DeGioia continues to support Thompson’s leadership of men’s basketball

The Georgetown men’s basketball team (15-18, 7-11 Big East) just finished its worst season in 44 years, but University President John DeGioia continues to offer his support for current Head Coach John Thompson III.

In an emailed statement to The Voice, Senior Director for Communications Rachel Pugh wrote that President DeGioia looks forward to “supporting Coach Thompson in his leadership of the team next year.”

Alex Boyd

“President DeGioia’s expectations remain the same—that the program will continue to represent our university with the integrity that has always characterized Georgetown: our student athletes will achieve academically, we will prepare young men for the future beyond Georgetown and that the team will be competitive on a national level,” said Pugh.

DeGioia hired Thompson to replace Craig Esherick as head coach in April 2004. In his 12 seasons on the Hilltop, Thompson’s teams have made eight NCAA Tournament appearances, including a Final Four run in 2007, and have won three Big East regular season championships and one Big East Tournament.

Recently, however, the Hoyas have missed the NCAA Tournament two out of the last three seasons and have not made it past the first weekend of the Tournament since their Final Four run in 2007. This season also marked the first time that the Hoyas did not play in a postseason tournament since 2004, as well as for the first time under Thompson.

According to most recent financial disclosure forms, Thompson is the highest-paid University employee and highest-paid coach in the Big East Conference. During the 2013-14 season, Thompson earned $3,121,883 in total compensation. Chief Investment Officer Michael Barry  ($891,286) and DeGioia ($875,304) were the next two highest-paid University employees. The next two highest-paid coaches in the Big East were Villanova’s Jay Wright ($2,477,245) and former DePaul Head Coach Oliver Purnell ($2,328,720).