It’d be better for Hewitt and Tech if the two sides part ways
Even millionaire coaches need to be loved. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
It would be better for both parties if Paul Hewitt leaves. Better for Georgia Tech, which would be free of an increasingly unpopular coach and his onerous contract, but also better for Hewitt, who could return to New York as the people’s choice. As coach of St. John’s, he wouldn’t be viewed as the guy who hasn’t really delivered since 2004; he’d be the man from Queens come home to save the Johnnies.
There was a time when Paul Hewitt seemed the savior of Tech basketball. In his first season he took Bobby Cremins’ remnants and turned them into an NCAA tournament team, and in 2004 he took a team of his own creation to the championship game. And for all those who’ve looked at Tech lately and decided Hewitt cannot coach his way out of a paper bag, the memory of 2004 stands as a golden counterpoint: That team was a triumph of coaching.
I’ve said it before, but here it is again: I don’t know if any other coach could have taken Tech further than Hewitt did in 2004, but I can think of three dozen who could have done better since. Tech hasn’t finished above .500 in its conference or reached the Sweet Sixteen over the past six seasons. His record over his first five seasons was 96-66; his record over the past five is 81-78.
Even more distressing has been Hewitt’s penchant for seizing every crutch. Tech’s too young. Or it’s overscheduled. Or it has injuries, or academic issues, or players who’ve left early. Or it’s just “snakebit.” This willingness to explain away mediocrity has always seemed bizarre, given that the 2004 Jackets were handed a gold-plated excuse — leading scorer B.J. Elder sprained his ankle in Tech’s third NCAA game and didn’t score another point until the final against UConn — and persevered.
There are no perfect collegiate teams. The aim isn’t to see who can cry the deepest river but who can maximize what it has. Thad Matta took an Ohio State team without a true center — or even a real forward — and won the Big Ten; Hewitt took a team with the nation’s best complement of big men and finished seventh in the 12-team ACC. On Sunday, Matta’s team spotted Hewitt’s eight points and won by nine.
Hewitt wasn’t Chan Gailey, who was unpopular among Tech fans from the start. Hewitt was warmly received at the start and beloved after the Final Four, but there was never a follow-through to the daring deeds of 2004. It took Jacket backers a while to get impatient, but they’re there now. They’ve seen the same game lost the same way too many times over too many winters, and they’ve read about his never-ending contract and they wonder if the underachieving will ever cease.
This gifted team was Hewitt’s last best chance to persuade his doubters, and all it did was give rise to deeper doubt. If he couldn’t win big with Derrick Favors and Gani Lawal, what will happen next season when both figure to be gone? Will it ever get better for Hewitt than this? And is 23-13 good enough?
St. John’s isn’t a better job per se, but for Hewitt in 2010 it’s a better situation. He can leave the ACC, in which he has a career record of 67-93, and try the Big East, for which he has great affection. (He was an assistant at Villanova under Steve Lappas.) He can charm the New York media, which has the reputation of being nasty but is a pushover for a return-of-the-prodigal yarn, and he’ll recruit well and have the Red Storm back in the Big Dance soon enough.
Six years ago there seemed no better fit than Paul Hewitt for Georgia Tech, but today the two need fresh starts. No coach wants to fall into the disfavor of his constituency, and no constituency wants to root against its coach. But that, sad to say, is the reality at Tech. Paul Hewitt wasn’t Chan Gailey, but Paul Hewitt has become Chan Gailey.
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567 comments Add your comment
Tiger
March 24th, 2010
1:57 pm
Reasons why Nobody wants to be a Yellow Jerk:
Program stinks
Losers
Cant beat a sorry UGA team (EVER)
Continues to try to build the athletic program around a UPI Chumpionship
UPI doesnt exist anymore
Campus is a dump
Fans Stink
Fans dont show up
More oposing fans show up to Tech home games than Tech fans
Think they are relevant in a conference only good in basketball
Academic wanna beez’s
Need I say more?
FOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fillin' up @ Juniors
March 24th, 2010
1:57 pm
Anyone who is claiming we didn’t have talent, wasn’t watching the basketball games. To look merely at our wins and loses and claim to have a decent season is garbage. We won on talent alone. All the statistics around disiciple point to a team that over came disciple with raw talent…Free throw shooting, set play execution, points off of half court sets, turnover ratios, etc….all of them were ugly, but the team managed to do OK because it was loaded. Watching this team is like watching the USA basketball teams when they won bronze, talented and sloppy. Frankly thats coaching.
Fillin' up @ Juniors
March 24th, 2010
2:01 pm
Tiger, you are still saying “FOUR!” when it has already be explained to you that in golf its “FORE!” I realize your just baiting people because your own school (standford) is terrible, and because you are probably a child in middle school, but I would still expect you to attempt to fix the centerpiece of your argument. You end up looking so very stupid.
CanHewitt
March 24th, 2010
2:04 pm
All I’m Saying is…gladly. It wasn’t just my opinion that these kids are a very talented bunch. We had a top 5 recruiting class last year. If they’re not talented, no one would rate them that high and I don’t think Hewitt would have been interested much either. He brought in these players because he thought they could win games. These talented players were good at turning over the ‘rock.’ Whose fault is that? Players should share the blame but what about the coach? Why can’t he make them better if he’s such a good coach? He let it happen over and over. It’s almost like he can’t coach talneted kids at all. He can’t get through them. Either he’s a terrible recruit who brings less talented players or he can’t coach. Based on Tech history, I believe it’s the latter.
GT did not play better at the end of the season. Their talent took over against inferior teams. In ACC tournament, they set the record on # of turnovers and had the worth free throw percentage. I can’t call that playing better even though they almost won it.
Brent
March 24th, 2010
2:07 pm
Wow, Mark. You just argued all the exact same points that Kentucky fans made when we wanted Tubby Smith to leave Kentucky a few years ago. Back then, you described us as racist rednecks because Tubby was black. Using the same criteria on your article about Hewitt, I guess that now makes you a racist redneck. Be careful what you write. What goes around comes around..
All I'm Saying Is...
March 24th, 2010
2:08 pm
Saying someone is a good recruiter and has a talented team are two tired reasons used relentlessly to try and justify making a coaching change. People use to say the same thing about Bobby Cremins as has been alleged about PH. Was incorrect with BC and is with PH.
I actually think it is harder in this day and age to run a winning program unless you have a premier job (Kentucky, NC, Duke, etc.) because you do not have the luxury of picking and choosing your recruits and you end up with knuckleheads who think and play like they are one-and-done and are unwilling to listen until they consistently fail which is rare since they mainly play on AAU teams which are loaded and always win.
In any case, I don’t give a rat’s behind if PH leaves, stays and wins, or stays and is fired. All I’m Saying Is be careful what you wish for and have a plan if you get it or you may have a Billy Gillespie situation on your hands.
All I'm Saying Is...
March 24th, 2010
2:12 pm
CanHewitt: You might be right but I stand by my posts. Furthermore, let me re-state the following. “Question the man’s recruiting, his coaching decisions, and his tin ear for public relations (as shown by his asinine Twitter postings and calling out Bradley since pointless to argue with someone who buys ink by the barrel and can, therefore, always have the first, second, and last word as well keep trivial nonsense going) but please don’t delude yourselves into thinking that people are beating down the door to coach GT.”
I seriously doubt GT Nation can confidently say there is someone they KNOW can do a better job at a school like GT and, five-seven years from now, someone who would have a winning record in the ACC and have consistently taken their teams to NCAAs (assuming they don’t expand tourney to 96 teams because that would be an inappropriate comparison).
Fillin' up @ Juniors
March 24th, 2010
2:17 pm
I doubt anyone can KNOW for sure anything about sports. But I think GT nation is confident someone CAN, and thats worth the risk. Because at the end of the day, if we assume PH continues his current work we will another decade of 0 ACC championships, a losing record against a not so good rival, and 2 medicore trips to the NCAA…with one great run. SO honestly what are we risking?
ps I think you underestimate just how much potential this school has to get the best mid major coach that might exist. PH had a 7 year, 1.3 million dollar contract, and has all the resources needed to build a contender. Explain to me why a mid major Coach wouldnt jump at that chance.
Tiger
March 24th, 2010
2:21 pm
Fillin Up My Toilet
I guess your education at Tech isnt good as stated by me
The center piece of my argument is you Techies think your program is relevant it is not.
Especially compared to Stanfords
And by looking at surrounding schools in the Southeast Tech doesn’t compare either to schools like EMORY, MERCER, FLA, FURMAN, VANDERBILT, DUKE, George Washington, and the list goes on academically
or
Athletically your a joke and I don’t have to look to the South East thats a given. I just look at Your Big Brother UGA down the road and realize the truth
FOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
come on
March 24th, 2010
2:31 pm
tiger you seem to care a lot about tech, you spend a lot of time talking about them. u are on the wrong side of the country to think that even 5 people in the state care about stanford sports. when was the last time u were relevant in anything. plus u want to talk about weak conferences it USC and noboby else.
Technophobia
March 24th, 2010
2:32 pm
In all things, talent is no guarantee of success. Many talented people and teams have failed because they lacked the other elements of success such as discipline, work ethic and insight.
Technophobia
March 24th, 2010
2:33 pm
Tiger, don’t you mean FORE? dumbass, ROFLMAO
Tiger
March 24th, 2010
2:33 pm
Our athletic program is head and shoulders above the Train Wreck from TECH
FOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
come on
March 24th, 2010
2:33 pm
o and speaking of weak conferences the year USC does not win the title Oregon lost to the perennial sec whipping boy Ohio State
CanHewitt
March 24th, 2010
2:34 pm
Keep in mind. Tech’s been paying Hewitt $1.3 million+. That’s more than Coach K’s base salary. DRad can bring in some decent to good coach at that much money. I don’t expect Tech to have yearly success like UNC or Duke. But seeing this team underachieving year after year is just painful. I think both Tech and Hewitt can use a fresh start.
come on
March 24th, 2010
2:34 pm
ok give me examples of the program being head and shoulders better. u need facts otherwise its just talk
Tiger
March 24th, 2010
2:35 pm
And no you mindless Tards from Tech
I do mean
FOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fillin' up @ Juniors
March 24th, 2010
2:43 pm
Tiger is just baiting. It what happens when your parents let you on the computer unattended for the first time. The PAC-10 haha cute…
Roymus
March 24th, 2010
2:45 pm
If you were Paul Hewitt, wouldn’t you consider TRYING to get fired so you collect the $7MM buyout and still be St. John’s head coach? Things Paul could try (with apologies to George Constanza): 1) Streak across AMC wearing a body suit 2) Making a new suit out of our two Final Four banners 3) Offering me a scholarship as starting point guard (I’m only 50 and still have a year of eligibility left)
Tiger
March 24th, 2010
2:45 pm
COME ON
This is from our website
You know there is a thing called google, then you type stanford athletics then you look at the site and it will show you
Stanford Cardinal Championships
National Championships: 110
NCAA Championships: 97 (No. 2) +
Men’s NCAA Championships: 59 (No. 3) +
Women’s NCAA Championships: 37 (No. 1) +
Individual NCAA Championships: 409 *+
NCAA Team Championships Since 1990: 56 *+
NCAA Team Championships Since 1980: 79 *+
* most in the nation
+ as of November 15, 2009
Im a winner as you can see
And so is Stanford
What is Ga Tech a loser step child to its mighty farm brother UGA
Now get over here and fix my broken toilet you JANITORIAL ENGINEER
FOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tiger
March 24th, 2010
2:50 pm
Fillin up My Toilet
What am I baiting may I ask
The TRUTH is what Im baiting and you beez don’t like the POLLEN
Tech academically and athletically is nobetter than San Diego state
FOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
come on
March 24th, 2010
2:51 pm
thats nice and how many football title one claimed 1926, and it is not official, and tech has 4 official so why don’t u face it nobody cares unless u have football titles
Fillin' up @ Juniors
March 24th, 2010
2:52 pm
whoa…Hold up Tiger, You have to take out the wins from the Chess Team, Math Debate Team, and Tree Hugging Championships… Which leaves you with nothing…
Stanford = total pansies with absolutly nothing worth mentioning
come on
March 24th, 2010
2:52 pm
maybe u keep saying four because u know the number of tiltels tech has because u would have to say zero for stanford
Tiger
March 24th, 2010
3:00 pm
We have a winner
its come on
THATS RIGHT FOUR TITLES SHARED WITH OTHER TEAMS NO OUTRIGHT TITLES
What that means is irrevalant
Thinks come on you win season tickets to all academic debates and your choice of a home football game where ever you want to sit since the stadium is empty every game
Fillin' up @ Juniors
March 24th, 2010
3:06 pm
dude this child can’t write, can’t argue, can’t make coherent sentences. Your a disgrace to whatever school you cheer for. You’re making a fool of your favorite school. As if we needed a reason to pick on stanford, since they are a nothing school, the very fact that YOU represent them just adds fuel to the fire. Until you are ready to play with the big boys in the East Cosat and Georgia maybe its best if you just hushed.
@ tiger
March 24th, 2010
3:13 pm
Hey Tiger, if you make to the last day in the Masters, do you think you will pull it out?
Tech Hoops
March 24th, 2010
3:16 pm
If he is gone we will decline big time. I hope I am wrong. The reason I like Hewitt better than Fox?? his style of basketball. You can concentrate on rhythm offense and things of the like, but I think Hewitt concentrates on defense. Unfortunately little experience and offensive struggles kill us in close games.
Fox will not go very deep in the NCAA tournament with his stype of basketball. Hewitt can go far with his. His teams can compete. And the guy who said abou the road games and the refs? Yes thatis part of it. With Hewitts style, if they are calling tick tacky fouls, then his players are going to hav e a bad games, especially the young ones.
My point is excellent defense. You don’t get the top 5 FG %age in the NATION when you can’t coach. Where was UGA’s FG%age Defense. I am sure not anywhere close.
Tech is better than Wake NC State and Clemson. Because even Tech has been to the dance more and won more games there. The only other team who has beat Tech at this since HEwitt has been here is UNC, Duke and MAryland. So in my opinion, we ahve the 4th best program in the ACC. We have the 3rd most NBA players. So that is about right. MAryland almost got rid of Williams last year. Look at his year this year. If not for the really bad losses to start the season, MAryland would be in the tourney now. They would have drawn a better seend/bracket. The ACC is not down as people have said, but more parity. Your 8-12 could crush the 8-12 of any other conference. But the 2-5 was sucking wind a bit the past couple of years.
If HEwitt leaves and we don’t get seriously lucky, then you guys who ran Hewitt out of town will be hearing from me a lot. I will be just like m mentioning Chan, except reminding you that I wish you did not stuff him on a Greyhound bus. There are only a couple of people on here who get it. If you could leave HEwitt alone, I think a NAtl title could come our way within the next 5 years. If he is gone, you won’t see one before 2020.
Fillin' up @ Juniors
March 24th, 2010
3:23 pm
You are comparing the Chan to JOhnson switch to this one how? Your broken english made this very difficult but if this goes by the same path as the Chan change we come out on top. We didnt stuff him in a greyhound bus we paided him 4 million to stop being our medicre coach. In return GT has an ACC championship, a BCS birth and a coach we all love.
A National Title? Are you serious. No one is asking for a national title, we are just asking for a consistently decent team that competes, and an ACC championship from time to time. You dont ask for national titles unless you are at one of the 4 or 5 elite schools. Do you even watch college basketball?
Tiger
March 24th, 2010
3:29 pm
Fillin up My Toilet
So now I can’t write
Why because you can’t handle the truth
And please don’t consider yourself one of the big boys in the east
Now thats laughable you can’t beat a big time east team
i.e a middle of the road UGA who’s D coordinator was fired after playing you and stopping your sorry “UNSTOPPABLE” offense.
Fillin' up @ Juniors
March 24th, 2010
3:41 pm
And you can’t beat a small time west coast team. Stanford, had 5 wins in 2008….5 wins. We had that by weak 6 of the season. Having an “UNSTOPPABLE” offense that sputtered 3 times this season is better than having an offense that only showed up 3 times in a season.
ps seriously try using periods and commas. Your football team sucks. And that is all there is to it.
Fillin' up @ Juniors
March 24th, 2010
3:43 pm
14 wins in basketball….5 wins in football. Zero wins on this blog…Now someone bring this discussion back to Paul Hewitt, and away from this dimwit.
Tiger
March 24th, 2010
3:58 pm
Fillin’ up MY Toilet
Who’s the dimwit
This is a blog
what is funny is Im on many different blogs for different things and this is the first blog I’ve ever been on where dimwit toilet drinkers such as yourself want to tell people to punctuate and spell correctly
This is not a research paper to turn in dork so people do not punctuate or spell correctly on blogs
People make quick statement whether its factual stupid funny etc>>>>>>>>……………
Take a look at your name if you want to be technical @ is at and ‘ is g right dork
but I guess you toilet engineers haven’t gotton around to the times
DunkinBallsScoringDonuts
March 24th, 2010
4:08 pm
TPhobe & AllI’mSayin/AllMyChildren: Glad you’re Tech fans but I believe you’re barking up the wrong tree. No one suggests that Hewitt is the worst coach in the history of the world, but no objective observer could see him as anything but average or even a tad below for the league. I’m a much bigger fan of Gailey than of Hewitt, but Johnson now (and Cremins before) blow them both out of the water. Some fans take things too personally and are vitriolic; and some fans take things too personally and lose their objectivity in supporting a coach. Such is life. For good reasons (and perhaps some bad ones, too), Hewitt is done at Georgia Tech, whether he’d stayed or not. It may not be easy to find someone much better, but Radakovich has an excellent track record thus far.
DunkinBallsScoringDonuts
March 24th, 2010
4:14 pm
For the record, and targeting no one in particular, with or without stripes and STDs: most people do not punctuate, spell, and construct grammatically correct and cogent prose because they HAVE to and nor do they do it only in research papers. They do it because they understand that communication between human beings differs from that between other beings in its precision, clarity, and accuracy—all of which are enhanced by consistent, correct presentation.
RickyBobbyOnFire
March 24th, 2010
4:17 pm
I’m back, but I landed in a pile of Tiger-poop. I think he must be a shut-in or off his meds or both. So I’ll just pity him and go back to ignoring him. What’s the latest on Hewitt? Is he and his albatross of a contract still hung around our necks?
Fillin' up @ Juniors
March 24th, 2010
4:20 pm
Thank you Dunkin. A) for turning the discussion back to Heweitt, and B) for articulating why intelligence is nessecary even on a blog.
RickyBobbyOnFire
March 24th, 2010
4:24 pm
Hewie, my man, it’s been real but it’s time for us to part ways. Just because our man Mark says it doesn’t mean it ain’t so. (Oh, yeah, that’s right, you don’t read his stuff.) Now, we can part ways by you taking another position if one is offered (Ta Da!!! Here’s one from St. Johns), or I can call in a couple of F-18 Super Hornets. Now, then, which will it be?
Tiger
March 24th, 2010
4:24 pm
Ricky Booby:
How is that poop of mine smelling that you stepped on? Now you see why I called for a janitorial engineer from Georgia Tech to come and fix my toilet. When your done taking care of the toilet could you clean my house while your at it.
Could someone give me a spell check, I wouldn’t want someone not to understand what I have said on here.
RickyBobbyOnFire
March 24th, 2010
4:25 pm
Tiger: what?
RickyBobbyOnFire
March 24th, 2010
4:26 pm
tiger who? but he did find the shift key.
RickyBobbyOnFire
March 24th, 2010
4:31 pm
Recently encountered some bleeding heart dawg fans lamenting the horrible risks and potential consequences of low flyovers. It would seem the likelihood of being misdiagnosed by the UGA Vet School and dying within a week would be greater for a UGA coed or mascot than being hit by an F-18 SuperHornet. Similarly, for the UGA boys, the chances of being hit by an out-of-control flying Gymdog or a drunk football player on a Vespa and breaking your neck are much greater than the F-18 accidentally wiping you out. On the other hand, now that you know we have F-18’s you Athenians better duck after the anthem next November around Sanford Cesspool.
RickyBobbyOnFire
March 24th, 2010
4:33 pm
Admittedly, if they hadn’t been Tech men at the controls it would have been a lot more dangerous. I think the big problem is that they woke up some weekend lodgers at City Hall and they had to change their undies.
RickyBobbyOnFire
March 24th, 2010
4:37 pm
ooops, sorry. (mischevious grins). Back to Hewitt’s Hopeful Departure. IF he does come back to Tech, as Techno and All I’m Sayin and Hewitt Fan would have, two things are for certain: 1. He shouldn’t ever again complain about his contract, the ATL media, the GT fans, or anything remotely negative about the city or the school since he has elected to stay even after it was made clear he wasn’t wanted. 2. He better start winning a helluva helluva helluva helluva helluva lotta games.
RickyBobbyOnFire
March 24th, 2010
4:38 pm
TIGER BABY! CAN’T YOU TELL WHEN YOU ARE BEING MOCKED?
Tiger
March 24th, 2010
4:43 pm
HEY RICKY
TIGER HERE. COULDN’T HELP BUT READ YOUR POST ON THE SANDFORD CESSPOOL. HAVEN’T BEEN THEIR BEFORE BUT I HAVE AT TECH.
I WOULD TREAD VERY LIGHTLY IN CALLING OTHER SCHOOL’S STADIUM’S CESSPOOLS.
THE TECH CAMPUS IS A GARBAGE DUMP COMPARED TO STANFORD, AND MUCH SAFER. I HAD TO ASK MY FRIEND TO SEND ME HIS BULLET PROOF VEST SO I COULD FEEL MUCH SAFER WHEN I WENT TO ONE OF YOUR FOOTBALL GAMES A FEW YEARS AGO.
HERE IS A NEW NAME FOR YOUR STADIUM “BOOBY DUMP STADIUM”
RickyBobbyOnFire
March 24th, 2010
4:45 pm
Mark, I’m trying real, real hard to stay on topic, but Tiger is such an easy target. I was always told to just ignore bullies, but he’s not a bully, he’s a pussycat, minus the cat. Reminds me of a quote from Pulp Fiction, when Samuel T. Jackson is lecturing the UGA grad holding up the diner:
“But I saw some s**t this mornin’ made me think twice. See, now I’m thinkin’: maybe it means you’re the evil man. And I’m the righteous man. And Mr. 9mm here, he’s the shepherd protecting my righteous a$$ in the valley of darkness. Or it could mean you’re the righteous man and I’m the shepherd and it’s the world that’s evil and selfish. And I’d like that. But that s**t ain’t the truth. The truth is you’re the weak. And I’m the tyranny of evil men. But I’m tryin’, Ringo. I’m tryin’ real hard to be the shepherd.
Tiger
March 24th, 2010
4:48 pm
rIcKy
i THiNks “jAwGA” tERK IS THE one THAt IS mOcKED yEAR AfTER yeAR STUPID
WHATS PATHETIC IS YOU LOST TO UGA IN BASKETBALL. BASKETBALL MIND YOU. THAT POWER HOUSE UGA BASKETBALL TEAM.
OH AND YOU LOST TO A D COORDINATOR WHO WAS FIRED AFTER STOPPING THE MIGHTY OPTION VEER ATTACK BY THE GREAT JOKE JOHNSON.
RickyBobbyOnFire
March 24th, 2010
4:51 pm
Mark, I’m trying real hard to stay on topic.
But I’m tryin’, Ringo. I’m tryin’ real hard to be the shepherd.
–Jules to Pumpkin, Pulp Fiction:
john
March 24th, 2010
4:53 pm
Tell it like it is Mark. Never has so little been done with so much talent. The only consistency has been the dreadful inconsistency, particularly on the road where the team has time and time again looked mentally soft and disorganized. I’m sure Paul is a nice guy, but Tech needs a coach, not a nice guy. Remember when it was tough to get a ticket to the game? Seems like years ago and it was!!!