George Washington Basketball: Mike Lonergan relieved of his duties

With less than two months until the start of the season, George Washington basketball’s head coach is out the door.

Back in March, George Washington was cutting down the nets at Madison Square Garden following their NIT Championship game victory over Valparaiso.

Seven months later, USA Today is reporting that George Washington has opted to relieve head coach Mike Lonergan of his duties. The move has not been officially announced by the school and there are conflicting reports as to whether or not the Colonials’ coaching staff was informed of the move on Friday night.

This is shocking timing as the regular season tips-off in less than two months. George Washington just got finished with their foreign tour in Japan last month and are set up to be an underrated team in the Atlantic 10 Conference, making this firing even more significant for the Colonials.

The reason for the lay off is obvious. Lonergan was accused by former players of verbal and emotional abuse and the Colonials have had 13 players transfer out of the program in five years.

The school opened up an investigation two months ago and while Lonergan’s attorney has denied the allegations, George Washington clearly wasn’t comfortable moving forward with him as the face of their program.

"“I don’t think the guy should be in sports,” one former player said. “I don’t think what he said should be tolerated. I would like to stay at GW. I will not play for Mike Lonergan.”“A lot of kids transfer because they have delusions of grandeur,” said one former member of the GW men’s basketball staff. “Nobody transferred from GW with delusions of grandeur. They just transferred because they hated him. They couldn’t stand another second of him.”According to multiple players, Lonergan’s critiques crossed the line from constructive to mean-spirited. He told one player his son would always be on food stamps. He told another, in front of the team, he should transfer to a “transgender league,” multiple players said.One former player said he attended therapy and considered quitting basketball because of Lonergan’s language and actions toward him."

The Colonials haven’t named an interim head coach yet. But with limited time to find a new head man, George Washington will likely promote within. It will be awfully difficult to conduct a national search, go through the interview process and have a new coach implement his system just weeks before tip-off.

The Colonials also have five new recruits that will have time to assess their options. Three-star talents, Kevin Marfo and Arnaldo Toro, are the two top players in their 2016 class and are expected to make an immediate impact at the college level.

Two-star shooting guard Jair Bolden, center Collin Smith and shooting guard Justin Williams round out the class.

Lonergan, who is 474-226 overall in his career, took over as head coach of the program back in 2011. The Colonials finished under .500 in his first two seasons on the job, but the last three years have helped George Washington rise into one of the top programs in the Atlantic 10. They made the second round of the NCAA Tournament back in 2013-14 (they only lost nine games that season), reached the second round of the NIT two years ago and won the NIT last year.

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Before joining the George Washington’s program, he had a short stint at Maryland (2004-05) as an assistant under now Hall of Fame head coach Gary Williams. He also coached the Vermont Catamounts from 2005-11, leading the team to one NCAA Tournament in his six seasons on the job.

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