Tech’s Hewitt says no to St. John’s — updated at 2:39 p.m.
Paul Hewitt has withdrawn from consideration to be St. John’s next basketball coach.
Hewitt is out of town on a recruiting trip and has not returned a message left on his cell phone at 10:33 a.m.
“My family and I have developed deep ties to Georgia Tech and the city of Atlanta,” Hewitt said in a statement released by Georgia Tech. “I strongly believe in what Georgia Tech can do for young people, and I am committed to returning the Tech basketball program to the level of success our fans have come to expect. We took a step in that direction this past season, and I fully intend to continue on that path.”
He is scheduled to meet with the media at 9:30 p.m. tonight.
“I think what has transpired over the last few days speaks volumes about Paul Hewitt and about Georgia Tech,” Tech athletics director Dan Radakovich said in a statement. “Paul’s credentials as a human being, a family man, a leader and a builder of character are impeccable. All of us at Georgia Tech are committed to assist him in providing an outstanding men’s basketball program.”
Hewitt is from the New York City area and is known as an outstanding recruiter. The Red Storm hoped that he could tap into the high school talent in the five boroughs that St. John’s in recent years hasn’t been able to keep from leaving to programs such as Connecticut and Cincinnati.
However, Hewitt has repeatedly said that he and his family are happy in Atlanta and that he was not looking to leave. His parents and younger brother recently moved to Atlanta. In addition, Tech opened a new practice facility last year, and is reviewing plans for a renovation of Alexander Memorial Coliseum that will cost at least $45 million.
“I would say it’s highly unlikely I’d go anywhere,” Hewitt said Tuesday afternoon.
He has been criticized by fans and boosters for not being able to lead Tech to better than a seventh-place finish in the ACC this season, despite having two potential NBA lottery picks on the roster in Gani Lawal and Derrick Favors. The Jackets advanced to the finals of the ACC tournament before being eliminated in the second round of the NCAA tournament by Ohio State. The finished the year 23-13, 7-9 in the ACC.
Hewitt is 177-144 at Tech, including 67-93 in the ACC in 10 seasons as the Jackets’ coach. He has led the Jackets to the NCAA tournament five times.
The Red Storm fired coach Norm Roberts last week after six seasons. They reportedly offered the job to Florida’s Billy Donovan last week, but were rebuffed.
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371 comments Add your comment
TomB
March 25th, 2010
12:46 pm
Sean: How damn ignorant are you? Cremins won three ACC championships genius! By Cremins fourth year, he won an ACC championship and an elite eight finish in the NCAA tournament. And, that was after he resurrected the worst basketball program in the ACC and probably all of college basketball. And, then Cremins takes his 1990 team to the final four and he reached the sweet sixteen three additional times. If you weren’t so ignorant of the facts, I would just laugh.
Gordon
March 25th, 2010
12:46 pm
Sean,
Cremins won 3 ACC championships, and lost 2 others by 1 point. Hewitt has never won an ACC championship. Also, Cremins last 4 years were no worse that Hewitt’s last 4 before this year. As recently as 1996, Tech won the ACC regular season at 13-3. Hewitt never won 10 games in a year.
So it is you who doesn’t have their facts straight.
QuickDrawCrittenton
March 25th, 2010
12:47 pm
If yo’ wife wants to stay in the ATL so damm bad, go take the GSU job across town.
Bunchahomers
March 25th, 2010
12:47 pm
This has been another anouncement from the town idiot Paul H.
NoCoach Blewitt
March 25th, 2010
12:47 pm
Sean …. are you that dumb???? Anthony Morrow, Jarret Jack, Wil Bynum, Chris Bosh, Thad Young ….. and all but Jack were avg at best during their GT career
QuickDrawCrittenton
March 25th, 2010
12:48 pm
Sean, bro, shut yo ho.
NoCoach Blewitt
March 25th, 2010
12:49 pm
Notice the people using FACTS are anti-Hewitt and the morons that use incorrect DATA are pro-Blewey??
Lucky
March 25th, 2010
12:50 pm
How about Cliff Warren from Jacksonville U ? Former Tech assistant and strong recruiter, he has turned that program around.
Robert
March 25th, 2010
12:50 pm
As I say to my beer swilling uga fans- there a lot of “nerds” that would like nothing better than a little face to face- uga fans love to live vicariously through there teams and assume they are “tough” little guys- see Clemson in the ACC
Mrs. Hewitt
March 25th, 2010
12:51 pm
Now Paul, you’re a strong independent free black man and you’re not going to let these crackers down here boss you around and bully you out of town. You going to go in there and demand that Radakovich give you a raise and an automatic ten-year rollover on that contract. Don’t you listen to them fools down there at Tech, you getting these boys into the NBA. Yes, you’re a strong independent free black man and you’re going to do exactly what I tell you to do.
Paul H
March 25th, 2010
12:52 pm
Hey quickdraw lets go Red Storm
Mrs. Hewitt
March 25th, 2010
12:53 pm
You gonna stay put in Atlanta because I want to stay put in Atlanta.
CW
March 25th, 2010
12:55 pm
My inside sources tell me UGA is now a better basketball program than the joke by coke. It’s official
JEWELL ROLLEN
March 25th, 2010
12:55 pm
sean….Jarrett Jack, Chris Bosh, Thaddeus Young, Anthony Morrow are all starting in the NBA. Maybe you’ve heard of that? With that said….Paul needs to go…NOW
NoCoach Blewitt
March 25th, 2010
12:55 pm
Anybody think that Blewey’s 15th year of being a head coach will bring the ability to draw up a successful inbounds play?
TomB
March 25th, 2010
12:55 pm
Hello Sean again: I hate to bust your bubble, but here is the list of Tech players recruited by Hewitt who played in the NBA.
Thaddeus Young, Mario West, Luke Schenscher, Anthony Morrow,Jarrett Jack,Will Bynum,Javaris Crittenton and Chris Bosh.
No talent at all under Hewitt.
Buzz
March 25th, 2010
12:55 pm
SEAN… Your so stupid comments ran all the bloggers off!!!
QuickDrawCrittenton
March 25th, 2010
12:55 pm
DRad, man, just fund a satellite campus for St Johns down here in Atlanta if the Hewitt family doesnt want to move up there….you know it would be cheaper than paying out that contract year after year.
Paul H
March 25th, 2010
12:57 pm
Mrs. Hewitt We have to leave town now the NCAA will be coming in soon favors recieved cash to come here I HAVE TO GO YOU CAN STAY IF YOU LIKE
NoCoach Blewitt
March 25th, 2010
12:57 pm
CW … I know your inside sources over there in the HOUSING (WTF is that?) department over in Athens …. You are trusting people whose IQ is under 90??? Good luck
I do however want to thank you for beating Blewey this year, it might have had an inkling to do with him leaving
I should be working
March 25th, 2010
12:57 pm
Hewitt is average at best, but it seems a familiar argument about Tech coaches – great recruiter, poor coaching ability – I think this was the standard criticism of Cremins.
btw, I despise seeing my school represented by a bunch a tat’d up guys who just simply look like thugs as a result.
HotRod
March 25th, 2010
12:57 pm
I still got the job at GSU, but I will be happy to hire Paul as an assistant at, let’s say, 50K a year, no contract. That might pay his wife to get her nails done.
Ureallyshouldbworking
March 25th, 2010
1:00 pm
As your boss, yes, you should be working. But I agree with you about the Marbury wannabe’s with their tat’s and attitudes. The Red Storm let the blood in the water when they offered Hewitt and Georgia Tech this “out”. The fans are not going to let up now, rightly or wrongly, so I don’t think the Hewitts would be very happy campers staying in Atlanta anyway.
Freedom23
March 25th, 2010
1:03 pm
Don’t know how the expectation for GT ever got so high; but GT is not a consistent top 25 team. Occasionally they have the talent to compete with NC, Duke and the others. I think PH did a pretty good job but it’s time to move on; the media started this and the fan base jumped in. PH did not do himself any favors (no pun intended) when the team under-performed both on the freethrow line and in-bounding the ball. most of the games were painful to watch. Good luck PH, hopefully you can turn SJ into a powerhouse once again.
Not Disappointed
March 25th, 2010
1:04 pm
Good luck to Paul Hewitt regardless!
Hewie Has Left the Building
March 25th, 2010
1:05 pm
The instant St. John’s asked for permission to speak with Hewitt the game was up and the bird had already flown. I think it is still entirely possible (though not likely) that he will decide to stay, but I don’t think he will stay long now that everyone has their hopes up. He can’t stand up in the winds of high expectations and resentment that will blow through the cavernous, nearly empty Alexander Memorial Colesium. If he’s back, it will be for less than a year.
Hewie Has Left the Building
March 25th, 2010
1:06 pm
Absolutely, good luck to Paul and St. John’s. I haven’t noticed a lot of players coming to his defense these past few years, unlike the support Cremins got from his current and former players during his last years here.
NoCoach Blewitt
March 25th, 2010
1:07 pm
Freedom 23 …. that is incorrect!! I have wanted him gone for 5 years and there is no freakin way anyone in the media was on board with this until last season @ the earliest.
Short Bus to Short List
March 25th, 2010
1:08 pm
Today we’ve the got the short bus of basketball coaches. Tomorrow we will hopefully have a short list of his possible successors.
Ryan
March 25th, 2010
1:11 pm
Alan, things slow in the Micky D’s drive-thru today?
Short Bus to Short List
March 25th, 2010
1:12 pm
Have to agree with NoCoachBlewitt. Until the debacle of last years last-place ACC finish, the media in Atlanta were supportive to the point of indulgence of this coach. Situationally they would rightfully question some of the early exits from the NCAA or game decisions, but no one even suggested he should lose his job or make big changes. We can speculate why they gave him so much slack, but what they inadvertently did was give him so much more rope to hang himself. When he turned on him and the fans, then we knew he was desperate.
Short Bus to Short List
March 25th, 2010
1:16 pm
Radakovich is savvy, pragmatic, and professional. He most assuredly has been privately speaking with Hewitt about this situation for sometime but he has correctly kept it private. By keeping it private it has enabled other schools to approach Hewitt…schools Hewitt might actually consider like St. Johns. If DRad had put this bidness out on the street the only schools interested in Hewitt are schools that he wouldn’t stoop to work for….and Tech would be stuck with the golden albatross of a contract.
Brock
March 25th, 2010
1:16 pm
Alan
March 25th, 2010
11:38 am
Really JW? I remember when Felton got fired I saw plenty of you nerds on the UGA blog. Deal with it loser.
So your just coming here to do what the tech people did that you didn’t like, knowing it was annoying and childish? Way to redeem yourself. You got us. Bazinga!! Feel better now?
You guys need to grow up. Comment on the article with some substance or simply move on.
wiley
March 25th, 2010
1:17 pm
Freedom23 while its true we aren’t Duke or UNC….its unfair to say we don’t consistently have the talent to do well in the ACC. GT has gotten more talent than all other ACC schools with the exception of UNC and Duke in the last ten years. GT is a top ten school in producing NBA talent but we are the only school in the top ten with out a National Title. Gary Williams gets comparable to below our average talent yet he never has 3-13 records in the ACC. GT will always get the top talent due to its location, conference, and history of putting players in the NBA…..we just need the right coach.
AlabamaRamblinwreck
March 25th, 2010
1:17 pm
This is making my day, my week, and my month. Please let it come to fruition. After the passing of the health care disaster, I really need some good news.
Damaged Goods
March 25th, 2010
1:18 pm
If Hewitt passes up on this chance to exit gracefully, he is also passing up on ever criticizing the ATL or GTech again.
who cares
March 25th, 2010
1:18 pm
And the Coach CONTINEUS TO BS! “Highly unlikely that I’d go anywhere.” If he was not interested, he would not talk to them! Hewitt is leaving due to the AJC ragging on him. maybe, it is too much pressure, maybe they threw in Knicks and Rangers Tix. Myabe houses for all of his family members. Enough of the snow job. The only way another team gets to talk to the coach is if the coach tells the AD-if they call, i’d like to talk with them. Hewitt is gone and everyone knew it when the AD gave permission to talk with Hewitt.
GA Tech Fan
March 25th, 2010
1:19 pm
Thanks Sean – apparently you’re the only objective person on this blog. If all these other people (incl TomB) would remember correctly, they couldn’t run Cremins out of here fast enough. But here’s the bottom line, sometimes things just run their course. I think Coach H. did his best — and sometimes, someone else just has to take the reins. If the appreciation for his hard work is not here, then so-be-it! Everyone cut their losses and go their separate ways and let the chips fall where they may. I’m all for reaching and having high expectations. But let’s not act like GA Tech basketball is in the gutter. If I’m not mistaken, a lot of other top programs are out of the big dance as well.
Damaged Goods
March 25th, 2010
1:20 pm
Bamawreck, what you mean, man? Don’t you know that when Obama was elected we was never gonna have to pay our mortgage, car notes, medical bills, grocery bills, school bills again? Pretty soon we can buy our crack and meth with food stamps, too. We all going to be Democrats!
TXDawg
March 25th, 2010
1:22 pm
posted by a blogger too scared to use his own screen name:
“you may be right but didnt we beat your preseason no 1 football team at YOUR place after overcoming a 28 point deficit?
tell me when ugag has ever beat a gt team at our place that was preseason no 1″
Hmmm….let me see….when has GT ever been ranked pre-season #1??
Unbiased
March 25th, 2010
1:22 pm
It’s amazing how a matter of perception is viewed from one University/fan base to another. It’s comical to think that St. Johns would put so much value on Hewitt’s under achievements at Tech. He clearly has performed at a low level, while fooling folks (outside of GA) by his recruiting prowess.
He certainly is a very likable, well spoken, and impressive man, but he clearly lacks the dedication to owning up to his weaknesses. It was quite obvious recently by his unprofessional cries/please that it was past time for Paul to move on.
The reality is this, Tech will be much better off without Hewitt and the need to strongly focus on hiring a “system based” coach that can plug in players and still be successful. Highly regarded recruits are nice on the surface, but a disciplined tactician is what the Jackets need.
Hope Hewitt can take the heat in NY…Good luck!
Recruiting won't suffer
March 25th, 2010
1:24 pm
Folks have suggested that the recruiting on this team will suffer as a result of CPH not leaving. Not true. This year’s class of highly touted freshmen (not including Oliver) are from Georgia. They were lured here due to staying in-state at an ACC high major school that has a long-standing tradition of sending kids to the pros. Gani is also from Georgia. As long as GA continues to produce bball talent, GaTech recruiting will be OK. Now I only wish CPH had convinced Travis Leslie to attend Tech.
IL Jacket
March 25th, 2010
1:24 pm
I just hope we do not find ourselves in the position of Auburn football, i.e., that the position looks a lot more attractive to the fan base than to the coaching fraternity. It is always going to be difficult to recruit at Tech and if the fans are this disgruntled with five NCAA appearances in ten years, we may find ourselves a perpetual stepping stone to something else.
Damaged Goods
March 25th, 2010
1:25 pm
GA Tech Fan: you aren’t. Sean: you might be objective about some things but until you get off your knees I don’t think anyone could say that Hewitt was one of those things. Hewitt is not a bad man. No one seriously thinks he is. He is not a good coach either by ACC standards. And he is not a good leader by Ga. Tech standards. The basketball team is not in the gutter record-wise this year, but having one of the lowest graduation-rates in the country (discounting the early NBA departures even) is pretty much gutter territory otherwise.
Recruiting won't suffer
March 25th, 2010
1:25 pm
argggh, typo … ‘Folks have suggested that Tech recruiting will suffer as a result of CPH -nxoxtx- leaving.’
Brian
March 25th, 2010
1:26 pm
ESPN.com report has a different story: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5027590
GT2002
March 25th, 2010
1:26 pm
Doug, say it ain’t so.
IL Jacket
March 25th, 2010
1:26 pm
Hooray and Thank You!
D
March 25th, 2010
1:26 pm
GA Tech Insider is amazing. He reads others post on message boards and acts like he knows something.
So GTI since you are so informed, when exactly was contact made with St Johns and Hewitt? Here’s a hint, it wasn’t this last week.If you were actually informed you would know when this took place and that its been brewing for a while. So lets hear it.
Buzz
March 25th, 2010
1:28 pm
TX DAWG, I believe that blogger was referring to the ONE game Tech as one in a long time last year when Ga. started the season preseason ranked #1 but I don’t believe Tech was ever behind by 28 pts. Maybe 21 or 17 forgot. I would ignore stupid bloggers!!! I wish more Tech fans would eat some crow until we win a little bit more and especially against the MUTTS!!!!