Big East Basketball: What Can Patrick Ewing Learn From Chris Mullin?

Two Big East Basketball player greats are now coaches in Chris Mullin and Patrick Ewing. What can the Hoya learn from the Red Storm legend?

Many years ago, in what some consider the golden era of the Big East, Patrick Ewing of Georgetown and Chris Mullin of St. John’s faced off each year in an intense rivalry that is still talked about to this day. Today, however, that rivalry looks a lot different as the two sworn enemies have found their way to coaching their alma maters, renewing the rivalry once more.

In 2015, Mullin returned to St. John’s in the hopes of bringing back the Red Storm to their former glory. That task was easier said than done, as Mullin had to completely rebuild and revamp the basketball program at St. John’s from what was left of the Steve Lavin era. The task has yet to see it’s completion nearly four years later after trials and tribulations.

In his three seasons at St. John’s, Mullin has led the Red Storm to a 38-60 record. Although this looks poor on paper, the Brooklyn native has had a lot to deal with in just three short seasons. Although Mullin doesn’t like to make excuses, he had been put at a disadvantage from the start.

Mullin was given the leftovers of the Lavin era and had to start from there like every newly hired college basketball coach. As a result of the cards he had been dealt, Mullin relied heavily on transfers in order to build a team around his offensive system. Going after transfers have been Mullin’s go-to when looking for talented players.

He has brought in names like Tariq Owens, Justin Simon, and Marvin Clark III who have had a lot of success at St. John’s. Although the three each had to sit out a year due to transfer rules, the three have put up big numbers for the Red Storm. Last season, the three started for Mullin and put up strong performances against teams like Duke and Villanova and played a key role in turning their season around.

Mullin has also tried his best to go after local talent. Although he has not been able to get attract players like Moses Brown and Isaiah Washington, he did find Shamorie Ponds who has had a hall of fame career at St. John’s. Ponds, who is also a native of Brooklyn, has shown a lot of trust in Mullin who has basically groomed Ponds into the player he is today.

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For Ewing, there is a lot he can learn from the coaching career of Mullin. Like Mullin, Ewing has struggled in his first year as a college coach. In his first season, he led the Hoyas to a 5-13 Big East record and lost to Mullin and his team in the first round of the Big East Tournament. Ewing’s limited coaching experience also lead to some blunders this season.

For example, in a game earlier this season Ewing was not aware of the coaching box that the coaches had to stand in on the sideline during the games. After crossing the line of the box once, an assistant coach placed a towel on the line to prevent the rookie head coach from crossing it again.

Although that was one small blunder for Ewing, he seemed to improve as a coach as the season went on. Eventually, his players bought into his coaching strategy and as a result were able to have some success later on in the season. It may be awhile before Ewing can bring Georgetown back to its former glory, however.

Like Mullin did in his first few years, Ewing has to manage players that he did not recruit and may not fit his coaching system. However what Ewing could possibly learn from Mullin is that transfers could pay off in the end. With another few years to go until he can have a team that is entirely built on his players, Ewing should at least try to search for some talent on the transfer market.

Another thing that Ewing could take out of Mullin’s book is the value of local talent. Georgetown is located right in the heart of the DMV area where there is a lot of basketball talent. Players like Kevin Durant and Rudy Gay have from the DMV and there is a lot of top talent still to be discovered in this area.

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Although they were enemies in their college days, both Ewing and Mullin have become friends. Ewing admitted on Big East Media Day last year that Mullin did help in his decision to come and coach in the Big East. The two have renewed a storied rivalry in the Big East and hope to bring the conference back to it’s glory days. Although they may be rivals on the court, they can still learn a lot from each other.