John Thompson III
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Thompson III (born March 12, 1966) is the current head coach of the men's basketball team at Georgetown University. He grew up in Washington, D.C. and was named first team All-Metro by The Washington Post while playing for Gonzaga College High School in 1984. Thompson was hired on April 20, 2004 to replace Craig Esherick. Prior to being hired at Georgetown, Thompson had been the head coach for four years at his alma mater, Princeton University.
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[edit] Coaching career
[edit] Princeton
Thompson is the son of John Thompson, Jr. (Georgetown's head coach from 1972 to 1999), and a 1988 graduate of Princeton. Thompson, whose nickname is JT3, served as an assistant coach at Princeton under head coaches Pete Carril and Bill Carmody from 1995 through 2000. After being promoted to head coach, he compiled a 68-42 record with the Tigers from 2000 to 2004 and guided the team to three Ivy League championships, two NCAA tournament appearances, and one NIT tournament appearance. Three of his players earned Ivy League Player of the Year honors.
[edit] Georgetown
In Thompson's first year at Georgetown (2004-05), the Hoyas improved from 13-15 to a record of 19-13 and the team reached the quarterfinals of the NIT. As of 2/25/2007 his teams at Georgetown have compiled a 57-24 record, while his overall record as a head coach between Georgetown and Princeton now stands at 125-66.
John Thompson III's first notable win with the team took place on January 21, 2006, when unranked Georgetown upset No. 1 Duke University. This was Georgetown's first win over a No. 1 ranked team in 21 years. Thompson also achieved his 100th win as a head coach a few nights later with an 85-82 win in double overtime at Notre Dame.
The Hoyas made the 2006 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament as a #7 seed. They defeated the University of Northern Iowa in the first round and upset #2 seed Ohio State University in the second round to make the "Sweet Sixteen", where they lost to the national champions, University of Florida. In that tournament, the Hoyas were not only the only team to hold Florida to a victory under 10 points (they lost by four), but also the only team to lead Florida in the second half of a game.
In 2007, after starting with a record of 4-3, Coach Thompson III led the Hoyas to the first Big East Championship since his father did the same in 1989. Thompson also coached the 2006-07 Big East Player of the Year, Jeff Green.
On March 23, 2007 in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Thompson's Hoyas defeated Vanderbilt, 66-65, on the strength of Green's game-winning shot and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight for the first time since 1996. The Hoyas rallied from 13 points down in the first half and held on despite missing 7-foot-2 star center Roy Hibbert in the final minutes. Two days later, on March 25, 2007, Thompson led the Hoyas to the 2007 NCAA Final Four with a 96-84 victory of North Carolina. It's his first time as head coach. Georgetown students then subsequently marched from campus down to the Georgetown district's busiest street, M Street. The mass of students, numbering well over 2,000, blocked traffic as they flooded the street. Some students walked as far as the White House in celebration of their team's triumph.
Thompson immediately introduced the Princeton offense at Georgetown, a style of play that he learned from coach Pete Carril at Princeton. The rarity of this style, and Thompson's success at adapting it to work with the brawnier Georgetown players, has been cited by the Washington Post as one of the major reasons for the team's quick turnaround.
| Preceded by Bill Carmody |
Princeton Men's Basketball Head Coach 2000 – 2004 |
Succeeded by Joe Scott |
| Preceded by Craig Esherick |
Georgetown Men's Basketball Head Coach 2004 – |
Succeeded by incumbent |
Joyce • Colliflower • O'Reilly • Colliflower • Maloney • O'Reilly • Ripley • Dudak • Colrich • Mesmer • Ripley • Engles • Ripley • O'Grady • Jeannette • Nolan • O'Keefe • Magee • Thompson, Jr. • Esherick • Thompson III
[edit] References
- Davis, Barker (2006). "Hoyas survive big scare", Washington Times, January 25.
- Powell, Camille (2006). "Hoyas KO the Big", Washington Post, January 22, p. E-1.
- Wise, Mike (2006). "Princeton Offense Keeps Hoyas on the Move", Washington Post, March 23, p. E-12.
- Branch, John (2007). "Hoyas' Past Is Becoming Present",New York Times, March 23.
