Patrick Ewing fired by Georgetown after latest losing season

WASHINGTON(AP) — Patrick Ewing was fired as men’s basketball coach atGeorgetown on Thursday after the latest in a series of roughseasons at the school he led to a national championship as a playerin the 1980s.

The schoolannounced that that it “has begun a national search for newleadership.”

Ewing wasnever a head coach at any level of the sport until getting the jobwith the Hoyas in 2017, and he leaves after a half-dozen years witha record of 75-109.

His lastgame was an 80-48 loss to Villanova on Wednesday night in the firstround of the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden, thearena where Ewing was a star for the NBA’s New York Knicks for somany years.

Georgetownwent 7-25 this season, including 2-18 in regular-season conferenceplay, a schedule capped by a 40-point loss to Creighton. Ewingpresided over a 29-game Big East losing streak that began in March2021 and ended this January, the most consecutive defeats in leaguehistory.

The pasttwo seasons were particularly poor: The Hoyas won a combined totalof 13 games while losing 50, a winning percentage of .206.

Ewing’stenure included only one winning season, zero victories in the NCAATournament and just one appearance in the Big Dance. It’s a far cryfrom the sort of success the program enjoyed when the 7-foot-tallEwing was patrolling the paint as an intimidating, shot-blockingforce at center decades ago.