Georgetown Hoyas Head Coaching Search: The Latest Rumors

There was a flurry of activity yesterday as Georgetown Athletic Director Lee Reed and Vice Chair of the Board of Directors Paul Tagliabue continue their pursuit of the Hoyas next coach.

The first and most significant news was that per CBS Sports, Texas coach Shaka Smart and Notre Dame coach Mike Brey told Georgetown that they were not interested in leaving their current positions.

Reaction: Good for Reed and Tagliabue to go after the big fish. Either of these two would have been homerun hires. Two big takeaways here are 1) the Hoyas are offering a bunch of cash, and 2) the role of John Thompson, Jr. at Georgetown remains murky.

On the money aspect, the fact the school is willing to open up the coffers for this position will ensure that whoever the next coach is, it will be a good one.

On JT2, it would be naive to think that there would be any clarity regarding his role next season just 5 days after his son was fired as head coach. One of Tagliabue’s roles in these negotiations is to discuss this with the potential new hire and try to answer questions as best he can. The reality now appears to be that JT2 will be involved in some way next season, but someone is going to have to be able to tell him that he isn’t going to be able to be at every practice and coach the team from the comfort of his chair.

The name that started to surface yesterday is St. Mary’s (CA) coach Randy Bennett. Bennett would be an interesting choice given other names out there and his past that includes being suspended for NCAA violations, but he is an excellent coach and his teams play hard.

Reaction: Given the source of the Bennett rumors I am skeptical as to whether or not he is a leading candidate, but hey, it gives us something to discuss while we twiddle our thumbs.

Danny Hurley update:

Reaction: If your a Hoyas fan that wants Hurley to be the next coach, this is the kind of statement you’re happy to see right now.

Today:

Reaction: Not sure what to make of this, as it appeared Reed/Tags were doing just fine on their own in an audition for True Detective 3. The suggestion that this firm is a move towards Ewing is perhaps misleading, but the hiring of a search firm might create a necessary barrier when the Board ultimately votes. To put it another way, it would be cleaner for the Board to vote on a recommendation from an independent search firm than from a recommendation from the current AD and someone who sits on the Board. It’s also possible that this was a demand from Nike, which could have requested this independent party get involved in order to assuage its own Board (on which JT2 sits) if and when it discusses its contract with the school moving forward.

I ripped the below from comments that were left on this site yesterday that I believe accurately depict where we are:

▼I don't think that matters. I did, however, see an interesting post on the URI board, from a Providence fan:

"I have good friend who is a Georgetown alum, and while he is not directly involved in anything related to this coaching search process, he is close with a couple of folks who would know more than most. Here’s what he told me earlier today. Figured I would pass along what I was told.

- Cooley was never "formally contacted" about the job (whatever that means)

- They were prepared to make a break the bank offer for Shaka Smart but he declined their initial overture

- Mike Brey was the next home run possibility and he took a day to make up his mind, but decided to stay at ND. It never got to the point of negotiation with Brey.

- Amaker’s slam dunk candidacy was largely a media creation and he was never at the top of the list.

- There is a power struggle going on down there between a couple of different factions. There’s a group that wants Ewing and a group that wants a fresh face. At this point it is still unclear which direction that will head in. Ewing would have more support if it was known that he would accept if offered, but at to this point, he has been lukewarm at best.

- If it goes in the non-Ewing direction, Hurley is the top candidate. They have been in contact. My friend was unsure how interested Hurley is in Georgetown.

For what it’s worth, my contact is in favor of Ewing, but expects Hurley to be offered sometime this week. He said they want a resolution to this before the Final Four."

Could all be BS, but that sounds fairly informed…

Posted by I.C.C. Sabathia on Mar 28, 2017 | 6:30 PM up reply unrec (18)

I think this is a great job and all, but...

- Smart is only two years into a Power-5 job (football term, but still relevant re: athletics budget, profile) with a great recruiting class inbound.

- Brey has a consistently competitive program in the best basketball conference in the country.

- Ewing is already royalty at Georgetown and wants an NBA job.

- Cooley, according to a few seemingly credible accounts, has not been approached. No reason to piss off your superiors by begging for a job in your conference that you have no reason to believe you’re in the running for.

Even independent of the complicated Thompson politics — and I don’t think many of us know exactly what Big John’s role is going forward — these guys are making perfectly rational choices turning us down. If you’re Brey or Smart, you’re one title away from your current program being perceived as pretty close to as good as Georgetown’s, even from a broad historical lens. Assuming you’re fairly confident in your own coaching abilities, why uproot everything and take on a rebuild, even a prestigious one? If you’re Ewing, why risk alienating a community where you’re already royalty by doing a job you’ve never trained for and you’re not sure you want?

I think the Georgetown job is a great one, and the admin absolutely did the right thing in swinging for the fences to begin the search. I also don’t think it reflects that negatively on Georgetown’s current position that these candidates turned us down.

Posted by St. Patrick on Mar 28, 2017 | 7:29 PM up reply rec (8) flag

For anyone freaking out about Smart, Brey and Cooley

Just realize that nothing in the past 24 hours has really changed. Those three were all longshots going into this. To find out they’re not interested just gets us back to the "realistic" pool of candidates we’ve been nitpicking. And that’s not a knock on Georgetown or our prominence, as all three had strong reasons to stay where they are. Apart from that supposed unnamed source associated with Smart, no one is saying that the Thompson family shadow is an impediment.

Posted by rightsaidsead on Mar 28, 2017 | 7:42 PM reply unrec (5)

First time poster, long time reader

I’ve been reading these comment sections for years, always been a huge Georgetown fan (graduated in ‘11 and in law school [’17/18 God willing]) and first wanted to introduce myself.

I was 100% behind Shaka, I think he’d be an important part of the culture of Georgetown basketball—the kente cloth, what Big John means to college basketball—but for some reason I feel like the chapter isn’t closed on him.

As far as who should take the job, honestly, Crean. There are many things about him that are annoying, like his face, but he rebuilt Indiana into something respectable and he seems like a class guy (he attended a women’s IU basketball game right after getting fired) which I think speaks volumes about his character. I think he could rebuild Georgetown and hand us off to either Shaka, or, someone who I think has talent: Christian.

His "mayhem" style of defense is great, but maybe he needs more time to develop. His love of Georgetown and knowing what Georgetown means really underlined that he has the character to take this job.

Posted by BuckeyeHoya on Mar 28, 2017 | 9:53 PM reply unrec (9)

I would expect more movement today, but in the interim vote in the below mini contests.