John Thompson dead at 78
- Thread starter bigboxes
- Start date
College baskerball in it's heyday was an amazing watch and he was a big part of the reason. Loved that guy. Loved Georgetown. Loved the Big East tournament.
Was there ever a more intimidating front line than Patrick Ewing and Michael Graham? Hard to believe Coach Thompson had been retired for more than 20 years.
Loved watching the Big East. Georgetown was just a fun team to hate. Despite that, no one could deny that Coach Thompson was a true giant in the coaching ranks. RIP, sir.
Two of the greatest coaches of an era passing away in less than a week. RIP to both John and Lute.
Yes, sorry to see about Lute Olsen's death as well. Lute's Arizona Wildcats ruled the (then) Pac 10. Watching his team play at Hec Ed (UDub) was so impressive - although they totally dominated the Huskies. I'll never forget being in the student bookstore in Seattle when the team walked in (don't ask me why - I don't remember) and they were SO TALL! It's one thing to see them from the stands but to actually be at the same level of them makes you realize how tall they really are!
I feel so lucky to have seen some great bball players - from Steve Kerr (U of A) to Reggie Miller (UCLA) play the Huskies.
I feel so lucky to have seen some great bball players - from Steve Kerr (U of A) to Reggie Miller (UCLA) play the Huskies.
he was a really nice man as well. I met him at a restaurant in Eugene when I was eleven. My grandparents had season tickets in Tucson and I became a giant fan due to the Elliott, Kerr, Tolbert, Lofton, Cook teams. He could’ve just given me
an autograph but he literally introduced me to all of the guys on that squad: Chris Mills, Sean Rooks, Damon Stoudemire, Khalid Reeves, etc. Literally made my year. That was before his wife Bobbi passed. I do think his personality changed a bit thereafter but he was still a wonderful human being and one of the greatest 2-3 motion offense coaches of all time. Had a way of teaching his player how to think about offense which is a really tricky thing to do. Instead of teaching guys plays he taught them offensive instinct and I think that’s why so many of his players outperformed their talent levels and had long NBA careers.