelberry could pay major dividends for the Hoyas, quickly, on the recruiting trail. But there is risk too. And that's alright!
Georgetown made its first splash of the offseason on Thursday, announcing that former LSU assistant coach Kevin Nickelberry was joining Patrick Ewing’s coaching staff as assistant coach/recruiting coordinator.
"I'm excited about coming back home - I grew up in DC and I, like so many others, was a Georgetown fan. I am ready to hit the ground running and help Coach Ewing achieve his goals of restoring Georgetown Basketball to national prominence,” said Nickelberry via a team press release.
“The DC area has always been good to me and my career and I am excited to be able to recruit locally as well as nationally because Georgetown is, and always will be, a national brand."
The hire of Nickelberry marks a notable shift in approach by Georgetown, but is a positive step in the right direction for a team that still has a lot of boxes to check off before next season begins.
For the “holier than thou” crowd of Georgetown fans that insist that Georgetown only wants to win “the right way”, this move will likely not be received with loud applause. Nickelberry was an assistant at LSU, who just fired head coach Will Wade after the NCAA hit Wade with several major alleged rules violations stemming from the FBI bribery and recruiting probe.
To think that Nickelberry was somehow unaware of how Wade and his other assistants did business on the recruiting trail would be naive to say the least. But, in Nickelberry’s defense, he was not named in any of the violations that the NCAA handed down upon Wade, and his name never came up in the FBI investigation. Thus, why he was chosen as LSU’s interim head coach once Wade was fired.
It should also be noted that Nickelberry was accused by two former Howard University men’s basketball players, in a lawsuit, of verbally and emotionally abusing them, among other allegations, back in 2018. Further details on that lawsuit, and the allegations contained within it, can be found here.
Now that that’s out of the way, we can focus on the good stuff.
You wanted a DC recruiter, Hoyas fans? Well you got him. Before coaching at LSU, Nickelberry was the head coach at Howard from 2010-19. He has extensive connections in the DMV, and his presence on the Georgetown coaching staff should quickly pay dividends.
High school and AAU coaches from the area were buzzing on Thursday morning about the hire, and had nothing but good things to say.
Already, Georgetown looks poised to welcome in a rapid influx of elite talent in the coming weeks, as the Hoyas are seen as top contenders to bring in Brandon Murray, Efton Reid, and Alex Fudge, all from LSU. Murray announced he was entering the transfer portal on Thursday afternoon, and Reid and Fudge shouldn’t be too far behind.
Adam Zagoria of ZAGSBLOG.com confirmed our report on Thursday night.
Needless to say, bringing in all three players would be an incredible recruiting coup, especially for a team that is coming off a 21-game losing streak and went 0-19 in the Big East.
Murray, who was recruited by Georgetown and had them in his final list, was ranked #82 overall in the Class of 2020, according to 247Sports. He is from Baltimore, and played at Baltimore Polytechnic before transferring to IMG Academy for a postgrad year.
Reid, from Richmond, Virginia, has a pre-existing relationship with Georgetown, but did not have them in his final list of schools. LSU won a bidding war for his commitment against Ohio State, in what was a *very* tumultuous recruitment. Reid was ranked #27 overall in the Class of 2021, and was the #3 center overall in the class.
Fudge is the only one without an apparent prior connection to Georgetown. The 6’8” small forward from Jacksonville, Florida was ranked 57th overall in the Class of 2020, but did not play much at LSU this season, averaging 13.9 minutes and only notching 3.3 points and 3.2 rebounds per game.
In addition to Nickelberry’s ability to bring these guys in from the Bayou, Nickelberry also has a relationship with two top targets for Georgetown in the Class of 2023: Brandon Gardner and Jahnathan Lamothe. With Nickelberry on staff now, he will allow Georgetown to seamlessly continue pursuit of both players, opening up some exciting possibilities for what the Hoyas’ Class of 2023 could look like if Nickelberry can seal the deal with one— or both— players.
Notably, Nickelberry didn’t waste time trying to get another elite 2023 prospect in the Blue & Gray already. Marvel Allen, a 5-star point guard from West Palm Beach, Florida, who de-committed from LSU just days ago, announced via Twitter on Thursday night that he had been offered by Georgetown already.
According to a source, Georgetown is already seen as the new frontrunner for Allen, who is ranked #18 overall in the Class of 2023 by 247Sports. Allen and Nickelberry have a close relationship, and Allen specifically mentioned Nickelberry, along with Will Wade, in his de-commitment statement.
Nickelberry’s hiring has a chance to be as impactful as any assistant coach in college basketball this offseason when it comes to recruiting. And all parties seem to be aligned on what Nickelberry is being brought in to do, having given him the “recruiting coordinator” title in addition to assistant coach. That’s not a title that Georgetown has given to any assistant in the past, and speaks to the major role that Nickelberry will play, both locally and nationally, for Georgetown on the recruiting trail.
Under Patrick Ewing, Georgetown has not taken a home run swing like this very often, if at all. If all goes well, the talent in this program figures to take a massive leap in quality.
But there is risk too. Can Nickelberry be as effective of a recruiter at Georgetown as he was at LSU? That remains to be seen.
LSU has significantly more financial resources to offer to players who come play there, especially now that NIL makes it far easier to pay player above the table. NIL is still a glaring weakness of Georgetown’s. If Nickelberry can’t be the same recruiter here as he was at LSU, this move could backfire on Patrick Ewing, badly.
A boom-or-bust type hire like this is exciting, though. There is finally reason for fans to have some level of optimism as the summer approaches. But Georgetown almost had to make a move like this. When you go 0-19 in the Big East, these are the kinds of big moves that you need to take to try and shake things up. It’s the sign of a desperate program. There’s no shame in admitting the desperation. Frankly, it’s refreshing to see them take a gamble like this and start to operate like a modern college basketball program. Now, we see if this gamble pays off. In this writer’s opinion, it’s more likely to work out than not.
And don’t forget, Georgetown still has at least one assistant coaching spot open. Could they hire another DMV recruiting ace like former LaSalle and Louisville assistant Kenny Johnson? Is Mike Pegues an option if he doesn’t get the GW job? Stay tuned.