NCAA Basketball: Top 10 impact head coaching hires from the year 2004
By Joey Loose
4. John Thompson III (Georgetown)
Under John Thompson, Georgetown became a national power, winning the NCAA Tournament in 1984 and becoming a perennial contender both in the Big East and on the national stage. When Thompson retired in 1999, assistant Craig Esherick took the reigns of the program but things just weren’t the same for the Hoyas. Come 2004, with an opening at head coach, Georgetown had the perfect candidate to get this program back on track.
That man was none other than John Thompson III, the son of the Hall of Fame Georgetown coach. The younger Thompson had played his college ball at Princeton just after Georgetown won that national title. After his playing career ended, Thompson joined the Princeton coaching staff, rising to head coach in 2000 and leading the Tigers to a pair of NCAA Tournaments.
Results came quickly for Thompson at Georgetown, leading the Hoyas to the Sweet Sixteen in his second year and back to the Final Four by 2007. In his thirteen years, Thompson made trips to eight NCAA Tournaments and won a trio of Big East titles.
Unfortunately, Georgetown was upset several times in the postseason and fell off near the end of his tenure. Still, it’s irresponsible to not look back at the good things Thompson did for this program, even if he couldn’t win a title like his father.