Georgetown Fires Patrick Ewing After 80-48 loss To Villanova

Source: Mitchell Layton / Getty

With NCAA basketball teams getting their dreams crushed as seasons end, another great is calling it quits.

Patrick Ewing will not return as the men’s basketball coach of the Georgetown Hoyas next season after the school’s season ended Wednesday night with an 80-48 loss to Villanova in the first round of the Big East tournament.

Ewing ran the team for six years and finished with a less than stellar 75-109 record. He finished his tenure by securing the Hoyas with a Big East-record of 29 consecutive conference game losses that began during the 2021 regular season and only ended in January.

The New York Knick legend kept it classy on his way out of the door, noting the history he has –as a player and coach– at Georgetown and how grateful he was to coach his former team.

“I am very proud to be a graduate of Georgetown University,” Ewing said in a statement. “And I am very grateful to President [John J.] DeGioa for giving me the opportunity to achieve my ambition to be a head basketball coach. It is particularly meaningful for 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.”

The head coaching gig was Ewing’s first as he took over from John Thompson III, the son of legendary Georgetown coach John Thompson II, who won the NCAA championship in 1984 and had three final four appearances, solidifying the team as a powerhouse in the 1980s.

Before, Ewing served as an assistant coach in the NBA for teams, including the Houston Rockets, Orlando Magic and Charlotte Bobcats.

“Patrick Ewing is the heart of Georgetown basketball,” President of Georgetown University John J. DeGioa 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.”

See how Twitter’s reacting to Patrick Ewing leaving his job at Georgetown.

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