Georgetown must decide on its course

COMMENTARY

It was time for him to go. Craig Esherick is a good man, as intelligent and principled as they come in the oft-seedy world of college sports. But between his disappointing record and his increasingly delusional public statements — some veering into Iraqi Information Minister territory — Georgetown had little choice but to sack John Thompson’s loyal lieutenant and subsequent successor.

Now comes the hard part.

A small group of students and alumni rallied near the school’s front gate yesterday, voicing dismay over Georgetown’s 51/2-year competitive slide. Relief was palatable. Anxiety, too. In the wake of Esherick’s dismissal, the university faces difficult, serious questions about the place and purpose of its once-proud basketball program.

“I went to school with Allen Iverson, Othella Harrington, Jerome Williams,” said Steven Thomas, a Georgetown alumnus who organized yesterday’s gathering. “I don’t want to see the program, through neglect or anything else, fall to a point where it can’t be resurrected. You can always resurrect it with a new coach. But there are other factors, too. Fundamentally, it goes a lot deeper than the coach.”

At the deepest level, the school has a philosophical decision to make. Does it want a nice little team, along the lines of George Mason or American University? Or does it want an elite program, capable of competing and winning in the soon-to-be-Bigger East?

Believe it or not, the answer isn’t obvious.

Perhaps, as athletic director Joe Lang intimated last year, annual NCAA tournament trips aren’t realistic for a small, academics-first institution. Especially a cash-strapped private school that lost more than $800,000 on men’s basketball last season. Privately, some faculty and alumni hold this view. After all, they reason, consistent success takes money. Long-term commitment. Endless scrapping on an unlevel playing field against schools with bigger recruiting budgets, better weight rooms, on-campus arenas brimming with student support.

A prominent program is possible — NCAA tournament darlings Saint Joseph’s and Gonzaga are contemporary examples — but only with strong vision and a generous dollop of luck, two items in short Hilltop supply since Thompson’s unexpected resignation. Two weeks ago, Lang and university president John DeGioia each gave Esherick a vote of confidence; their abrupt about-face and Esherick’s botched, late-night firing didn’t smack of coherent leadership, even though DeGioia quickly affirmed his commitment to a winning program.

“I’ve never heard an alumnus say they want to go down to the Patriot League,” said Diana Owen, a Georgetown professor and a supporter of the basketball program. “Georgetown’s trajectory soared after Thompson came. When it works, I think it can be financially feasible.”

Maybe so. An Elite 8 appearance helped Gonzaga double its annual fundraising take. But that doesn’t happen without folks like Thomas, who is forming an organization to raise money for a new on-campus arena. For years, eager alums have been Georgetown basketball’s great untapped resource. Yet rather than cultivate a strong relationship with current and former students, the school has shut them out, erecting a wall of aloofness and secrecy around the basketball program.

That has to change. Perestroika is in order. Hoya Paranoia once served a worthy purpose, isolating Thompson and his charges from racial vitriol and corrosive outside influences. Today it’s simply self-defeating. Last summer Hoyas forward Courtland Freeman interned for Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage — the sort of only-at-Georgetown story that impresses recruits, casts the program in a positive light and encourages alumni to open their wallets. Did the school spread the word? Take a guess.

The search for a new coach will require additional soul searching. Georgetown can keep it in the family. It can look outside the fold. Neither approach ensures a winner. Former Hoyas like Patrick Ewing and current assistant Jaren Jackson lack experience. Experienced outsiders such as Johnny Dawkins and Jeff Capel III might view the job as a steppingstone to something better. The potential candidate with the strongest bloodlines — Thompson’s son, Princeton coach John III — is a devoted Tigers alum and could be wary of following in his father’s sizable footsteps.

Whoever Georgetown chooses, he’ll face the same issues that dogged Esherick. Upgrading the program’s laughable non-conference schedule will be easier said than done, because the battered Hoyas are no longer in a position to demand favorable home-and-home dates against top college programs.

MCI Center might provide Georgetown with the weakest homecourt advantage of any major team in the nation. But the much-desired renovation of McDonough Arena (or the construction of a new on-campus facility) won’t happen anytime soon. Not when the school continues to raise money and spar with its wealthy residential neighbors over plans for a new science building, a performing arts center and a multipurpose sports complex.

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