It’s a big year for Hewitt, even if he doesn’t think so
Give Paul Hewitt credit. He sees reality, or at least half of it. “We should have a very, very good team,” he said, and Hewitt’s 2009-2010 Jackets seem, at least in terms of manpower, as strong as any basketball squad in Georgia Tech annals.
But here’s where the coach sails down the river of denial. Asked if 2009-2010 is a big season for the program in general and Paul Hewitt in particular, he said, “No.
Hearing, his questioner — who has, it must be stipulated, been critical of Hewitt — repeated the word: “No?” Then I half-laughed.
And Hewitt half-smiled. “Two years ago we had a very good team that was overscheduled out of a very good year,” he said. “Last year we had a lot of adversity off the court. That might not be the way other people see it, but it’s the way I see it.”
This is what’s frustrating about Paul Hewitt. Nobody expects a coach to say, “If we don’t win every game by 30 points I deserve to be fired.” (In 2000 Jim Donnan stood before a Bulldog Club convocation in Midtown and said, “I’ve waited 55 years to coach a team like this,” and we saw what happened to him.) But for Hewitt to suggest that, apart from some bad breaks, everything has been hunky-dory for his Jackets is just … wrong.
Since the night Hewitt’s Jackets played for the 2004 NCAA title in the Alamodome, Tech is 78-77. It’s 29-51 in ACC play. It has won one NCAA game, that in 2005 against George Washington. It has had a losing record in three of the past four seasons. In the season just completed, it lost as many conference games (14) as any ACC team ever.
One down year might be explained away by wicked fortune, but this sampling is too broad to be written off to anything except mismanagement. The 2007-2008 team — the “overscheduled” one — had Anthony Morrow, Lewis Clinch, Jeremis Smith, Gani Lawal, Matt Causey, Alade Aminu, Zach Peacock and D’Andre Bell and went 15-17. (Two of those overscheduled losses were to UNC Greensboro at Tech and to Winthrop on a neutral floor.) Last season Tech lost more games than any band of Jackets since 1980-1981.
Loading ...Hewitt proved in 2003-2004 he could coach at the highest level of his profession. I’m not sure any other coach could have gotten more from that team, but that team played its last game 62 months ago. The contract extension Hewitt signed immediately after the Final Four run paid him major money and brought lifetime security. (He’ll earn $1.375 million next season, and if he’s terminated at any time Tech would have to pay at least $7 million.)
He has a chance to put things right over the next 10 months. The signee Derrick Favors and Gani Lawal, who just removed his name from the NBA draft, give Tech the most gifted pair of big men in the nation. This team should go at least 10-deep. (Good news, for as we know Hewitt substitutes every 10 seconds.) “We’ve had some pretty good teams here,” Hewitt said, “but [this is] a very good team.”
It figures, however, to be a team with a one-year window. Favors is surely one-and-done, and Lawal might not stick around two more seasons. But that’s the way of college basketball: When you get the players, you have to win big. Hewitt has the players. He has his chance. There can be no excuses this time.
Part of the package: Here’s my preseason Top 25. Tech is included … somewhere.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
72 comments Add your comment
brewdawg
June 19th, 2009
7:51 pm
Mark,
I’m ready for my UGA basketball column now. I don’t care how negative it is (although the retainment of Tompkins was huge IMO).
bobbydoddsghost
June 19th, 2009
8:16 pm
I wonder if Paul Johnson can coach basketball.
chuck allison
June 19th, 2009
9:24 pm
IT sure would be nice if Hewitt would just do the honorable thing and leave on his own initiative.
moboman
June 20th, 2009
1:31 am
You can blame Hewitts problems on the class after the 2004 final , but who selected that class? Isnt it the coaches job to recognize talented recruits. There have been some recruits with severe holes in their games in recent years. For Hewitt to be successful this year he will have to do something he’s not done in recent years. He will have to realize quickly who his players are and who deserves to get the playing time. He will have to establish the right rotations, and put loyalty aside. And he will have to quit over subbing and let guys develop chemistry playing with each other and not constantly shuffle players so there is no on court consistency in personnel.
p hew itt
June 20th, 2009
7:14 am
all you BCA apologists can say what you want about phew but the facts dont lie.
great coach? my A$$!
so great that he has not had even so much as a nibble as far as being on the short list for another job.
nba coach…. lmao. all you hear from the nba about gt recruits is that they are better than they thought because their fundamentals are so bad.
phew vs cremins? give me a break. phew has gone to how many post seasons in his 9 years? 4? meanwhile bobby went to around 15 ncaa’s and nit’s while he was here out of 19 seasons. 10 ncaas in a row. lets see… that is 40% for phew vs about 75% for bobby. case closed.
and that first year that phew did so well? that was with bobby’s players.
phew wishes he was half the coach that bobby is. the only floor that will ever be named after phew will be the bathroom stall at the tit.
And for all you basketball experts who like to rant on about how great phew is….. at least spell cremins right when you make the comparison. you only embarass your self!
and last but not least…. bobby new when to bow and he bowed out like the gentleman he is. phew will never ever do that. he will take the program down with him.
hell he is tearing down our program little by little as each year goes by. of course i dont know how much further down we can go. we are the laughing stock of the acc now as it is.
if i ever meet phew i will be sorely tempted to punch him between his beady little eyes.
AMG
June 20th, 2009
8:42 am
CPH has one excuse afyer anoyjer about what went wrong. This year he has every possible advantage. This is a huge year and he knows it. Win or pack your bags. Frankly I hope he packs his bags and Tech can hire someone who will win and not make excuses.
William Casey
June 20th, 2009
11:11 am
I’m neutral in the Hewitt debate. The real culprit here is Javaris Crittenton. I’m willing to bet the house that Crit told CPH that he’d stay at least 3 seasons. GT would have won 20+ the last 2 years and gone to the NCAA’s with Crit. But Crit’s mom needed a house and pushed Crit to go early. It ruined his career but at least his mom got a house.
GM
June 20th, 2009
1:09 pm
It’s hard to describe Paul Hewitt, because has more excuses than I have words in my vocabulary.
Jimmy
June 20th, 2009
1:27 pm
Check out this shot on CPH’s coaching abilities.
http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Portsmouth-Invitational-Tournament-All-First-Team-3180/ (Sorry I don’t know how to correctly post links)
This is a quote from the article on Alade Aminu,
“Aminu didn’t play a very big role this season at Georgia Tech—in fact, he came off the bench for the team’s final 12 games. The fact that he struggled to make an impact on a team that finished last in the ACC and posted a 12-19 record is a bit of a red flag, but as we learned the hard last year with the way Anthony Morrow panned out, players from this team need to be looked at a more in-depth, especially ones who are only 21 years old.
Comparing the way Aminu played at Portsmouth with what we can now see from his film at Georgia Tech reveals a pretty stark contrast—it doesn’t seem like he was utilized very well at all in college from what we can tell.”
Basically, it’s saying that I shouldn’t put the “C” in front of “PH” because he’s not really a coach. He’s a great recruiter who acquires great talent, but doesn’t really coach them up. This isn’t something new to Tech hoops fans though.
How many first rounders has he produced while his teams just don’t produce as a TEAM???
Jimmy
June 20th, 2009
1:30 pm
Wow, I hadn’t even finished that article before I posted my previous comment.
Later in the aforementioned article, the author takes this not so subtle shot at CPH,
“They looked incredibly disorganized in the film we took in, with no point guard, no system, and very little ball-movement. It appeared that Aminu often was asked to play very far from the basket, and pretty much all of his shots were opportunities that he was forced to create on his own.”
Ouch!
blackprix
June 20th, 2009
2:46 pm
Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter who Hewitt recruits — he can’t coach!
jojo sunshine
June 20th, 2009
4:40 pm
I like Paul Hewitt. I think he had one of those years that just happens when GT made it to the Championship. I think that if it were not for a certain point guard who transferred from Arizona that team would have never made it that far. Bynum was an unexpected pick up that made the team better. Was he the best player? Probably not, but what he brought was definitely what was needed.
I would like to thank Coach Hewitt and I would also like to say good-bye. He will find another job, but this one ain’t it.
GT hire the savvy kid from Butler if you want to make splash. He is a young, sensational coach who has taken a mid major and made them into an annual NCAA tournament team. Look at his record – UNBELEIVABLE!
Do it and do it now before the season and we might be ready by tournament time to make a splash.
Bishop
June 20th, 2009
7:16 pm
Here you go Tech
http://www.georgiastatesports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=53530&SPID=5655&DB_OEM_ID=12700&ATCLID=3746987&Q_SEASON=2009
BCWRECK
June 20th, 2009
8:34 pm
I think the 2010 team can repeat what the 2004 team did: 9-7 in the ACC. The 2010 team will be young and talented. They will be much like the Fab Five at Michigan, except they will be 8-8 or 9-7 in the ACC.
They will have a very good chances of winning most of their games. However they will lose many of those games.
They will play to the level of their competition, and lose several. It will be disappointing.
Coach K could only dream of talented team like this.
Coach K would take this team to either The Final Four, the the Final Two, or the Championship.
DAWGHATER
June 20th, 2009
10:14 pm
HEY UGAly FANS: How many points is a 3 point basket worth?
A) 1
B) 2
C) 3
D) 4
E) I don’t know coz I am a UGA student.
Question # 2
UGA’s colors are:
A) Red & Black
B) Pink and Blue
C) Yellow and Green
D) Black on Black
E) I don’t know and it does not matter coz I get an A anyway.
Question # 3
The half court line is located on the basketball court, where?
A) Half Court
B) Front Court
C) Left Court
D) I don’t know coz I am a dumb azz and attend UGA.
E) Blank
Question # 4
In basketball, a free throw, considered a 1 and 1 is how many shots?
A) 1
B) 2
C) maybe 1, maybe 2, maybe 3
D) If the player makes the first he gets the second
E) No clue
Question # 5
What was the final score in the GT vs UGA 2008 football game between our smelly hedges?
A) GT 45, UGA 42 (Hint – This is the right answer)
B) GT 45, UGA 40
C) UGA 45, GT 42
D) I give up, coz I am a dumb azz and attend UGA
E) It does not matter as I get an A anyway.
Your school is pathetic and your fans and alumni are illiterate rednecks. Go back to your double wides and eat your pork you bunch of redneck low life losers.
RAMBLE ON! THWG!
MICHAEL
June 21st, 2009
11:23 am
chill-out fans. when was the last time two marquee players got along and when was the last time two marquee players actually fueled team chemistry?? everyone on this new team has to pull his weight and the coaching staff should show urgency. it’s still the acc and the other coaches love this challenge. we are targeted! ncaa yes, acc no, title no.
GT fan ....
June 21st, 2009
12:55 pm
TECHSUX
June 19th, 2009
1:12 pm
“Hewitt may be a good recruiter, but he should not be a head coach. I hope tech loses at everything they try to compete in. The entire sports world knows that tech has the most classless fans in all of college sports…they even whine about their coaches and ALWAYS blame their adversity on the refs.”
So, what were all the GA fans saying about Dennis Felton, and that guy who coordinates the defense for their football team? And the “class” you are showing TECHSUX by commenting on your rival’s blog …….
GT fan ....
June 21st, 2009
1:25 pm
To say disappointed, is putting it nicely on how I’ve felt about Hewitt, and his coaching of the Jackets the past few years. There’s been too much talent to have underachieved on the scale PH has.
The play on the court the last couple of years has more resembled pick-up games in the park than coached, disciplined league teams. If a player thinks he’s open, he shoots it — b/c that’s what PH tells him to do. Quotes such as, “the guys were passing up shots looking to work the ball for better shots is what hurt us today.” Excuse me coach, did you just berate your players b/c they were patiently looking for the best shots?
2-14 in league play is utterly embarrassing. Too much talent to finish so poorly! And the ‘09-’10, on talent alone, should win 9 league games. If PH underachieves with THIS team, then what becomes his excuse then?
This thought just came to me as I finished typing …. so, PH will make $1.375 million in ‘09-’10 if he gets up and goes to work everyday. But if he gets fired he can sit around, do nothing all day, and make $7 million? No wonder he’s not concerned about how he performs on his job.
O Thomason
June 21st, 2009
5:07 pm
Mark, I agree with you. I am a devoted Tech fan, but its time now not the next year. So I say Coach. Show that you are a coach and not just a recruiter. No excuses now . What a great all around team. Its up to you Coach. You have a very good team now. Show me.
spider
June 22nd, 2009
4:11 pm
big deal so we have a 50% chance of a better year this coming season but after favors and lawal leave after this next season our chances go down to 5%
The Hunt: No. 51, Georgia Tech | Sports News Images and Videos
October 19th, 2009
6:02 pm
[...] Hewitt thinks he "over-scheduled" in 2008 (although, as Mark Bradley points out, that squad lost UNC-Greensboro and Winthrop) so he’s clearly compensating this year. Aside from a trip to Puerto Rico where the Jackets [...]
The Hunt: No. 51, Georgia Tech | Newstion.com
October 20th, 2009
3:04 am
[...] Hewitt thinks he "over-scheduled" in 2008 (although, as Mark Bradley points out, that squad lost UNC-Greensboro and Winthrop) so he’s clearly compensating this year. Aside from a trip to Puerto Rico where the Jackets [...]