Georgetown Basketball: Takeaways from the Hoyas hiring of Patrick Ewing

Ewing needs to hire a killer staff

Georgetown losing four-star 2017 point guard Tremont Waters might’ve been the last straw for John Thompson III.

The Hoyas are also losing Rodney Pryor, L.J. Peak, and Bradley Hayes, among others, and have just one notable player in their 2017 recruiting class, four-star power forward Antwan Walker.

The program needs an influx of talent and they need it fast in order to attract their fan base back to the Verizon Center.

In order for that to happen in the future (it’s unlikely that Patrick Ewing can put together a loaded recruiting class for 2017 this late in the process), Ewing needs to hire an experienced staff. He needs at least one former college head coach, he needs recruiting experts who know the D.C. area and he needs guys who can relate to the younger generation.

There’s no doubt that Ewing can teach and can be a head coach (the Sacramento Kings were going to offer him their head coaching position if Dave Joerger didn’t become available last offseason), but the recruiting landscape has changed since the 1980s and Ewing is clearly unfamiliar with it.

This is similar to Chris Mullin at St. John’s. Mullin had zero head coaching and recruiting experience before he took over the Johnnies position two years ago. He hired Barry ‘Slice’ Rohrssen and Matt Abdelmassih. While ‘Slice’ didn’t work out in the long run, the Johnnies were in the mix for Rawle Alkins and Abdelmassih has had a significant impact on the program (he helped land Marvin Clark Jr. and Justin Simon, among others).

Ewing needs to take notes from Mullin. High school players will want to play for a Hall of Famer and Ewing will be able to explain the tradition of the Georgetown program, but they also need coaches who know the way and are familiar with the landscape of recruiting.

Who Ewing brings along could ultimately decide if his stint as head coach is successful or not.