NBA Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing was fired as the head coach of the Georgetown Hoyas men’s basketball team Thursday after six seasons.
Ewing was terminated from his coaching position by his alma mater following a difficult 80-48 loss Wednesday to the Villanova Wildcats in the first round of the Big East Tournament. Georgetown’s loss finished their season with a record of 7-25. It was the second straight year where the Hoyas failed to win ten games, according to Sports Reference.
Following the Hoyas being bounced out of the Big East tournament Lee Reed, the Director for Intercollegiate Athletics at Georgetown, said in a statement, “It has been a privilege to work with Patrick over these past years and I deeply appreciate all of his hard work and efforts to support our student-athletes and the men’s basketball program. We are grateful to all those who have supported this program through this time.”
Reed added, “We will immediately launch a national search for our next coach and look forward to a bright future for Hoya basketball.”
Thank you Patrick Ewing#HoyaSaxa pic.twitter.com/6BNwV4jziW
— Georgetown Hoops (@GeorgetownHoops) March 9, 2023
After being fired, Ewing graciously thanked the university and Georgetown President John J. DeGioia for giving him the opportunity to coach the club in the first place. The statement reads, “I am very proud to be a graduate of Georgetown University. And I am very grateful to President DeGioia for giving me the opportunity to achieve my ambition to be a head basketball coach. It is particularly meaningful to me to be in charge of the basketball program at my alma mater. I wish the program nothing but success. I will always be a Hoya.”
In six years as Georgetown’s head basketball coach, Ewing finished with a coaching record of 75-109, according to ESPN. (RELATED: New Orleans Pelicans’ Power-Forward Zion Williamson To Miss Two More Weeks With Hamstring Injury)
While Ewing’s coaching career at Georgetown will forever be remembered as a failure, he was one of the best players in the history of their basketball program. In Ewing’s four-year tenure with the Hoyas from 1981-1985, he was named as an All-American three times, won the national championship in 1984, and won the National Player of the Year Award in 1985, according to NCAA.com. The seven-foot center averaged 15.3 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 3.4 blocks per game during his playing days at the university.
After flopping so terribly as Georgetown’s head coach, I can’t imagine anyone in the college ranks or at the professional level giving Ewing another head coaching opportunity.