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
Old School
March 23rd, 2010
9:49 pm
FULL METAL JACKET: meant to respond earlier to your comment about the NY media eating Hewitt alive. Right on! If St. Johns is dumb enough to hire him and we are lucky enough for him to take it. Bradley et al at the AJC and other ATL sports media have treated him with kid gloves, in my humble opinion. And if he responded in NYC the way he did 3 days before Tech’s NCAA opener with Okie State— how low people(referring to the ATL media)were, how he has been unfairly trashed, blah-blah-blah, the NYC scribes would have responded with such a vehemence he would be praying to return to Atlanta. I read the AJC sports blogs and listed to both of the sports talk radio station going to and from work every day. Believe me, these guys have been unnecessarily kind to Hewitt when considering the only thing he has done in 10 years at Tech has been to the national title game. Frankly, it has been a helluva lot more famine than feast under Hewitt. And again and again and again: the FACTS bear this out!
blah, blah, blah
March 23rd, 2010
9:49 pm
You know what, Mr. Bradley – I’m tired of reading your crap. If you think you can do a better job, why don’t you take a stab at being a college coach. It might not be saying much, but I think Hewitt is a better coach than you are a writer. Let it go – find something else to be irrelevant about.
WilsonDunkit
March 23rd, 2010
9:49 pm
Hewitt fan: We “Southern people” are a very diverse lot, of many ethnic and cultural backgrounds. In fact, we’re the ones who hired Hewitt in the first place, and last I looked, the only thing remotely “southern” about him is his South Carribean roots. Gary Williams coaches at Maryland, which was a border state–decidedly not Southern if you ask any respectable Virginian, so your bigotry is further clouded with historical ignorance. When you get UNC’s Duke out of your mouth, maybe you can ask your momma if she’ll let you stay up later and blog with the big boys.
WilsonDunkit
March 23rd, 2010
9:52 pm
If for some reason Hewitt’s flight to NYC is delayed, I know a couple of Navy pilots who would be happy to fly him out of town.
Hewitt fan
March 23rd, 2010
9:54 pm
Full metal Jacket..
“could work the refs” check out the free throw attempts shot by duke and Nc…Singlar shot more free throws than GT by his self…Duke and NC shoots twice as many free throw as any other school in the ACC…..I think 2002 which was when Maryland won the Championship, NC or Duke had won the Acc title every year..look it up..Hewitt should leave u fair weather fans and go to St Johns..Every year Schools call him because the man can coach..All the papers around talk about how unappreciated he has been in atl..how is it his fault if one of his young guards dribble the ball out of bounds…..NC looked worst than GT this year despite having 7 McDonald’s high school all Americans..You people actually think the coaches play the game ….bosh got no calls the year he played at GT and stayed in foul trouble…..Favors also, I know him and his family and he is all but gone…he hates the way the game is called…..especially on the road in the ACC…..
Joe Schmoe
March 23rd, 2010
9:54 pm
WilsonDunkit, it’s not like they are flying planes these days anyways?
KJ
March 23rd, 2010
9:54 pm
Gottleib and the other guy on espn say they think he is going.
FullMetalJacket
March 23rd, 2010
9:54 pm
Old School: agreed, agreed, agreed. The numbers don’t lie, and the numbers don’t like Hewitt at all. (I believe the feeling is mutual since he relies on excuses and blame to make his arguments.)
Old School
March 23rd, 2010
9:55 pm
HEWITT FAN: in response to your question about if I think Hewitt “gets any calls at all in the ACC?” My response: you gotta be joking with a question/inferred statement like that. So now, his extremely poor record in the ACC is because of the refs. Yep, it’s a right wing–excuase me– right ref conspiracy! It’s all the fault of the guys in the stripes. It’s all their fault he has had one winning ACC season in 10 years. First, it’s the Atlanta media who is out to get him. Then it is the poor Tech fans who don’t appreciate him for all he has done for them in being the “greatest coach in the history of Georgia Tech.” All of us have been out to get him in 9 of his 10 years at Tech.
You just gotta be kidding with that kind of crap! Next thing you know it will because he is……
WilsonDunkit
March 23rd, 2010
9:57 pm
A few trivial little military regulations didn’t stop our fighter jocks from flying balls out way too fast and way too low the first time, so I don’t reckon a little “grounding” by a Rear Admiral is going to stop them from helping Ma Tech get rid of a little pest. By the way, what does a “Rear” Admiral do, anyway? Sounds like something Tiger would do.
Joe Schmoe
March 23rd, 2010
9:59 pm
I dont care if Hewitt learns the Jersey Fish hooks! Just leave to NY Blewitt! Season tickets no more if you stay next year!
NoCoach Blewitt
March 23rd, 2010
10:00 pm
Stop trying to win over Hewitt Fan …. he admitted why he is a Blewey apologist on the last page it is only due to the color of his skin ….. so its kinda of ironic isnt it
Hewitt fan
March 23rd, 2010
10:03 pm
OLD SCHOOL
Yeah a lot of this has to do with the fact that he is black..Ga people still think like its the 1920’s..But the truth hurts so i wont go there 2 nite….Name one other coach other than Coach K and Roy williams in the ACC that has a winning record on the road in the last 5 years?…
Wilsondunkit
Shut up, no way u can get over around it..Gary Williams has basically did the same thing as hewitt in the last 8 years..so does that mean he cant coach…All Maryland home games sell out….Get this Through your head dummie….ONLY DUKE AND NC ARE ALLOWED TO HAVE WINNING RECORDS IN THE ACC
GTPhenom
March 23rd, 2010
10:04 pm
Wow, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading, A) The bigotry and idiocy of guys like Hewitt fan and Frederick from earlier, and B) The stupidity of the pups on this blog. It is really entertaining. Two other things. Frederick, you never once replied to anything I posed to you, and does anyone think that maybe frederick and hewitt fan are the same person . . .
FullMetalJacket
March 23rd, 2010
10:05 pm
Hewitt fan: I think you can drop the “fan” from your name now. We know you have an early plane to catch and your excuse-making and attempt to defend your record clearly gives you away. You had me there with that over-the-top “greatest coach in GT history” bullsh!+ but I should have known that only you could assert that about yourself. I’m a little surprised that you played the race card and “southern” card in public, since you have been pretty careful about keeping your racist recruiting and BCA activism off the record. We did always know you resented the South, and despite the crap about your family loving Atlanta, we know you’ve got NY on your mind. Good bye and good luck. BTW, now we know you really do read the AJC, Mark Bradley, and the blogs.
NoCoach Blewitt
March 23rd, 2010
10:06 pm
Winning record on the road??? I don’t know but I bet I could name 9 other coaches other than Roy and Rat Face that have a better road ACC record than 6-38 (not 100% on the 38 but I know that is very very very close to that #)
GTPhenom
March 23rd, 2010
10:06 pm
Oh, and Hewitt fan, there are these things called shrinks, and I really think that you would be greatly advised and helped by seeing one in the very, very, very near future. First of all, your own comments are simply aimed at trying to make this an argument about race, and two, you seem to have some enormous fear of guys in black and white stripes. That is another thing the shrink can help man . . .
Joe Schmoe
March 23rd, 2010
10:06 pm
Im outtie. Got your ticket in hand if you want it Hewitt!
GTPhenom
March 23rd, 2010
10:09 pm
Could you explain, Tiger, your need to cheat on 15 other women? thanks in advance. I will make sure it makes to front cover of the Times tomorrow . . .
Wilson Dunkit
March 23rd, 2010
10:10 pm
“has basically did”? are you kidding me? you must be putting me on. OK< I see, FMJ is right. You really are Paul Hewitt and you are trying to disguise yourself by talking like an uneducated street rat. IF you had bothered to read (as if you could) the empirical evidence presented by Old School and others here, then not even you could keep up this charade. Hewitt (fan), history isn't kind to people like you (meaning ignorant bigots) so I wish you the best of luck in the future, if they ever do let you out of there.
GTPhenom
March 23rd, 2010
10:10 pm
Oh, and could you explain to me why Stanford athletics can never win in any sport?
Waffle House 2 toothed-Tanya
March 23rd, 2010
10:11 pm
Guess Hewitt fan tired of trying to remind us all of the ONE year Blewey did something
Old School
March 23rd, 2010
10:12 pm
HEWITT FAN: I knew it! I knew it! I had to put a little bait out there and you took it. So entirely predictable! It was just a matter of time.
As for the Carolina/Duke thing, could it possibly have anything to do with talent AND coaching? Could that have anything at all to do with it? But then again, it’s the media, it’s the ungrateful fans, it’s the refs, it’s the redneck bigots. Anything else?
I keep saying to myself that Hewitt Fan & Company are just bored and playing with people, making outrageous comments to stir people up, etc.
But now, I think most of us know where all this is coming from. Very, very sad.
Wilson Dunkit
March 23rd, 2010
10:12 pm
Now that FMJ has established that Hewitt fan is really Hewitt himself, I will not bother to honor him with a reply. It should be noted, however, that Hewitt does indeed read Mark Bradley, and it hurts. Boo Flicking Hoo!
Dawglasville
March 23rd, 2010
10:13 pm
Hewitt fan- you’re painting with a pretty broad brush and you definitely appear to have a confidence that you are superior to us Georgia natives. Isn’t that like the pretzle calling the peanuts salty? This is just one man to another man/woman blogging.
NoCoach Blewitt
March 23rd, 2010
10:15 pm
Still can not figure out how anyone, that has the ability to see, can still sit through an entire Blewey coached game without yelling, throwing of objects, or pulling out hair
Wilson Dunkit
March 23rd, 2010
10:15 pm
On second thought, maybe Hewitt fan is really Mark Bradley, baiting us into blogging on infinitum, and keeping Tiger up way beyond his bedtime.
NoCoach Blewitt
March 23rd, 2010
10:16 pm
Scratch that last comment ….. if people are dumb enough to vote for socialism then i guess they could still find a way to be a Blewey fan
Wilson Dunkit
March 23rd, 2010
10:17 pm
Right on, Dawglasville. (But I don’t really know if it knows if it is a man or woman blogging.)
Old School
March 23rd, 2010
10:17 pm
By the way. Is it the professors’ fault that Hewitt has the second lowest graduation rate in the ACC? Only Gary Williams at Maryland is worse. Then again, Duke and Carolina rank among the best institutions of higher learning in the nation, much like Tech. (Sorry Dawg fans– again, it’s a statistical fact). But then again, the student-athletes at Carolina and Duke “get all the calls” in the classroom.
Tiger
March 23rd, 2010
10:20 pm
Stanford has won 111 national championships. second most among all universities. Stanford HAS the most NCAA individual sport titles at 421 championships,
Stanford has won the NACDA Director’s Cup for Division I, awarded annually to the college or university with the most success in collegiate athletics, for 15 consecutive years (1994-95 to 2008-09).
BUELLER BUELLER BUELLER
CRICKETS CRICKETS CRICKETS
OOPS I GUESSED I ANSWERED MY OWN QUESTION
GOOD LOOKING GIRLS GO OUT WITH WINNERS NOT LOOSERS FROM TECH
WHAT CHAMPIONSHIPS HAVE YOU WON OUTRIGHT NONE JUST YOUR UPI CRAP IN 1990 TIED WITH COLORADO
FOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tiger
March 23rd, 2010
10:33 pm
GOSH
TECH PEOPLE ARE STUPID
IM TALKING ABOUT STANFORD AND ALL YOU TECHIES CAN COME UP WITH IS UGA CRAP
I DONT CARE ABOUT YOUR COMPETITION WITH THE FARM SCHOOL DOWN THE ROAD
THEY MUST BE BETTER BOTH ACADEMICALLY AND IN SPORTS IF YOUR STUPID ENOUGH TO THINK I CARE ABOUT JOHN DEER U
Nostradomas
March 23rd, 2010
10:36 pm
All ye who complain shalt come back in future years and talk great about thee mediocre coach! All ye who want Mark Price or Matt Hapring of ZERO coaching experience shall trade in thou white pointed hooded sheets and/or suits which is the new garb – and come back seeking their head on a platter after years of learnng to coach and no winning seasons. With what thou has done to Coach Hewitt and his team – do not be surprised if there are not any coaches who WANT the Tech job!!!!!
Mark Bradley
March 23rd, 2010
10:42 pm
We’re getting off-topic here. I’m shutting this down.
Hewitt on the move… to another school? « Steal the T
March 23rd, 2010
11:23 pm
[...] March 24, 2010 It can’t be. There’s no way. But… is it? [...]
Mark Bradley
March 24th, 2010
9:14 am
Comment section is now reopened. Let’s not drift from the subject at hand, OK?
Wilson Dunkit
March 24th, 2010
9:16 am
First back.
Wilson Dunkit
March 24th, 2010
9:18 am
After sleeping on it, it seems to me a little less likely that Hewitt will leave, UNLESS St. Johns offers a lot of money and relocation allowance. Hewitt’s family has all moved down to Atlanta in the last several years and they appear to like it down here. It would be a considerable expense and upheaval to truck everybody back up to NYC. Then again, it’s a coach’s life.
Wilson Dunkit
March 24th, 2010
9:25 am
I still wish Hewitt would leave, just as I wish he and his family good luck and success wherever they end up. I can’t help but think that Hewitt really does not recognize the degree of his unpopularity here and his own failure to meet expectations. It has been a roller coaster the past two weeks for fans, too, first losing to VT while on the bubble, then doing well in the ACC and making the NCAA’s (which we assumed would cement Hewitt in place for a few more seasons), and now this St. Johns possibility promises to solve many of the problems we see with Hewitt and the contract from Hades. But we shouldn’t assume that St Johns will make an offer (though Hewitt is the current frontrunner) or that he will automatically accept one. It is clear now that if Hewitt either decides to stay at Tech or if he is given no out to leave, the fans appetite has been whet for him to leave. (Much as the Cremins to SC incident years ago, as a previous blogger noted.) Expectations will be even higher and patience even shorter if Hewitt returns after we were that close to making a new start.
Wilson Dunkit
March 24th, 2010
9:26 am
Well, I guess I’m the only one back, hehe. At least I think I’ve stayed on topic.
Eraserhead
March 24th, 2010
9:32 am
Paul Hewitt seems like he wants to go back to NYC. According to Paul,the papers are better, as well as the food, etc. He’ll get to coach his team in the beloved MSG and all will be swell, until he starts losing and those NYC media folks will hound him like nobody does in Atlanta. The guy seems to have a thin skin, especially for a New Yorker. A couple of folks ask him serious questions and he gets all upset.
FullMetalJacket
March 24th, 2010
9:33 am
I’m in and in agreement. The smart move professionally is for Hewitt to go, I would think, so that he and Tech could get a fresh start. Ten years is a pretty long stay for coaches in any sport, and it’s time to dig a new well. I do feel sympathetic to Hewitt’s family situation, but given the rough economic times and unemployment upheaval nationally they all should be grateful to have such a lucarative bread-winner and the opportunity to re-locate. I know a lot of families who would love to have the chance to work wherever that could.
PawleysIslandJacket
March 24th, 2010
9:36 am
Another right on target column, Mark!!!! Please, please Hewitt leave!!!
Dawglasville
March 24th, 2010
9:36 am
As a Georgia grad I always thought you threw too much praise to Hewitt. That is until about midway through this season. If everyone thinks you are bias than I guess you are balanced. It may be time for the Techsters to back off of the venom. This can’t be good for recruiting.
FullMetalJacket
March 24th, 2010
9:38 am
One thing we haven’t discussed much is that St. Johns is in the Big East. That would pose a considerable challenge to a confident man like Hewitt which most any other job would not. Of course, it also means even added pressure because of the media and level of competition. It’s not that Georgia Tech is such a plum job (even though I think my alma mater is the best, naturally), but when you coach basketball in the ACC there are not many better jobs out there from professional, competitive, and high-profile perspectives. Do you agree, Mark?
Dawglasville
March 24th, 2010
9:38 am
“then” not “than”… please don’t start with the grammer pokes.
Wilson Dunkit
March 24th, 2010
9:42 am
Dawg’ville, you are right. In our eagerness to make a fresh start we should be more careful in trashing Hewitt (who may yet return) which by extension trashes our own program. That’s another reason, right or wrong, why if Hewitt returns he will be recruiting against not only his competition but also against many (otherwise loyal and well-intentioned) Tech fans who are either apathetic or antagonistic to him.
Wilson Dunkit
March 24th, 2010
9:42 am
grammar, not grammer. hehe, but then you knew that.
Keeping it Real
March 24th, 2010
9:44 am
Time for a change with Hewitt! He needs to move on and Richt needs to toughen up the Bulldogs! Discipline and focus is lacking!
Mark Bradley
March 24th, 2010
9:45 am
And I salute you, Wilson.