Hewitt is staying: Tech fans, how do you feel? UPDATED
Georgia Tech has now confirmed that Paul Hewitt has turned down St. John’s. Here’s the school’s official statement:
Georgia Tech head basketball coach Paul Hewitt said Thursday afternoon that he will remain at the Institute and is no longer a candidate for the head coaching position at St. John’s University.
Hewitt, 46, just completed his 10th season at the helm of the Yellow Jackets’ program, guiding Tech to a 23-13 overall record. The Jackets advance to the championship game of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament and earned a berth in the NCAA Championship for the fifth time, where it defeated Oklahoma State in the first round before being eliminated by Ohio State.
“My family and I have developed deep ties to Georgia Tech and the city of Atlanta,” said Hewitt. “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.”
Hewitt, who has record of 177-144 at Georgia Tech, ranks third among active coaches in the ACC in games coached and fourth in career victories. He ranks 18th in career victories all-time. He has taken the Yellow Jackets to six post-season berths, including one NIT appearance, twice to the championship game of the ACC Tournament and the championship of the 2003 Preseason NIT.
“I think what has transpired over the last few days speaks volumes about Paul Hewitt and about Georgia Tech,” Tech director of athletics Dan Radakovich said. “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.”
If you’re a Tech fan, how do you feel? Relieved that your coach is staying? Disappointed that he’s staying?
My thoughts on what Hewitt staying would mean for him and Tech will be forthcoming, but I’d be obliged to hear yours. Thanks in advance.
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538 comments Add your comment
reverendtech
March 26th, 2010
1:02 am
I’m afraid JB is right, Dan. For better or worse your future at Tech is married to Paul Hewitt’s now. The points you earned for CPJ’s hire are not untouchable, and quite a few of them were lost at the end of last basketball season and this basketball season. God Bless.
Saltyfisherman
March 26th, 2010
1:04 am
You said it AMG! He is oblivious to the facts and absolutely delusional about his failures. IF you can’t see your flaws, you can’t fix them. He can’t change because he doesn’t even realize he needs to.
Saltyfisherman
March 26th, 2010
1:08 am
A sagacious old man on a mountain once told me:
Great men admit their mistakes and learn from them. Great peckerheads deny their mistakes and blame them on the refs, luck, and Mark Bradley.
Saltyfisherman
March 26th, 2010
1:09 am
Now, I wonder which one Paul Hewitt resembles?
Racinoto67
March 26th, 2010
7:38 am
Look, I wanted him gone as much as the rest of you, BUT he’s not going. So let’s look on the positive side. He’s a really good, dare I say great, recruiter. Find and pay some very good assistant coaches. Dan the Radman, fire HIS assistants and hire quality assistants to replace them. Pay them what ever you need to pay them. Find a game coach and let that coach run the team during games. Find a way to limit his input during games, and for that matter during practice. Neuter CHP after the recruiting process. Sort of like FSU did with Bobby B. Call the new guy the next head coach in waiting or call him a Co-Head Coach. If CHP is OK with this arrangement, so am I. The great recruiter recruits, and the CHC coach coaches.
The mutts must be having as good a time with this as we did with Ray Goof. I still have my “Stay with Ray” button.
I LOVE IT HOW
March 26th, 2010
7:53 am
all i have to say is………………..damn…………………………!
goatD
March 26th, 2010
7:54 am
Whenever a school runs a coach off, you have to think, “Better make sure the guy you get is a lot better than the one you ran off.” (OK, DRad done good with CPJ) Five NCAA’s in ten years, one final four: Not good enough for UNC, but better than about 90% of the 344 schools in the group….including UGAg and most of the SEC. Whine time is over. We gotta deal with the deal. Get behind the program.
2 and done!!!!
March 26th, 2010
7:55 am
bawahahahahahaha!!!!!! Yech has the two most overrated coaches in their respected sports and I love it!!! CPJ and his gimmicky offense has been exposed. He can’t win the big game unless it’s against an equally pathetic ACC team and his own recruits sucks since he’s forced to hang on to Gailey’s. Hewitt is the master of one and doners and he manages to do less with more than even Yech’s annually overrated baseball team!!! I LOVE IT!!!!
tiger jacket
March 26th, 2010
8:09 am
Come on Techies!!! This man knows how to caoch.. Tech will be fine. But!! He does need to be more consistant.
cltgtfan
March 26th, 2010
8:44 am
Hewitt is a classy guy and good representative of GT. However he has proven time and again that he cannot coach college kids how to play offense. I personally thought that a separation from GT might be the best situation. Since that is not going to occur at this point, I think he must do the next best thing which is admit where he has weaknesses and find others to help you fill the gaps. There is nothing wrong with not being able to effectively coach all aspects of the game. However, once you recognize that weakness you must find someone to come in and strengthen that part of the coaching. Please Mr. Hewitt make changes to the staff that will bring in someone that can really help the offense flow rather than the current clogged toilet we see most of the time.
GT Fan...
March 26th, 2010
8:45 am
2 and done!!!! …. I think you need to learn what the word masturbation means, then try it so you can calm down.
A grateful ACC
March 26th, 2010
8:49 am
Thanks for staying Coach Hewitt. We look forward to kicking your @$$ for years to come.
GT Fan...
March 26th, 2010
8:50 am
IMO … the first thing he should do is tear-up that F’d up contract, and sign a new one that doesn’t have a “safety net”. If Hewitt’s got balls, or integrity that’s where it starts for me. But since his delusions (reference to his comments regarding all the positive texts he’s received) lead him to believe HE has nothing to improve it’s going to be the same song over & over as long as he’s at GT.
UGA is yesterdays news
March 26th, 2010
9:11 am
Gross. He needs to leave. Don’t buy tickets next year. You want to go and watch the same old stuff?!
GTGuy44
March 26th, 2010
9:18 am
This is the straw that put me over the top. I have purchased season tickets for football for 44 years, basketball for 25 years and contributed to the Alexander Tharpe fund for 44 years and will no longer do any of them. I know one can say why punish the whole program, but it is the only way I have of putting some meat behind my complaints and e mails protesting not firing Hewitt. He lives in a dream world when he says we have a really good team coming back. Losing Favors, Lawal, Bell and Peacock and we will have a good team- he must be kidding. This is a really sad day for Tech. Give him the $7 million because we will lose more than that in lost season ticket sales to football and basketball as well as contributions. Pretty stupidl
GTGuy44
March 26th, 2010
9:26 am
I have purchased season football tickets for 44 years, basketball season tickets for 25 years and contributed to the Tharpe Fund for 44 years. I will no longer do any of these. One may ask why punish football and the whole athletic program, but it is the only concrete way I can put some meat behind my protests to fire Hewitt. Pay him his $7 million. We will lose much more than that in loss of season ticket sales in football, basketball and contributions. This is the saddest day I can remember in Georgia Tech athletics. Hewitt does not live in reality when he says we have a good team returning. Losing Favors, Lawal, Bell and Peacock and we will have a really good team. Right with Hewitt coaching. What a joke and mess.
GTGuy44
March 26th, 2010
9:50 am
Doug Robertson writes an incredibly stupid and offensive defense of Hewitt in the paper today. He compares Hewitt’s record to Sidney Lowe’s losing record while we have one also with better players. Also he uses renovating the coliseum to the tune of $45 million will help the program. How may I ask? That just means we will have more empty seats than we do now. Spend the money on buying him out. Lastly, he quotes Jay Bilas saying off the court Hewitt runs a clean program. Yes we are happy we no arrests, but what about a 38% graduation rate. That is off the court and inexcuseable. Doug your article is really insulting to any Tech fan’s intelligence.
blackprix
March 26th, 2010
10:11 am
VERY disappointed he didn’t take the job!! Rad’s hands are tied because of the GTAA’s financial situation, which by the way was left by Dave Braine and President Clough who agreed to his contract.
Hewitt has run his course at Tech and Tech fans have had enough. There is absolutely no reason to believe he all of sudden becomes an outstanding coach. In the meantime, GT fans have to endure mediocrity!
bob
March 26th, 2010
10:11 am
one and dones
missed free throws
records for turnovers
losing acc record
angry fans
empty seats
golden contract
hewett’s legacy
bob
March 26th, 2010
10:21 am
ode to a coach
there once was a coach named hewett
who some would prefer to call blewett
his record’s a mess
the fans are incensed
but what can we do except rue it?
John
March 26th, 2010
10:26 am
Paul knows his way to the bank. Why would he leave such a special place as gt?
Jay
March 26th, 2010
10:29 am
Question…Was he offered the job to begin with? Hewitt stated that he was never offered and only had that one conversation with SJ while all the news coming out of NY was that he was offered. I am confused.
GTalum78
March 26th, 2010
10:33 am
As GT basketball begins another “lost decade”, does anyone remember that the “canchan” was great(but long overdue) dance? Is our AD really “Braineless” ?
GtFan11
March 26th, 2010
10:44 am
Why is he referred to as a coach? He has a top 5 talented team and can’t hardly coach them to be a top 5 ACC team. Granted he is a very good recruiter, but what results has that produced? A losing ACC record, and hasn’t been a serious contender for the NCAA tournament since 2004.
His counterpart on the football field is producing results with less talent. If you look at the 4 & 5 star recruits UGA gets year in and year out, they should absolutely kill Tech every year. Instead they beat their chest (like they had anything to do with it) when they eek out a 6 pt victory over a less talented squad.
I think Hewitt needs to go if he doesn’t show improvement this next year!
Crazy Robert
March 26th, 2010
10:49 am
We need the governor to do an Obama impersonation and take control of the greedy coaches and their obscene pay levels! Nullify all such contracts and hire a coach’s pay tsar to bring “FAIRNESS” [sic] to all!!!
GTman
March 26th, 2010
10:59 am
As much as I pull for Hewitt to succeed, after watching how a well coached team (Butler) plays I am disappointed that he is not leaving. I know we run the risk of doing worse than Hewitt or finding a good coach that can not recruit. All I know is that Butler is still playing basketball without any McDonalds’s All-Americans or lottery picks and we are done for the year. I’m willing to take the risk and I wish DRad would pull the trigger.
The way Butler moved the basketball, ran offensive sets, and played defense was inspirational to this basketball fan. I don’t even recall the coach’s name (he looked younger than the players), but he is going to be a GREAT basketball coach.
Go Jackets!
Aero Jacket
March 26th, 2010
11:21 am
Hewitt passed up a chance to make both schools very happy. St Johns could have gotten local guy to come home, and Tech could have hired a winner. Now we are stuck with Coach Retired-in-Place.
Hewitt seems to think he is universally loved by the Tech nation. Either he lives in a bubble, is so vain he hears only good things, or is plain delusional. This was not a “great season”, it was another wasted one.
mansup
March 26th, 2010
12:09 pm
I’m very disappointed Hewatt is remaining at Tech. He presents a good image, and seems to be a nice person……however, the Jackets are going no further as long as he remains in charge. He’s been a Tech for ten years and that’s long enough to determine whether or not he can get the job done in the ACC. Numbers don’t lie.
killerJ
March 26th, 2010
12:40 pm
Not that I dislike him, but I,have lost interest, he,s paid to much to be mediocre.
Just do it
March 26th, 2010
12:50 pm
When the Tech football team could not stop anybody the head coach fired the defensive coordinator and started over. Things were broken. The basketball team has lead the acc in turnovers per game and worst free throw percentage (for several years). Things are broken on the basketball team. Time for Hewitt to make some changes
GTFanInVA
March 26th, 2010
1:04 pm
Coach Hewitt is a class guy, a good rep for the Institute, and evidently a family man… all fine traits. However, his primary job is to win games and 10 years worth of data clearly says its not his strength. Our ACC record is embarrassing to say the least. As a fan with crumbling interest in the b-ball program, I don’t care how many McD AA are on the squad if it doesn’t translate to success on the court. I saw plenty of teams in this years NCAA tourney with less “talent”, but much better fundamentals and team play. Our offense is painful to watch and Hewitt has shown no real inclination to adjust his system to the talent he has or to hire assistants to fill in for his weaker points. The excuses and ridiculous contract just compound the perception problems. This SJU opportunity was a perfect out for all parties and Hewitt once again could not even get out of his own way. I see some dark (and expensive) days ahead for GT b-ball. I hope I am wrong, but 10 years says otherwise.
Gary
March 26th, 2010
1:15 pm
I have been very disappointed with Hewitts coaching style as well as the results. He is clearly an excellent recruiter (GT has been in the top 20 of the recruiting polls every year). I think MB pointed out a very serious issue with the lack of tallented assistant coaches. He has to hire real coaches, not office staff acting as coaches.
The best recommendation by MB for Hewitt to gain some credibility with the fans (I have been a season ticket holder for 13 years) is to offer to renegotiate his contract with increased pay and removal of the automatic renewal. This gives the AD and fans the belief that Hewitt will actually work for his job since it will not last forever. And, he gets a significant pay raise. Win-Win.
As for his coaching style, I don’t know what has happened over the past 10 years. When he first started, I noticed the warm up drills the players did were different from the norm, focusing on ball control and touch passes. He was known for coaching/teaching throughout the game. Now, when he calls timeout, he spends most of the time outside of the huddle chatting with the refs or other coaches before going into the huddle for the last few seconds. When Duke played at GT this year, I noticed the difference in the two styles of coaching. Coach K was in the middle of the huddle, with his court board drawing out plays…you know..coaching. Hewitt started off at the free throw line talking to the refs, then went in to chat with the players. Coach K, with all his years of success at Duke still has the passion. Hewitt needs to regain that passion.
There is no excuses for the players. We have had some problems with injuries, signing going to pro baseball, early departures to the NBA, etc. Still, we have always had enough talent to make up for that. Hewitt needs to coach his players. GT Football has always been know to do more with less – coaching UP their players. Hewitt needs to do the same with his team.
I think Hewitt staying can be a good thing, if he realizes he has work to do to regain the support of the fans. Winning will do a lot, and the run through the ACC tourney helped. Hewitt should take MB’s advise on all points (I can’t believe I just said that MAB was correct on all points?!?!? LOL). He needs to get himself out and talk with the fans at the dinners and luncheons. I have heard that he is a great guy to talk to and has a great personality. He needs to use it to get the fans back. it was embarassing that the games were not packed full each week. It always was when I was a sudent in the mid to late 80’s.
In short, meet with the fans, hire better (real) coaches, work harder at the job.
I don’t think the real problem is the lack of winning (though it is a part). I think it is the perpetual contract with the apperance that CPH doesn’t really care. I doubt that is true, but it looks that way.
CPH is an excellent coach when he wants to be. Our players never gave up. How many times did the score seem to be out of hand and our guys won, or at least made a game out of it??? There were a number of games that we lost by less than 4 points. Had we won those, GT would have at least 28 wins. Then, what would we be talking about?!?!
Buzzzed
March 26th, 2010
1:32 pm
If Hewitt cannot admit the problems (FT %, tunovers, inbounding, ACC record) then they will NEVER be addressed and there is no reason anyone should go to another game. Hewitt needs to talk to the press and confront these issues right away a la CPJ (God bless him). DRad, you listening?
MiGT
March 26th, 2010
1:39 pm
Succinctly, I am disappointed that Hewitt did not leave.
Now, when things get bad enough, Tech will have no real choice but to fire him and pay the buy-out.
By the way, has anyone else ever heard of a contract with this kind of really nuts clause in it?
OneEyed Jack
March 26th, 2010
1:42 pm
Well, I suppose that that means Coach Hewitt won’t take himself out of Tech.
Doesn’t mean that Tech won’t take him out, it just means we’ll pay him cash to leave.
As a fan, I have always wished for good things for Coach Hewitt, but he needs to work on fundamental basketball in practice. Things like a simple inbounds play, or let your stud big men touch the ball at least once each possession, etc. Coach Cremmins wasn’t the best in-game coach, and Coach Hewitt needs to improve practice.
Please, please, pretty please, can we run an in bounds play???
It was shear torture to watch Tech self-destruct this year game after game with the same flaws. The talented studs can’t lead the team to a win if they take only 5 shots a game.
We have the talented ingredients, but do we have a talented coach? Show me.
Sally Neal
March 26th, 2010
2:31 pm
Dan Radakovich is right about Hewitt’s great as a family man, a leader and a builder of character. Witness what ten years in the ACC will do for you-he has gone grey. Poor coach having to deal stinking articles like Mark Bradley’s who basically ran Cremins away from Tech for the very same reason. Power of the press is a mighty thing-wonder if he ever thought of positive build up? Also my hat’s off to Hewitt who, like Cremins, deals with superstars going to the pros and who are not about teamwork, Tech, nor going to class to better the brain. If the news would focus on a player’s sorry ass performance and mistakes rather than a coach’s, the fans might see a turn around.
Here to stay: Paul Hewitt « Steal the T
March 28th, 2010
1:14 am
[...] “This is terrible. Tech needs to sue Braine for breach of fiduciary duty in putting Tech in this position to begin with.”Link [...]
Frank Van Dyke
March 30th, 2010
10:13 am
Hewitt is kinda like our politicians in Washington…a great cheerleader with little substance!