Legendary Hoya coach John Thompson has passed away.

[quote="Catman" post=397376]John Thompson was a great coach who literally put Georgetown on the map! His players loved him and had a great respect for him! But at the end of the day I believe like i did when he was coaching that he was a racist![/quote]

Interesting. Anyone remember when Rafferty called John Thompson's Hoyas a dirty team on TV?
I had to agree.
 
[quote="JackofVirginia" post=397393][quote="Catman" post=397376]John Thompson was a great coach who literally put Georgetown on the map! His players loved him and had a great respect for him! But at the end of the day I believe like i did when he was coaching that he was a racist![/quote]

Interesting. Anyone remember when Rafferty called John Thompson's Hoyas a dirty team on TV?
I had to agree.[/quote]
I remember that comment from Rafferty. I disagree. The Hoyas simply pushed the envelope on what was allowed in the day. The league was more physical, (anyone remember the 6 personal foul rule in the BE?). If they are not calling it...run with it.
 
John Thompson, may he Rest In Peace was a great coach and a true trailblazer in every respect. Those that hated him and the way his teams played were in most instances jealous.
Jealous of how he took over a program that was absolutely horrible and made them great. And it was not because of Ewing. I believe they went to the final eight the year before Ewing arrived.
Jealous of how much he improved Georgetown. Jealous of how he got great talent to go to a school with no tradition. In 1981 he had the number 1 recruiting class in the country with three fantastic players In Ewing , Anthony Jones and Billy Martin. In 1983 he got the number 1 recruit in the country once again with Reggie Williams. Jealous of the fabulous and most intensive D I have ever witnessed. I was at the garden when we were loosing 41-9 I believe at halftime in early 82, that press was something to fear. As much as we tried to prepare for it we were absolutely lost.
Jealous of how he stood up to his detractors. Many don’t know but when he was given the job signs were hung in McDonough Hall ( I believe the name of their gym) telling Big John , but using a very derogatory term , to go home. Their fans were appalled that they hired a black coach.
Jealous of how he was so forward thinking. He was the first coach to hire a full time tutor / academic advisor, named Mary Fenlon, who sat on the bench and travelled with the team. He wanted, insisted, his players be true student athletes. He truly cared about his players, much like another current coach at SJU. To Big John the goal was an education and the basketball scholarship was the vehicle to get there.
A great man, a great coach, a trailblazer who broke many a barrier and made those around him better people.
Some may not have liked him but you had to respect him.
 
I can’t say I disliked the man but if you look at the makeup of all his teams you rarely, rarely found a white kid on the roster! You need to put this in prospective and dial back the time piece to the mid 80s when the player make up of black athletes to white athletes is not what it is today! Yes occasionally you would see a white kid at the end of the bench but that was merely window dressing! I will never forget when Chris Mullin won the National Player of the Year Award over Patrick Ewing Thompson’s comments was that it was a racist decision. I lost all respect for the man after that comment!
 
[quote="redmannorth" post=397447]John Thompson, may he Rest In Peace was a great coach and a true trailblazer in every respect. Those that hated him and the way his teams played were in most instances jealous.
Jealous of how he took over a program that was absolutely horrible and made them great. And it was not because of Ewing. I believe they went to the final eight the year before Ewing arrived.
Jealous of how much he improved Georgetown. Jealous of how he got great talent to go to a school with no tradition. In 1981 he had the number 1 recruiting class in the country with three fantastic players In Ewing , Anthony Jones and Billy Martin. In 1983 he got the number 1 recruit in the country once again with Reggie Williams. Jealous of the fabulous and most intensive D I have ever witnessed. I was at the garden when we were loosing 41-9 I believe at halftime in early 82, that press was something to fear. As much as we tried to prepare for it we were absolutely lost.
Jealous of how he stood up to his detractors. Many don’t know but when he was given the job signs were hung in McDonough Hall ( I believe the name of their gym) telling Big John , but using a very derogatory term , to go home. Their fans were appalled that they hired a black coach.
Jealous of how he was so forward thinking. He was the first coach to hire a full time tutor / academic advisor, named Mary Fenlon, who sat on the bench and travelled with the team. He wanted, insisted, his players be true student athletes. He truly cared about his players, much like another current coach at SJU. To Big John the goal was an education and the basketball scholarship was the vehicle to get there.
A great man, a great coach, a trailblazer who broke many a barrier and made those around him better people.
Some may not have liked him but you had to respect him.[/quote]

That's a great perspective, RMN and I agree with you.

However, there is legitimate basis to those who perceived Thompson negatively. He endorsed and encouraged the us vs. them mentality. The opposition was always the enemy, and there was nothing friendly about the way he treated opponents. He wasn't opposed to rattling his opponents by this attitude, and was never apologetic for hard fouls, even flagrant fouls. I understand this. In basketball in particular, when I played I hated every opponent whether they were long time friends or not. Thompson as coach took it to another level, and stood up for his kids. Not lost on fans was the fact that he found guys that fans had a hard time accepting as college students, like Michael Graham. Graham was so physical, maybe even dirty, but he could play too. His mere presence on the court had opposing players (and fans) worried about what he might do next, whether it be knock you down, grab you, throw an elbow. It all fit into the Georgetown aura. However, when Graham crossed the line, he booted him from the team even after they had just won a championship I beleive. Thompson at Georgetown, unlike Digger Phelps who complained that Notre Dame would only let him recruit kids at a higher academic level than most schools, fiercely believed in giving inner city kids an opportunity to get an education at Georgetown, and fought hard against Prop 42. Thompson did all of this un-apologetically.

This doesn't diminish his legacy one bit. It's easy to place the post coaching mellowing on his persona as a coach. That's wrong to do in my opinion, and false. He was a brutally tough competitor who loved to intimidate on the floor. I remember games against teams like Kentucky, where after a close first half, Georgetown would come out for the second half in the most intense full court press that simply did not let up. On many occasions a 6 point game at halftime became a 25 point lead in a few minutes, blowing the doors off the opponents. Against Arkansas once I saw Ewing block Joe Klein layups (future NBA'er) 5 or 6 times in a row on one possession, until Klein retrieving the block shot again and again, missed so badly it was embarrassing, and demoralizing.

Boeheim was as fierce and hated a competitor, and he and Thompson didn't exactly go out for dinner after. His comments below are also very honest and fair.

[URL]https://www.msn.com/en-us/spor...-fierce-rivals-who-became-friends/ar-BB18ymx1[/URL]
 
I first saw John Thompson as a Sophomore Player at Providence in the early 60’s . It was a Consolation game in the Holiday Festival at the Old Garden . Thompson as a High School Player was almost as coveted as Alcindor was a few years later . PC was Coached by Joe Mullaney and had Vinnie Ernst , the NIT MVP from the prior year , Ray Flynn, later Mayor of Boston , Jim Hadnot and George Stone on that team . Anyway , Hadnot was also 6’10 as was Thompson and Mullaney tried to play them both in a Double Post , it didn’t work . They kept getting in each other’s way . Thompson was a better player than Hadnot and a better offensive scorer . Ernst and Flynn were outstanding guards and Providence was really loaded , yet they underachieved for all that Talent . As a Coach , Thompson ‘s record speaks for itself . HOF and 1 of the Best Ever in the BE during its early heydays . His teams played hard , Bordering on Dirty but the Refs let it go , quite often . 2 plays stand out , Horace Broadnax pulling Mullin down by his shorts at the near end of a game . Another was Ewing throwing a Elbow to Mullins face as Chris came down Court . It was difficult to officiate Hoya Games as Thompson often had his 5 players all foul at the same time . Hence , Ewing was often protected from fouling out , even for flagrant fouls . Ewing and Pearl Washington got into at a BE Tourney game at the Garden and a riot almost broke out . Boeheim often said, G’Town played dirty basketball and got away with it . I don’t recall Louie ever saying a bad word about Thompson or, how the Hoyas played . And , it did seem JT might have actually liked Louie ? The Sweater game , while funny , was not a happy night for the Johnnies . The Hoyas beat us badly . As others have said , Thompson didn’t appear to recruit White Players but , that may have been just the style of Play , more than anything . He liked kids from Dunbar in Maryland . Tough kids !
 
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Hated Thompson for his "us vs the world" mentality, and some of his tactics. But would have loved him if the "us" was SJU. Great coach and man. RIP.
 
Georgetown under Thompson was a juggernaut. I enjoyed watching them and followed several of their players in the NBA. But they had a very clear strategy of physically hurting opponents. Yes the game was way more physical then but there were still rules and they had a sort of NBA-Jordanesque pass for a few years. Constant gut elbows and sometime punches and elbows to the head were common. The body blows like in a boxing match were cumulative. I would not say they were dirty in the way Yukon was and maybe not as dirty as some of the early Pitt teams ( I seem to recall a Pitt team that specialize in nut shots) but they got away with WAY too much even with refs looking directly on as a grievous offense was committed like an elbow to the head or gut.
 
I remember seeing Georgetown with their greatest player pre-Thompson (Jim Barry, Rick's cousin) come in to the old Garden and lose to NYU.
 
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