“We’re not an attentive team. I guess we’re checking out chicks in the stands.”- Red Sox outfielder Johnny Damon
When asked about Georgetown basketball, CBS college basketball announcer Billy Packer has noted that Georgetown’s greatness was built on the larger-than-life personality of a single coach: John Thompson Jr.
It’s a valid point. When Thompson reigned, our college hoopsters were among the most feared in the country. Almost as soon as he left we fell apart under Craig Esherick, a really nice guy … and a really mediocre coach.
But what Packer fails to appreciate is that his statement is a truism about college basketball in general rather than an insightful comment about the Hoyas alone. Every college program is the manifestation of its coaches talent. Even traditional powers like North Carolina can fall off the map, as they did under former coach Matt Doherty. Remeber when UMass had Marcus Camby and rocked the country under head coach John Calipari? Well, he’s now led two straight teams into the NCAA tournament at Memphis while his former employer has struggled through two awful, losing seasons. UConn before Jim Calhoun was garbage. Now they’re as powerful as any program in the country.
No one may be able to bring Georgetown back to its former greatness, but if anyone can do it John Thompson III might be the guy. He’s intensely competitive, and he knows how to build a program. If Packer’s comments and Thompson Jr.’s career teach us anything, it’s that sometimes a coach’s will defines a program. If that’s true, GU may have just done well for itself.
