The Strange Case of Patrick Ewing

One of the things I really enjoy in European football (or soccer, whichever suits you). The atmosphere at those games outstrips anything the US produces currently. When a coach in one of the English leagues begins to struggle you can frequently hear the crowd begin to sing “you don’t know what you’re doing.” This, of course, made me think of Patrick Ewing.

There is no indication that Patrick Ewing knows what he is doing. In any measure of success, Ewing is a failure. The Hoyas team he took over had just finished a nice 69th in the KenPom and 5-13 in the Big East. That got John Thompson III fired. Ewing took over and had one of those seasons that new coaches do, going 5-13 in conference, 15-15 overall. The next year if was an even .500 in conference and 19-14 overall. Progress!

Then, everyone left. Mac McClung, James Akinjo, Qudus Wahab, Myron Gardner, Josh LeBlanc, and Galen Alexander all came and went. They were joined by essentially everyone else. Each year Ewing stayed he was forced to bring in fresh players. In 2020 Ewing brought in six fresh faces. Exactly one of them started a game for Georgetown last season, only two were still on the roster.

In 2021 there were six new freshman, only three remain. Dante Harris was a good find and has stuck around, but in that same class Tyler Beard, TJ Berger, Aminu Mohammed (for good reason), Jamari Sibley, Kobe Clark, Collin Holloway, and Jalin Billingsley area all gone. That kind of roster turnover isn’t found on professional teams that are rebuilding, let alone a college squad.

That led to a 2021-22 season where Georgetown won nary a game in conference play. Syracuse was the best team the Hoyas beat, but only one other win came over a team in the KenPom top 200. Georgetown somehow lost to Dartmouth. Of course, everyone left again.

Somehow, Patrick Ewing is still the head coach at Georgetown. This year there will be nine new faces on the roster. Continuity? Not at all. The only thing that remains the same will be the coach on the sidelines. For reason best known to the Hoyas administration, Ewing remains in charge of a program hurtling towards irrelevance. As the team turns over more than your local temp agency, Ewing comes back for a sixth season.

Maybe he isn’t the only one who doesn’t know what he’s doing.