Patrick Ewing is Making It Clear Where His Heart Lies, and It's Not with Georgetown Anymore.

After a defiant response to a question about his future and a challenge issued to Jack DeGioia and the Board, it's time to wonder if Patrick Ewing has the program's best interests in mind anymore.

After yet another Big East loss, this time of the historic variety, with Georgetown setting the record for most consecutive Big East losses with 25 after losing to Villanova, 73-57, Patrick Ewing was asked by Washington Post reporter Kareem Copeland after the game about the Big East losing streak, as well as the statement made by Georgetown athletic director Lee Reed to the Associated Press on Wednesday afternoon about Ewing’s status.

While the program continues to be driven into the ground further by Ewing, one would think Ewing might take this time to accept responsibility, or express his appreciation to the fans for sticking by the team, or really…anything besides what he actually responded with.

“My future is my future,” said a defiant Ewing. “I’ll be the head coach at Georgetown until the President or Board decide for me to move on. Until that time, a friend of mine sent me a quote today, ‘It’s not how many times you get knocked down, it’s how many times you get up’.

“We got knocked down, so all we’re going to keep doing is getting back up.”

Kareem Copeland @kareemcopeland

Asked Patrick Ewing about the Big East record 25th straight conference loss, the statement made by athletic director Lee Reed earlier today and his future with the program.

I’ve wanted things to end gracefully for Ewing for a while here at Georgetown. I’ve avoided calling for him to be fired because I know that he wants the best for this school and has given so much to this program.

The best solution in my eyes, dating back to last spring, was an amicable mutual split between Ewing and the program that preserves his place as a beloved program icon while allowing Georgetown to begin a national search for a long-term solution at head coach that will help fix the program.

But I see now that that option is off the table. Hearing selfish, defiant responses like the one he gave last night only adds to the disdain I am starting to feel for Ewing. My patience for Ewing to exit peacefully has evaporated, and it’s being swiftly replaced by a rising anger.

How many times can we listen to Ewing deflect blame from himself or downplay the immense failures of this program under his watch? How many times are we going to listen to him say the team just needs to bounce back and play better? How many winless Big East seasons will it take to drive home the message to Ewing that he is not a competent college basketball coach?

Ewing talks about getting knocked down and getting back up, but fails to recognize that he and his team have yet to “get back up” after last season’s debacle. This program is stuck on the ground, laying in the fetal position, getting kicked around by the competition. There is no “getting back up” that Ewing seems to think will happen, at least under his watch.

We hear a lot from Ewing about how much he loves Georgetown. We’ve heard it since he took the job. But it’s hard to take him at his word anymore as he refuses to let someone else take control of this sinking ship that he is seemingly happy to keep steering in the wrong direction.

If he loved this program so much, would he really be OK with a 25-game Big East losing streak, and a 30-game losing streak to high major opponents? How much more time does he need to understand that he isn’t the man for this job?

Ewing was not set up for success at Georgetown from the start, but he is also not an innocent bystander who should be immune from criticism for his role in leading Georgetown basketball into the position it now finds itself in.

The time for treating Ewing with kid gloves and holding him in reverence is done. Ewing has lost the benefit of the doubt.

Hearing him almost dare Jack DeGioia and the Board of Directors to fire him in the Villanova presser was startling to hear. Jack and the Board are his last line of defense, and he knows it, and yet he still issued the equivalent of a public challenge to them to make a move. If not, he appears happy (?) to keep losing every Big East game, running his young players out of the program, and pissing off a fan base that used to completely adore him.

DeGioia is facing an immense amount of pressure from multiple directions to fire Ewing right now, but has resisted up to this point. For Ewing to name-drop DeGioia and say that he is staying on as head coach if it’s up to him is a miscalculation on Ewing’s part at best, and an obstinate challenge at worst.

Ewing saying that DeGioia or the Board will need to make a change now takes the option of a mutual split off the table, and promises to only make this situation uglier. Now, Georgetown and Ewing can’t release a joint statement where the university thanks Ewing for his efforts, and Ewing says it is his time for him to move on and/or retire. We know now that Ewing still does not want to quit or step down. That is the line he drew in the sand last night.

This leaves Georgetown with only one option now: to fire Ewing.

Perhaps that is what they have already decided, and that is why Ewing took the recalcitrant approach that he did on Wednesday night. Seeing the best player in Georgetown men’s basketball history take such an aggressive and provocative stance towards his alma mater in a public setting would be disappointing in most circumstances, but when it comes to Ewing, the time for pity and deference is over.

Each day that passes that Ewing remains as head coach at Georgetown is another that further taints his legacy at Georgetown. Ewing will always be credited for helping build this once-great program, and deservedly so, but he also shoulders a huge amount of responsibility for the death of this program too, alongside Ronny Thompson. He could decide to go quietly and gracefully, and keep his pristine legacy intact, but he seems hellbent on going out with guns blazing, reputation be damned.

At some point, the goodwill he has built up in this fan base has to run out. For this Georgetown fan, it has. Patrick Ewing can only do so much to show us he cares more about putting his best interests ahead of those of the university’s. At some point, we should just believe him.

They say that sometimes when you love someone (or something), you have to let it go. Patrick Ewing, on the other hand, seems fixated on clinging to this program and dragging it down with him to the bitter end. To me, that doesn’t seem like something someone would do if they truly loved a basketball program.

Actions speak louder than words, but when both actions and words tell you the same thing, it’s time to believe the person that they come from. The time has come to fire Patrick Ewing, before his selfish actions harm this program further.