Patrick Ewing fired as Georgetown men's basketball coach
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 08: Primo Spears #1 of the Georgetown Hoyas dribbles during the first half against the Villanova Wildcats in the first round of the Big East Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 08, 2023 in New York City.
WASHINGTON - Patrick Ewing was fired as men’s basketball coach at Georgetown on Thursday after the latest in a series of rough seasons at the school he led to a national championship as a player in the 1980s.
The school announced that it "has begun a national search for new leadership."
Ewing was never a head coach at any level of the sport until getting the job with the Hoyas in 2017, and he leaves after a half-dozen years with a record of 75-109. His last game was an 80-48 loss to Villanova on Wednesday night in the first round of the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden, the arena where Ewing was a star for the NBA’s New York Knicks for so many years.
Georgetown went 7-25 this season, including 2-18 in regular-season conference play, a schedule capped by a 40-point loss to Creighton. Ewing presided over a 29-game Big East losing streak that began in March 2021 and ended this January, the most consecutive defeats in league history.
The past two seasons were particularly poor: The Hoyas won a combined total of 13 games while losing 50, a winning percentage of .206.
Ewing’s tenure included only one winning season, zero victories in the NCAA Tournament and just one appearance in the Big Dance. It’s a far cry from the sort of success the program enjoyed when the 7-foot-tall Ewing was patrolling the paint as an intimidating, shot-blocking force at center decades ago.