It was about two weeks ago, and newly-minted Georgetown head coach Patrick Ewing was sitting in Madison Square Garden during BIG EAST media day. The smile on his face told you all you needed to know about how he felt about his new job.
Sitting near the court, above which his No. 33 New York Knicks jersey hangs from the rafters, Ewing discussed what it meant to be back at his second home.
“This is one of the places I consider my home. I spent 15 years of my life playing here and gave my blood, sweat and tears battling against guys like this one sitting here to my right,” Ewing said, gesturing toward St. John’s coach Chris Mullin. “I have my number in the rafters here so it’s great to be back. We played three BIG EAST Tournaments here and when I come back I get goosebumps.”
Ewing said when he was deciding whether to throw his name in the ring for the vacant Hoyas head coaching job, he reached out to his former BIG EAST nemesis-turned-close friend Mullin whom he said helped nudge him in the right direction.
“When I decided to put my name in in the hat he was one of the first people I reached out to for advice on what the transition was like going from the NBA back to college,” Ewing said. “He gave me his opinion and here I am. We really became friends with the (1992) Dream Team. We were the only two guys to take those games seriously. We were always going to the gym and working out and at those workouts I think we really created a bond.”
Now the two former adversaries on the court will become foes once again, this time from the sidelines as Ewing mirrors Mullin’s career in trying to restore the luster to their respective basketball programs. But Ewing warns the turnaround for the Hoyas will not be an overnight project.
“I’m still getting to know them and they’re still getting to know me,” Ewing said. “And what I’ve been telling both them, and the folks in D.C., is that it’s a building process. We’re laying the foundation. I’m pushing them, trying to get the most out of them to get them to where I think they need to get. We’re laying the foundation and by the end of the year I hope to have the building up.”
Ewing’s two biggest and best foundation pieces are a pair of juniors in 6-10 Jessie Govan and 6-7 Marcus Derrickson.
“We have some talent,” Ewing said. “Jessie and Marcus are both talented bigs and I do expect a lot out of them. If we expect to do anything in the BIG EAST, both of them are going to have to be successful for us.”
Ewing, not surprisingly, wants to run an uptempo program that also includes a high-pressure defense. This is Georgetown, after all. But Year 1 of the Ewing Era might not have the pieces in place to do all the things the new coach wants to do.
“I want to be uptempo,” Ewing said. “We’re going to have to push the pace and get up and try and pressure (on defense). When you talk about style and you talk about pace you have to have the horses to go out there and do it. Right now we talk about doing certain things but there are things you won’t be able to do until you have the horses to go out there and do it.”
It might seem strange not seeing the name Thompson associated with Georgetown basketball as a Thompson - John Jr. and John III - have been Hoya head coaches in 40 of the past 45 years. Only Craig Esherick’s five-year run from 1999-2004 had previously interrupted the Thompson run. But now it’s Ewing’s show to run and it’s his team to stock with talent as he looks to elevate the Hoyas’ program back to an elite level.
“It’s all about building it and getting it back to prominence,” Ewing said. “It’s my goal to get back to being the elite program that we once were.”
The Hoyas are coming off their first-back-to-back losing seasons in 44 years and have logged 36 losses over the last two seasons, the most in a two-year stretch since the 1971-72 and 1972-73 seasons when the Hoyas dropped 37 decisions. So Ewing is preaching patience as he slowly lays his foundation and adds recruiting pieces over the next few seasons. Ewing lost just 23 games in his four seasons as a player at Georgetown. He doesn’t want to approach that number this season just as Mullin struggled in his first season at St. John’s.
But just as he has begun the turnaround at St. John’s, Mullin thinks Ewing will do the same as he builds the Hoyas in his image.
“Patrick’s playing career speaks for itself,” Mullin said. “People probably don’t know he’s been coaching 15-16 years in the NBA. He put a lot of time in. I’ve watched him as a coach and I know he’s going to get players and that program is going to be back on top. There’s no question about that. With Patrick it brings back a lot of great memories. I know they are going to come back and be a force to be reckoned with. It’s great for the conference and it’s great for college basketball.”
Patrick Ewing is home again and with the goal of bringing the Hoyas back to the heights they once enjoyed during his playing days.
“I’ve been given a great opportunity at my alma mater,” Ewing said. “A place that I’ve known, a place that I was able to spend four of the best years of my life.”