The Patrick Ewing era at Georgetown has come to an end.
After an abysmal 7-25 season, which culminated in a 48-80 thrashing by Villanova in the first round of the Big East Tournament on Wednesday, the school decided to part ways with the program’s most famous player.
“Patrick Ewing is the heart of Georgetown basketball,” Georgetown President John J. DeGioia said in a statement. “I am deeply grateful to Coach Ewing for his vision, his determination, and for all that he has enabled Georgetown to achieve. Over these past six years, he was tireless in his dedication to his team and the young men he coached and we will forever be grateful to Patrick for his courage and his leadership in our Georgetown community.”
Georgetown hired the Hoyas legend in 2017 to much fanfare but his tenure, unfortunately, never lived up to the hype.
In six seasons, Ewing amassed a 75-109 record with only one winning season. The highlight of his tenure came in the 2020-21 season, when the team went 13-13, won the Big East Tournament and made it to the NCAA Tournament. That pandemic-shortened season was surprising considering that six games were canceled or postponed and Ewing contracted Covid twice, including one bout that left in hospitalized in May 2020.
The severe decline of the program was too obvious to overlook. The Hoyas went 6-25 and 7-25 over the last two seasons, which included a 29-game conference losing streak.
That resulted in an end that everyone knew was coming this season
Ewing knew it was coming and showed nothing but love for his Alma mater.
“I am very proud to be a graduate of Georgetown University,” said Ewing in a statement. “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.”
So as the Ewing era comes to a sad close, the program looks to start a new era, one that will probably not include any connections to the late, great John Thompson Jr., who passed away in 2020.
“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. We will immediately launch a national search for our next coach and look forward to a bright future for Hoya basketball,” said Lee Reed, Director for Intercollegiate Athletics at Georgetown.
Could Ewing make a jump back to the NBA? We’ll all have to wait and see.
