Only weeks after parting ways with Coach John Thompson III, the son of its legendary coach John Thompson, Georgetown kept one of college basketball’s most prestigious jobs in the family by hiring the elder Thompson’s greatest star, Patrick Ewing, as the Hoyas’ new head coach, the university announced Monday.
Ewing, a three-time all-American at center, led the Hoyas to three Final Fours and their only national title (1984) before being drafted first over all in 1985 by the Knicks. He played 15 of his 17 N.B.A. seasons in New York, leading the Knicks to the 1994 and 1999 N.B.A. finals, and also won two Olympic gold medals, including one as a member of the 1992 Dream Team.
A college national player of the year and 11-time N.B.A. All-Star, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.
Georgetown did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Monday afternoon, but a post on the Hoyas’ official Twitter feed confirmed the hiring.
1984 @NCAA National Champion
11x @NBA All-Star for @nyknicks
2008 @Hoophall InducteeWelcome home @GeorgetownHoops Coach Patrick Ewing!
Ewing is an experienced coach, albeit at the professional level and not in running a team as a head coach. Since retiring in 2002, he has been an assistant for four N.B.A. teams, including the last four seasons with the Charlotte Hornets, most recently as associate head coach.
John Thompson III had been seen to falter after reaching the Final Four in 2007, in his third year as Georgetown’s head coach. This season, the Hoyas finished 14-18.
With ample tradition, membership in the Big East and central location on a recruiting motherlode — the so-called D.M.V., or the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia region, which produces numerous top-tier recruits — many believe Georgetown has the structure to be nationally competitive consistently.
