Tech falls to KSU: The Wizard of Techwood dazzles us again
It's a brand new season, but it's the same old outcome. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
If Paul Hewitt isn’t the worst basketball coach in the country, it’s only because ours is a mighty big country. And now, having said that, I ask: At this late date, who needs convincing?
There are no real Hewitt defenders. There are a few excuse-makers, but nobody seriously believes this is a first-tier coach anymore. I could cite his record yet again, but here’s all anyone needs to know: In the spring of 2004 he won five NCAA tournament games in 15 days; in his other nine seasons at Georgia Tech combined, he has won two.
On Monday his Jackets took a ride up I-75 and showed us they aren’t even the best team in Metro Atlanta. They lost 80-63 to Kennesaw State, which has only recently become a fully vested member of the NCAA’s Division I. Tech never led. It trailed by 20 points after 15 1/2 minutes, by 15 points at the half. It was one of those games that was shocking and yet not surprising at all.
Afterward Hewitt was his usual serene self, noting that KSU “out-toughed us” and trotting out the boilerplate: “It’s just a matter of showing more maturity.” And thus did the Owls join the list of Hewitt conquerors, a n array that includes IUPUI, Winthrop, UNC Greensboro and Illinois-Chicago (twice).
Tech made nearly as many turnovers (19) as baskets (21) Monday. This from a team that essentially starts four guards. This from a team that lost two McDonald’s All-Americans to the NBA early but still boasts one more McDonald’s All-American than Kennesaw State will ever sign. (Although the Owls do employ what coach Tony Ingle called “our Wendy’s offense — get it to go, cheese on the fries, let it fly.”)
Afterward Ingle was asked if Tech had recruited any of his players. He said, “No.” But somehow the Owls, who were 13-20 last season when Tech was underachieving its way into the NCAA tournament, were much the better team. They didn’t have the better players, but they were the better team. Which is the story of post-2004 Georgia Tech basketball.
The biggest excuse for Hewitt — I heard it from longtime acquaintance Charles Barkley last spring — is that he’s always losing players early to the pros. And that’s true: S ix Jackets have left eligibility on the table to declare for the NBA draft, Derrick Favors and Gani Lawal most recently. But it’s not as if Hewitt has accomplished much with his one-and-dones: Chris Bosh, Thaddeus Young, Javaris Crittenton and Favors managed a total of one NCAA tournament victory.
And it’s not as if the guys who stay fare any better. Hewitt had Anthony Morrow for four seasons, after which Morrow wasn’t able to persuade an NBA team to risk even a second-round pick on him. He landed with Golden State as a free agent. This summer he signed a three-year contract with the Nets for $12 million.
This month Alex Raskin of the Wall Street Journal wondered if Morrow is the greatest shooter in NBA history. (Not just in the NBA now. In the NBA ever.) And here was a quote from Steve Kerr, the former Phoenix general manager whose status as the league’s all-time leading three-point shooter is being threatened by Morrow: “I saw him a couple of times in college and he didn’t really light it up. He got a little lost on his team. It just didn’t seem like he really blossomed there.”
Who does blossom under Hewitt? Bosh and Favors didn’t get the ball enough. Apart from Jarrett Jack, no point guard has ever really directed a Hewitt team. (Moe Miller, who saved last season after being relegated to the end of the bench, is again not starting.)
But enough. You know what’s going on. Hewitt is a lousy coach, but his golden contract makes him untouchable. Dan Radakovich, the Tech athletic director, sat behind the bench at the KSU Convocation Center last night and looked pained. The man with the $7 million buyout was losing to a school based in the county where Radakovich lives — by 17 points.
Oh, and if you haven’t seen my take on Kennesaw State and its coach … that post can be found here.
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496 comments Add your comment
mario
November 16th, 2010
3:54 pm
get Tubby Smith’s number ready
macrotech
November 16th, 2010
3:57 pm
At least this offers up a needed distraction to all the pup fans!
gdawginkalamazoo
November 16th, 2010
3:57 pm
Hewitt is thinking that “We will get our revenge when we meet KSU in the NIT, I swear on my buyout clause.”
gdawginkalamazoo
November 16th, 2010
3:59 pm
macrotech, yes it does! Whoo hoooo! At least until our next game, arrest, or NCAA investigation.
Tech75
November 16th, 2010
4:04 pm
gdawginkalamazoo – LOL
I hereby annoit thee an honorary member of the FTFC – Frustrated Tech Fan Club
gdawginkalamazoo
November 16th, 2010
4:12 pm
Thank you Tech75, I accept!
Paul in RDU
November 16th, 2010
4:13 pm
NIT??? Is the College Basketball Invitational still around for 2011?
Tech75
November 16th, 2010
4:13 pm
gdawginkalamazoo – The member ship will hereafter meet annually to burn our various Alexander Tharpe Fund solicitations.
reebok
November 16th, 2010
4:18 pm
well, one thing Jacket & Dog fans can agree on is that Tech’s basketball team stinks…kumba ya, my lord…
FullMetalJacket
November 16th, 2010
4:18 pm
Mark, as you may remember, I have long been a proponent of firing Paul Hewitt (since 2006) and taking whatever financial hits we have to take as a result of the WGOGGE (Worst Contract On God’s Green Earth). I am disgusted, yes…disgusted, by the pitiful on-court performance of the team and the coach, given the talent, the institute, and the conference we play in. Equally important, in my opinion as an alumni and supporter, is Hewitt’s dereliction of duties as an academic leader and officer of the Institute, including: actively recruiting players with the implicit assurance they will have his blessing if they leave early, actively recruiting players with no realistic chance of graduating, failing to graduate an acceptable number of “student”-athletes all the way down the bench, and his polarizing social agenda/politics. He is not, and has never really been, the positive presence he was originally packaged as when sold to Tech by Braine & co. Now he has even lost the students (look at attendance late last year and so far this year) who were his last best friends. Even if we have to take a chance and hire a rising coaching star on the cheap, or maybe a retired giant as a transitional leader, I am sure we can bite the bullet and structure an acceptable contract for someone to weather the next few years of painful payouts to a fired Hewitt. It is clear he will not go quietly or even reasonably (and I can’t blame him given the money).
reebok
November 16th, 2010
4:19 pm
interestingly, i bet that most Tech fans were not surprised to see KSU beat us…which in itself says volumes…
FullMetalJacket
November 16th, 2010
4:21 pm
Sorry for the lengthy diatribe above. In summary, FIRE THE BASTARD.
Ed
November 16th, 2010
4:22 pm
itty bitty school? KSU is bigger than Ga Tech and has been for some time. KSU has over 23,000 students. Tech has around 20k.
bumblebee
November 16th, 2010
4:22 pm
Was anyone surprised this happened?
jackets
November 16th, 2010
4:23 pm
Keep the pressure on Hewitt Mark! He needs to go!
shameful
November 16th, 2010
4:23 pm
reebock, I was shocked, but really not all that much surprised.
FullMetalJacket
November 16th, 2010
4:23 pm
The photo says it all, in so many ways. Take a close look, fellow Jacket fans, because we’ll be seeing it again a lot more this year….and as long as Hewitt & co. are here. I didn’t renew my four season BB tickets this year, and won’t until he is gone. I have heard from students that Hewitt’s reception has been lukewarm at student functions and that attendance has been sparse at the exhibitions on campus thus far.
Ed
November 16th, 2010
4:25 pm
Tech should hire Bob Knight. Even I would support them then, and I hate Tech.
Born2Buzz
November 16th, 2010
4:25 pm
Dear Paul Hewitt and Dan Radakovich, it’s a tough economy in the real world, people are suffering, jobs are scarce. I’ve still got a job, mainly because I’m a TECH grad, but I’ve had to cut back on my discretionary spending. But you convinced me that when a TECH man is down, other TECH men rally to his side and help bring the entire Institute up. You implored all TECH alums to support the basketball program, with the promise that things would be better. I bought into the concept and spent my hard earned money to once again get season tickets. It was an expense that I really could have done without, but out of my loyalty to my school I went ahead and did it. The fact that you tied getting priority seating in the new arena in a couple of years to having season tickets this year was a little distasteful, but I understood. Hey, I love my school and I love watching good and sometimes great college basketball.
But now I feel like I’ve been duped. The last 3 years (some would say last 6 years), going to the games has not been much fun. I still enjoy the camaraderie of my buddies that I share tickets with, but watching the product on the court has been frustrating at best and sometimes just plain painful. I’ve seen a lot of talented kids wasting their talent playing a brand of basketball that is distasteful to anyone who has an eye for the game.
Coach Hewitt, I don’t expect you to resign during the season, and I would be surprised if Dan fires you during the season. But at the end of the year, if the product continues to be similar to what I saw last night, be a man and do the right thing. To hold the Institute that gave you such a wonderful opportunity as coaching in a major city, in the best basketball conference in the land, hostage for the buy out money, would just be wrong. Hopefully you have invested the incredible amount of money you have already been paid and will not have to worry about your family’s future. Your future I could care less about.
I would be truly delighted if all of a sudden the team finds itself, we go on to a solid season and we enjoy quality college basketball this year and for years to come with you at the helm. But the track record doesn’t warrant that belief.
I will be at most of the games the rest of the year and I hope for the best. But if the quality of play is what it has been recently, expect to hear a lot of boos from the sparse crowds that actually show up. Please tell the kids, that the boos are not directed at them. They have done nothing wrong. Be a man and take the blame. Then be a man and walk away with what little dignity you have left.
michael
November 16th, 2010
4:25 pm
hire a bench coach from duke and be done with it.
FullMetalJacket
November 16th, 2010
4:27 pm
Congratulations to the Fighting Owls of Kennesaw State. I will be watching them more than the Jackets as long as Hewitt is coach. (I started watching them last year, in fact.) AS for the UGA fans posting here, anything negative you have to say about the Tech basketball program under Hewitt has already been said a dozen times over by Tech fans, so save your breath for when the state trooper asks you to blow into the little machine…
michael
November 16th, 2010
4:27 pm
WE CAN’T SHOOT AND PLAYING GEORGETOWN BALL DOESN’T WORK. ESPECIALLY IF YOU CAN’T shoot.
thwg
November 16th, 2010
4:28 pm
Mark – EXCELLENT article. You’ve simply reinforced why you are my favorite columnist. You’re never afraid to call it out, and this article is dead on. You’ve puncutated what the entire GT community has been screaming the last 5 years. Favors’ signing was the ONLY thing that saved his butt last year. I’m a season tix holder and will not be going to any of the games, nor will I be selling them. I’d rather make sure the seats are empty as a show of support for his firing. Surely to god Hewitt’s firing had to be a condition of McCamish’s donition to the new arena????
Tech75
November 16th, 2010
4:29 pm
Vote with your pocketbooks.
When Tech calls asking for money, tell them “Call me back when we have a new BB coach.”
When they send you a letter solicitation, return it with a handwritten note “Take me off your list until we have a new BB coach.” Or, simply take a black permanent marker and overwrite the letter with “Fire Hewitt”, then send it back.
When your copy of Radakovic’s “The Good Word” hits your inbox, reply to it with “The Good Word? Fire Hewitt”
Bees Knees
November 16th, 2010
4:31 pm
We lose to KSU and some of you still think we could go to the tourney???? Maybe the toilet tourney. Hewitt needs to go and fast. He got one recruit in the early signing period and I bet he is wishing he signed elsewhere. We are the laughing stock of the ACC and the State of Georgia.
FullMetalJacket
November 16th, 2010
4:31 pm
We need to pressure Radakovich, not Hewitt. Hewitt (and Mrs. Hewitt) has shown he can’t be shamed, berated, or even bribed to leave the sweetest job he’ll ever have. DRad is the one who has to pull the trigger, pay the piper, and creatively finance a new hire worthy of the school and the conference. Fire Hewitt, DRad. Fire the bastard.
Tech82
November 16th, 2010
4:32 pm
I have to believe DRAD’s email is overflowing today with offers from alumni offering to help with Hewitt’s buyout (I know for a fact he got at least one).
do-dah do-dah
November 16th, 2010
4:32 pm
Mark I will say this for ya pal- you are equally hard on all of em without regard for sport. An equal opportunity critic. Not that that is a bad thing!!!
GTfanfrom1951
November 16th, 2010
4:33 pm
Why does Hewitt still have a job?
thwg
November 16th, 2010
4:33 pm
gdawginkalamazoo – I wish all dawg fans were as realistic as you. Man, who ever thought the jackets and the dawgs would be bed partners. Amazing what mediocrity will do to people. But truth be told, I actually think UGA has a top 25 football team this year, they’ve unfortunately found ways to loose, not get beat, but loose. Who knows if UGA can survive the loss of the SEC player of the year on the hardwoods, it will be tough. I say we put Richt, Grantham, the GT special teams coach if we even have one, along with Hewitt in a boat and push the damn thing over the dam.
Fred
November 16th, 2010
4:35 pm
Mark, couldn’t have said it better! As an Alum I am even more disgusted with the situation. Let us not forget why Mr. Hewitt is so casual after such an embarassment – he has the be-all, end-all of golden parachutes! Why should he care? He gets his millions win or lose.
If ever there was a time – send this bum packing!
FullMetalJacket
November 16th, 2010
4:35 pm
Amen, Tech75. We need to pressure Radakovich, not Hewitt. Hewitt (& his wifey) has shown he can not be shamed, berated, reasoned, or even bribed into leaving his golden contract behind. DRad is the one who must bite the bullet, fire Hewitt, creatively finance a new hire worthy of Tech and the ACC, so DRad is the one to pressure.
thwg
November 16th, 2010
4:35 pm
Tech82 and everyone else – write DRAD at drad@gatech.edu. I did so last night and he wrote me back:
“I have received and read dozens of e-mails regarding our Men’s Basketball program and I appreciate you taking the time to provide me with your input. As always, I will strive to make decisions that are in the best interest of Georgia Tech, our Athletics Association, student athletes and fans”
question?
November 16th, 2010
4:35 pm
Ed
Itty bity in terms of reputation and endowment
GT $1.237 Billion
KSU $25.7 Million
Only Emory has a larger endowment than GT in regards to schools in Ga
Tech75
November 16th, 2010
4:36 pm
thwg – please set the boat on fire first, just in case.
Tech82
November 16th, 2010
4:36 pm
Since Mark raised the idea in the article, can anyone submit a nomination for a div. 1 coach that is worse than Hewitt? Anyone?… Anyone?… Bueller?… Bueller?…
thwg
November 16th, 2010
4:37 pm
Tech82. I wrote DRAD last night and he wrote the following back:
“I have received and read dozens of e-mails regarding our Men’s Basketball program and I appreciate you taking the time to provide me with your input. As always, I will strive to make decisions that are in the best interest of Georgia Tech, our Athletics Association, student athletes and fans”
His email is drad@gatech.edu
FullMetalJacket
November 16th, 2010
4:37 pm
My, but aren’t our coaches dressed well?
Fred
November 16th, 2010
4:38 pm
PS – I should have mentioned – I was at Tech during the days of the Jack-Ain’t’s. When students wore paperbags over their heads. I am pleading with the Tech Administration to not allow our school to return to such times, but I fear they can’t seem to leave the football stadium.
Tech75
November 16th, 2010
4:38 pm
I would be worse… much worse. But I’d only ask $250K, with no buyout, so it may be worth it.
I’d just throw the ball out there and tell them “Get some exercise guys, I’ll be back in an hour. Try not to hurt each other.”
FullMetalJacket
November 16th, 2010
4:39 pm
Even if there was a worse coach in college basketball, you will never find one with a worse wins-to-salary ration than our own Paul Hewitt.
Tech82
November 16th, 2010
4:39 pm
Tech75 – That sounds exactly like our current practices.
Joe
November 16th, 2010
4:39 pm
One moment to reflect-
Morrow wasn’t all everything because of Hewitt and ACC refs who were bound and determined to make Redick player of the year. Redick was the only guard in history who could knee a defender in the groin 28 feet out and fling a shot up and shoot 3 free throws.
As to Hewitt, there is nothing worse than watching talented young men with absolutely no plan. They had a better shot in using their talents in rugby.
Hewitt consistently denies help (even free help from Price) for ex players because of insecurity. The donors would pay up- get him out.
Tech82
November 16th, 2010
4:41 pm
Fred – I, too, remember the Dwayne Morrison days and I fear we are returning to those days quickly.
question?
November 16th, 2010
4:41 pm
Ed
Itty Bitty in terms of r.e.p.u.a.t.i.o.n and endowmwnt
GT $1.237 Billion
KSU $25.7 Million
In the state of Georgia, only Emory has a larger endowment than GT.
dagnabit
November 16th, 2010
4:41 pm
Blewett sucks.
question?
November 16th, 2010
4:41 pm
*r.e.p.u.tation
FullMetalJacket
November 16th, 2010
4:42 pm
Tech75, I’d like to enter the bidding. I will coach the Tech BB team for $150K, and I’ll guarantee that at least half of them graduate. (No guarantees on wins, however.)
NoShamSam
November 16th, 2010
4:42 pm
Dear CPH
I have been a Tech fan for over 50 years. We have had many lean years before and we have had many good years. There was always hope…till now. I think you know it’s time to leave if you look deep within yourself. You are broke…I do not think you can be fixed. Do the right thing for yourself, for Georgia Tech and for all the Tech fans. It’s time to leave. Good luck to you and your family…but it’s really time to leave…
Tech75
November 16th, 2010
4:42 pm
Tech82 – exactly my point. But I would be saving the Institute over a million a year for the same end result!