There are some things in college hoops that simply do not happen at the professional level. One of the biggest examples is coaching tenures. Currently at Temple, we are experiencing the issue with head coach Fran Dunphy. Admittedly, I like Fran. He is a Philly Big 5 lifer, a good recruiter, and widely liked by all his players, but he is at a point in his career where he is not a good in-game coach any more. The reason he still has a job is due to his attachment to Philly and a sense of loyalty from the Temple program, which is understandable. But Temple isn’t a top-tier program, so in other programs this sense of loyalty is unacceptable.
Georgetown is a historically national and dominant program, highlighted by their run in the 80s while coached by the elder John Thompson. In 2004, his son took the helm of the Hoyas and had a promising start to his tenure. Following his first tournament appearance in 2006, John Thompson III led the Hoyas to the 2007 Final Four. In the ten years after, Thompson only has six NCAA tournaments with the Hoyas, and 0 seconds played after the first weekend. That includes a loss as a two-seed in the first round of 2013. Since that huge upset at the hands of Florida Gulf Coast, the Hoyas have only made the tournament one time in four years. Now, the program is in free fall. In the last two seasons the Hoyas are 29-35, and would have finished in the bottom half of the Big East both times. On top of all that, he isn’t even reeling in recruits anymore, despite having the history and prestige of Georgetown on his side. He has not had a top-100 rated recruit on ESPN since D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera in the class of 2012. That is some mid-major level recruiting.
As much as I hate to say this as a Villanova fan, Georgetown deserves far better than what they are getting. This is a program with history and pride that should be a perennial Big East contender. John Thompson III has hit an absolute low now after losing to St. John’s in the first round of the Big East tournament. That’s not even mentioning him getting roasted by Chris Mullins in the second half of that game. He is not getting it done, and if he will not be fired because they don’t want to damage the relationship between the school and his father, then they need a new AD that will make sound, basketball decisions. It is a no-brainer at this point: John Thompson III must go.