Georgetown Headed in the Right Direction: ‘The Athletic’ on the Hoyas after Year One of the Ewing Era

The Athletic’s Eamonn Brennan has penned a great piece on the Georgetown program after Year One of the Ewing Era. The entire article, entitled “How do you like him now? A year under his belt, Patrick Ewing has Georgetown headed in the right direction” can be found RIGHT HERE, and the below blurbs are copied here with the author’s permission. By the way, The Athletic is excellent and you should all totally subscribe to The Athletic. I did, and I even got a t-shirt out of it!

On the viral Ewing- Marcus Derrickson “Do You Work On That Shot?” clip:

By the time the game was over, and well into the next day, the phone of Georgetown assistant Robert Kirby was battered by incoming messages and calls. “I can’t tell you how many coaches from different levels, high school to junior college on up, called me,” Kirby says. “It drew a lot of attention. Fans saw it, and they thought it was awesome. But the coaches at places where we have to go into, they saw it too. The parents of kids we’re going after, they saw it. And they loved it.”

On the current feeling of the fanbase on the Georgetown program:

Five months later, there is an undeniable sense of progress on The Hilltop. Fans who long lamented the program as stale suddenly feel refreshed. On the floor, Ewing has broken with years of the dogmatic Princeton offense, ushering in the more modern style of play he coached for 15 years as an NBA assistant. Off the floor, Ewing’s personality has revitalized the way outsiders relate to the program; fans await the promising 2018 recruiting (and transfer) class almost as eagerly as audio of the Hoyas’ next timeout. “Georgetown basketball is cool again,” says Andrew Geiger, longtime editor of CasualHoya.com. Now what?

On recruiting:

Yet Ewing proved a quick study. He put faces to those names, adjusted to the demands on his attention, meticulously budgeted his time. He resolved to make and take the endless phone calls required. And he leaned on his assistants, including Kirby, whose 33-year tenure on D-I sidelines is exactly as long as Ewing’s playing and coaching career combined. “They do an outstanding job of teaching me all of the things I need to learn about the college game in terms of recruiting,” Ewing says. “Who I need to know, who I need to say hello to, all that part. And the coaching part, I already know that.”

On the recruiting pitch:

In any case, Ewing will keep making more or less the same pitch he has been making since he arrived on campus last spring: You want to get better? You want to go to the league? I’m Patrick Ewing. Let me help you.

“Who better to educate them about it than somebody that spent 17 years playing (in the NBA) and 14 years coaching?” Ewing says. “That’s one of the great things about being me.”

On the future:

One year into his tenure, Ewing is happy to admit he’s still learning. Georgetown still has a long way to go. But the cloud of doom has lifted. It’s a good place to start.

Great stuff all around by Brennan and The Athletic.

Georgetown is cool again.