San Francisco Scuttlebutt: John Carroll Weekend 2023

What Ed Cooley and Lee Reed had to say at John Carroll Weekend

This past weekend was Georgetown’s latest John Carroll Weekend, which is described by the university as “a spirited weekend of cultural tours, intellectual programming, and cherished social events”. Basically, it’s a special reunion weekend for Georgetown alumni— especially the wealthier alumni— to take a weekend trip and catch up with one another.

Last year’s John Carroll Weekend was in Nashville, and was notable because of comments made by Paul Tagliabue to then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asking for her help in cracking down on NIL.

This year, Ed Cooley came to town, along with his new friend, Lee Reed. To my knowledge, Patrick Ewing never made an appearance at a John Carroll Weekend during his time as head coach, but Cooley is continuing his aggressive push to meet with fans and alumni and rebuild fan engagement.

Reed and Cooley spoke at a Q&A-style session as part of the alumni weekend in San Francisco. Here’s some of what they had to say, per multiple people in the room.

• Cooley wants to get the student support to a level where they get 4,100 (!) students on average to attend each Georgetown home game. They plan to particularly focus on engaging incoming freshmen in an attempt to rebuild support among students for Georgetown men’s basketball.

• Reed said that the program has identified $3,000,000 per year as the level of NIL budget they need to be competitive in today’s college basketball environment. Reed also said they plan on hiring for an NIL management/operations position at some point (it was not specified if that position would be specific to men’s basketball only, or to the whole athletic department). This $3 million target figure can fluctuate though, depending on donor support, as well as if the program uses the whole budget every season or carries over some unused funds into future seasons. Wouldn’t surprise me if that number increases eventually, if Cooley continues his early fundraising wizardry.

• At one point, Cooley was asked about non-conference scheduling, and gave a non-committal response. He said that the team will dictate what kind of competition they need to play against to be ready for Big East play.

• Cooley said his staff was in place but that they have one spot they have an offer out for still. (Note: This info came AFTER it was revealed that Kyron Cartwright and Matt Fallon were joining Cooley’s staff, but it’s still not known what position Cooley was referring to).

• Cooley didn’t comment much on any players on next year’s roster, only saying that they can’t comment on incoming players until they sign their National Letter of Intent.

• He did discuss roster construction philosophy though, saying that the team needs to have experience for when the bonus year of eligibility that players in college during COVID received runs out. Cooley said he is prioritizing transfers with multiple years of eligibility left, and is also seeking three to four players in the Class of 2024.

• One source in the room had this to say about Lee Reed’s comments regarding NIL: “My biggest takeaway was Reed’s almost resignation to NIL. He wishes it had guardrails. He wishes it was more scrutinized and less of a free for all. But they have to play in that area to win. Probably the biggest change from last year.”

• The same source added: “Reed did mention off-hand incredulously that some players are looking for seven-figure deals. Didn’t sound like he was in love with that.”

• In casual conversations with alumni and donors off-stage and at other JCW events, Ed Cooley is continuing to express a lot of confidence about the roster the team will have next season. He doesn’t seem worried about what awaits if Hunter Dickinson passes on Georgetown. We’ll see what happens.

(Note: Were you at John Carroll Weekend? Have any other insights or nuggets of conversation that isn’t covered here that other fans should know about? Shoot me a DM or email me.)