Paul Hewitt

Paul Hewitt
Paul Hewitt at a Georgia Tech basketball game.
Sport(s)	Basketball
Current position
Title	Head coach
Team	George Mason University
Conference	A10
Annual salary	$659,750[1] (2011)
Biographical details
Born	(1963-05-04) May 4, 1963 Kingston, Jamaica
Playing career
1982–1985	St. John Fisher
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1988–1989 1989–1990 1990–1992 1992–1997 1997–2000 2000–2011 2011-	C.W. Post (asst.) USC (asst.) Fordham (asst.) Villanova (asst.) Siena Georgia Tech George Mason
Head coaching record
Overall	279–196 (.587)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships MAAC Tournament Championship (1999) MAAC Regular Season Championship (1999, 2000)
Awards ACC Coach of the Year (2001) MAAC Coach of the Year (2000)

Paul Harrington Hewitt (born May 4, 1963) is an American college basketball coach at George Mason University and most notably the former head coach at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). He grew up in Westbury, New York.

Siena

After playing at St. John Fisher College,^[2] Hewitt coached the Siena College men's college basketball team for three years, from 1998 to 2000. He led Siena to their first Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title game appearance, and coached Siena into the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship tournament.^[2]

Siena Success Raised Profile Tech's success under Hewitt should come as no surprise. Prior to his arrival in Atlanta, he posted a 66-27 mark as the head coach at Siena. At the Loudonville, N.Y., school, Hewitt revived a program that had been dormant since the mid-90's and molded it into one of the best in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and among the best in the Northeast.

In three seasons at Siena, Hewitt developed one of the nation's highest scoring teams. Siena ranked third nationally in scoring each of his last two seasons there, and in three seasons the team averaged 85.6 points per game while shooting 38.1 percent from three-point range and 77.8 percent from the foul line.

Following a three-year stretch in which Siena won just 22 games, Hewitt guided a young Saints team to a 17-12 overall record in his first season, including a 10-8 mark in the MAAC and the school's first-ever berth in the MAAC Tournament title game. In his second year, Siena went 25-6 and earned the school's first-ever MAAC Tournament Championship and its the first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 1989.

Hewitt guided the Saints to their first-ever outright conference regular-season title in 2000. Siena finished the season with a 24-9 overall mark and a MAAC-best 15-3 slate. He directed the Saints to their third consecutive MAAC Championship game appearance, and second consecutive postseason berth with a bid to the NIT.

Georgia Tech

Hewitt was head coach of the Georgia Tech men's college basketball team from 2000 to 2011. During the 2004 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, he led them to the championship game against Connecticut. In 2005 he signed a contract extension that automatically rolls over every April, giving him a new six-year contract.^[3] On March 12, 2011, he was fired from his head coaching position at Georgia Tech with a $7.2 million buyout.^[4] Named Georgia Tech's 12th head basketball coach on April 6, 2000, Paul Hewitt was given the task of restoring its basketball program to the level it achieved in the 1980s and early 90's with 10 NCAA Tournament appearances and three Atlantic Coast Conference championships.

In 11 seasons under Hewitt, Tech went to the NCAA Tournament five times, played for a national championship, played for two ACC championships, advanced to the Postseason NIT quarterfinals and won the Preseason NIT. He restored a national profile to Tech basketball with traditional values, instilling in his program the importance of strong defense, teamwork and sharing the basketball, individual skill development and mental preparation.

Hewitt compiled a record of 190-162 at Tech, and his overall record as a head coach is 256-189, with eight post-season appearances in 14 years. Hewitt expanded his experience by twice serving as an assistant coach for USA Basketball's Under-18 team at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship, helping the U.S. win a gold medal each time. He was named head coach for the 2011 USA Basketball Under-19 team. He finished his Tech career third among active coaches in the ACC in games coached and fourth in career victories. He ranks 17th in career victories all-time. Born in Jamaica and reared on New York's Long Island, Hewitt received his highest accolades for guiding the Yellow Jackets to the NCAA in his very first season in 2001, and for taking them within one win of a national championship three years later in 2004. That season, Hewitt went to work with a team that had lost its two best rebounders, including Chris Bosh, who left Tech after one season to play in the NBA. Despite preseason predictions that had Tech finishing no better than seventh in the ACC, the Yellow Jackets started 12-0 and finished 28-10, tying a school record for victories in a season.

Along the way, Tech won the Preseason NIT, and in the process defeated a team ranked No. 1 in the country (Connecticut) for the first time in 11 years. Tech achieved its highest ACC regular season finish in eight years (a tie for third at 9-7). The Yellow Jackets, who posted a 9-6 record against Top 25 teams, defeated Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium to end a 41-game homecourt winning streak for the Blue Devils, and won at Wake Forest to snap a 24-game streak at home for the Demon Deacons.

Tech's success led to Hewitt receiving the Fritz Pollard Coach of the Year award by the Black College Coaches Association. He also was listed at No. 71 among the nation's 101 top minorities in sports by Sports Illustrated. Only 15 figures in college athletics, and only four men's basketball coaches, made that list.

Though Tech dealt with a number of injuries to key players the following season, Hewitt again guided the Yellow Jackets to a strong finish, tying for fourth place in the regular season and advancing to the championship game of the ACC Tournament, a first for the Jackets under Hewitt. Tech earned its third NCAA bid under Hewitt, and fourth post-season bid overall, and won its first-round game before being eliminated by Louisville. He guided Jackets back to the Big Dance in 2007 despite losing the team's top scorer in December. In 2010, despite a strong reliance on four freshmen in his eight-man rotation, Hewitt guided the Jackets to their fourth NCAA Tournament, winning 23 games overall. Tech won three games in the ACC Tournament and lost a close game to Duke in the finals, and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Midwest Regional.

In his very first season on the Flats, despite the prevailing pre-season opinions that had Tech finishing no better than eighth in the ACC and gave the Jackets little chance for a winning record, Hewitt guided a veteran squad with five seniors to an 8-8 record and a fifth-place finish in the nation's toughest conference. Tech's 17-13 record marked its first winning season since 1998, and the Jackets won their first ACC Tournament game and earned their first trip to the Big Dance since 1996.

Hewitt was recognized as the ACC Coach of the Year, only the second time in league history that a first-year coach had won the award. He was also named District 5 Coach of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and was a finalist for the Naismith College Coach of the Year Award.

Emphasis on Player Development, Fundamentals Hewitt demands a high level of physical conditioning and intensity. He teaches a style of basketball that is fast-paced, but is grounded in sound fundamentals. His commitment to individual player development and instruction paid dividends not only for the Yellow Jackets as a team, but for all the Tech players as individuals. His philosophy of up-tempo offense combined with a pressure defensive attack in both the full-court and half-court helped bring excitement to Tech basketball.

Six of his players have earned first- or second-team All-ACC honors, including Iman Shumpert (second team in 2011), Jarrett Jack (second team in 2005), B.J. Elder (second team in 2004), Bosh (second team in 2003), Tony Akins (second team in 2002) and Alvin Jones (first team in 2001).

The recruiting efforts of Hewitt and his staff also resulted in strong contributions from Tech's players early in their careers as well. Three Tech players were named ACC Rookie of the Year, including Derrick Favors in 2010, Chris Bosh in 2003 and Ed Nelson in 2002. Seven players were named to the league's all-freshman team under Hewitt.

Several Tech players under Hewitt have gone on to play basketball professionally, including first-round draft picks Derrick Favors, the third overall pick by New Jersey in 2010; Chris Bosh, an NBA lottery choice in 2003 who is now with the Miami Heat; Jack, a first-round pick in 2005 now a point guard for the New Orleans Hornets; Thaddeus Young (Philadelphia) and Javaris Crittenton (Memphis), first-round choices in 2007; and Alvin Jones, a second-round choice in 2001 who spent time with the Philadelphia 76ers. Will Bynum and Luke Schenscher, seniors in 2005, as well as former walk-on Mario West, have spent time in NBA rosters, while four-year player Anthony Morrow is currently active with New Jersey. Others like Akins, B.J. Elder, Shaun Fein, Anthony McHenry and Isma'il Muhammad continue to play pro basketball abroad.

Three of his assistant coaches became head coaches—Dean Keener at James Madison, Cliff Warren at Jacksonville and John O'Connor at Holy Family in Philadelphia—while two players became assistants (Jon Babul at James Madison, Darryl LaBarrie at Campbell, East Carolina and Georgia Tech).

Paul Hewitt was dismissed as head coach of the men's program following a 13-18 season, his teams third losing season in the previous four. In eleven seasons as head coach, Georgia Tech would finish just once with a winning record in ACC play.

After Paul Hewitt's dismissal, the NCAA would find the Georgia Tech guilty of violating NCAA prohibitions on scouting which the NCAA labeled as major violations as "They were not isolated because the violations occurred over two academic years and involved members of the men's basketball staff," the infractions committee report said. "They were also not inadvertent, as the institution and (former) head men's basketball coach (Paul Hewitt) were aware of its staff members' involvement in the tournament, which had occurred on the campus for a period of 10 years."^[5]

Team USA

Hewitt served as the coach of the U.S. Under-19 squad at the 2011 FIBA Under-19 World Championship.^[6] The team came in 5th place.

George Mason

On April 30, 2011, Hewitt was named the 9th head men's basketball coach in the programs history at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.^[7] He succeeded previous head coach Jim Larranaga after Larranaga accepted a head coaching job at the University of Miami.

Paul Hewitt is currently in his third season as George Mason's head men's basketball coach. He has led his team to a 7-15 mark during the current season, including 0-8 in Atlantic 10 play and on pace for the first losing season at George Mason since 1997.

In his second season as the head men’s basketball coach Hewitt guided the Patriots to a 22-16 mark, including a 10-8 conference record and 6th place finish. For the second year in a row Hewitt's team did not receive an NCAA or NIT invitation but played instead in the College Basketball Invitation where it finished as runner up losing in the championship game at home to Santa Clara. Junior guard Sherrod Wright was named to the All-State and All-CAA second teams.

In his first year, George Mason returned 3 senior starters from an NCAA tournament team that had beaten Villanova and was picked to finish second in the conference. Hewitt led the Patriots to a 24-9 record, including a 14-4 mark and 3rd place finish in CAA play. He helped guide pre-season first team pick senior Ryan Pearson to the CAA Player of the Year award. Pearson was just the third Patriot to earn the honor, and was also Hewitt's first player to receive top conference individual honors. George Mason would not participate in any post season play.

Coaching Style

Coach Hewitt runs a 4 out, 1 in motion offense, an offense with an emphasis on guard play. ESPN once described Hewitt's offense as "truly putrid." ^[8]He uses a pressure defensive attack in both the full and half court.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Paul Hewitt.

• St. John Fisher College Cardinal Courier article: Paul Hewitt hews path from birds to bees
• Official Georgia Tech biography