Georgetown University’s longtime basketball coach John Thompson couldn’t hide on the court.
He was a giant (6 feet 10) and was a big player in the college basketball scene as a determined leader of Georgetown Hoyas.
Thompson didn’t hide his thoughts either. When he had something to say, he said it.
John Thompson died on Sunday at the age of 78. In recent years, he has worked as a basketball analyst on college broadcasts and also spent time hosting talk shows.
Of course, he will be most memorable for his successful run as Georgetown’s bench boss, who has played three times in the NCAA Tournament Championship Game (1982, 1984, 1985). The University of North Carolina and Villanova defeated Star Center Patrick Ewing and Hoyas in 1982 and 1985, respectively.
Meanwhile, Thompson led Georgetown to the title in April 1984, defeating the University of Houston. The University of Houston has been inducted into another future Hall of Fame in Seattle’s 84-75 Akeem (later spelled Akeem) Orajwon.
John Thompson’s way of thinking
The Associated Press game report showed Thompson’s pride at the time in full.
“Hoya paranoia is dead.
“There is nothing to fear in Georgetown anymore.
“It didn’t really happen. The NCAA Championship basketball team in Georgetown wasn’t built on a hostile relationship with anyone. It’s a product of unity under the guidance of John Thompson.
“‘I don’t need Hoya Paranoia,'” Thompson said Monday night after Hoya defeated Houston 84-75 in a title game at the sold-out Kingdome. “I have personal pride and dignity. There is a young man with … and if Hoya Paranoia makes us like us, someone else will catch it better. “”
The thrill of victory
In the aftermath of the 1984 Championship victory, Thompson looked back on what that meant for him.
“This is my obsession and I am very pleased to be able to win the national championship,” he said in a newspaper article the next day. “I sometimes thought about it and woke up from sleep. Now it feels like the monkey is off my back.”
He added: “I don’t want to be like John Wooden (the legend of UCLA). I just wanted to win. He had to be an iron man to do what he did.
“Now I can focus on other things. I can think more about the children and their needs.”
Successful execution
From 1972 to 1999, John Thompson’s Hoyas won 596 games and lost 239 games.
Hoyas has participated in the NCAA tournament 20 times in a row, and has participated in post-season tournaments 24 times in a row, including four NIT trips.
As a result, Georgetown has established a standard of excellence under Thompson.
Thompson, a three-time Big East Conference Coach of the Year, was named UPI Coach of the Year in 1987. UPI’s praise is awarded annually as the top men’s basketball coach and was awarded between 1955 and 1996.
Four Hall of Fame players, Ewing, Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo, and Allen Iverson, performed at Thompson, Georgetown. Ewing issued his statement in memory of Thompson. Other former Hoyas stars also paid tribute to him in various social media posts.
Thompson’s influence
In a column he wrote after the 1984 NCAA Championship final, Orange County Register’s Steve Bishev stated that Thompson played for two respected defensive coaches at Providence College and the Boston Celtics. I did.
“Defense is what Thompson preaches,” Bishev wrote. “If it didn’t win him the championship game, it certainly led him to this point, and he rarely makes anyone forget it.”
In addition, Thompson’s comments added weight to the observation.
“I was very lucky,” Thompson said. And that’s what I’m trying to tell the kids. “
He did it throughout his coaching career, Respect ordered In the profession he chose, as Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post observed.
