Georgetown AD acknowledges ‘frustrating time’ under Ewing

WASHINGTON (AP) — Georgetown coach PatrickEwing’s loss-filled stint at his alma mater was called a“challenging and frustrating time” by athletic director Lee Reed,who added Wednesday that “no one is more committed” to turningthings around than the former star center.

Hours before the Hoyas set a Big East record by accumulatingtheir 25th consecutive regular-season conference loss, 73-57against visiting Villanova, Reed responded to a request for aninterview from The Associated Press by issuing a statement that wasemailed by a spokesperson.

“We recognize this is a challenging and frustrating time for themen’s basketball team and our fans,” said Reed, who also put out acomment about Ewing before a game about 10 months ago, althoughthat one said the school was “committed” to sticking with him.“Coach Ewing understands that it is imperative to get the programback on track and no one is more committed than he is to makingthat happen.”

The defeat Wednesday night left Georgetown with a 5-11 overallrecord, 0-5 in conference play. Its previous outing was an 80-51loss to Big East opponent Butler.

After the loss to Villanova, which Georgetown President JackDeGioia attended, Ewing was asked whether he was concerned abouthis future.

“I’m here to talk about the game. My future is my future,” Ewingreplied. “I’ll be the head coach at Georgetown until the presidentor the board decides for me to move on. ... You know, a friend ofmine sent me a quote today: ‘It’s not how many times you getknocked down; it’s how many times you get up.’ We got knocked down,so all we’re going to do is keep on getting up.”

Georgetown went 0-19 in the conference last season while going6-25 overall, including a 21-game losing streak. The Hoyas alsolost their final regular-season Big East game in 2020-21, beforegoing on a surprising four-game run at Madison Square Garden in NewYork to claim the conference tournament title.

That allowed the team to make its lone NCAA Tournamentappearance during Ewing’s tenure; that season ended with afirst-round loss to Colorado.

Ewing, who as a player helped Georgetown and coach John ThompsonJr. win the 1984 national championship and make two otherappearances in NCAA finals, is in his sixth season since replacingThompson’s son, John Thompson III, as the school’s coach.

Georgetown is 73-95 under Ewing (a .435 winning percentage),including 26-68 (.277) in the Big East.

This is Ewing’s first head coaching job at any level — he workedas an assistant in the NBA after his Hall of Fame playing careerended — and his roster has seen repeated turnover because ofstudents transferring away from Georgetown.

Late last season, in March 2022, Reed put out a statement hoursbefore a game against Seton Hall, acknowledging the “disappointmentof a difficult season,” and saying: “In this ever evolvinglandscape of college athletics we are committed to Coach Ewing, andwe are working with him to evaluate every aspect of the men’sbasketball program and to make the necessary changes for him to putus back on the path to success for next year.”

Before the start of this season, Ewing overhauled his staff byreplacing all three assistants and brought in several transferplayers, including leading scorer Primo Spears, who came over fromDuquesne.

“I’m a very prideful person and Georgetown is a very pridefuluniversity,” Ewing said at his postgame news conference Wednesday,“and we don’t want to be associated with a losing streak, but it iswhat it is.”

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AP freelancer Bobby Bancroft contributed to this report.