Tweet from Jon Rothstein, that the legendary coach has passed away. I stayed in the same hotel as him during the 2018 final four, and saw his son taking him to the airport afterwords. He was very frail then. RIP if true.
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John Thompson RIP
- Thread starter RUtix4me
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Tweet from Jon Rothstein, that the legendary coach has passed away. I stayed in the same hotel as him during the 2018 final four, and saw his son taking him to the airport afterwords. He was very frail then. RIP if true.
He certainly will be missed by the basketball community. A legend for many reasons.
Look up John Thompson Rayful Edmond. Unbelievable stuff.
The grim reaper certainly has not been kind of late. 2nd coaching legend in the last few days following Lute Olson.
I sorta miss BE basketball- wish we were as good back then as we are today though. RIP JT.
Legend.
My uncle was the one who hired Big John as he was the AD at G-town for many years. Had the pleasure of attending every BE tourney at the garden in the 1980's as well as the final four in 1985. I worked at G-town for a couple years after graduating RU and the track office was down the hall from the hoops offices, although ours was much smaller.... He was always a nice guy in person and always took a few minutes of his time to see how you were doing if he saw you in the hallway. Many did not like his style but he was a damn good coach and motivator. I loved watching his team play with such passion and take no prisoners attitude. Those BE tourneys in the mid 80s was some of the best college basketball we shall ever see.
My uncle was the one who hired Big John as he was the AD at G-town for many years. Had the pleasure of attending every BE tourney at the garden in the 1980's as well as the final four in 1985. I worked at G-town for a couple years after graduating RU and the track office was down the hall from the hoops offices, although ours was much smaller.... He was always a nice guy in person and always took a few minutes of his time to see how you were doing if he saw you in the hallway. Many did not like his style but he was a damn good coach and motivator. I loved watching his team play with such passion and take no prisoners attitude. Those BE tourneys in the mid 80s was some of the best college basketball we shall ever see.
Just like my musical tastes and identity are defined by the bands I loved when I first became passionate about music, my passion for college basketball arose out of and is in many ways defined by the BE teams and rivalries of that era. Always liked JT and rooted for him and his teams.
Great hire
I started in my 20's with a solid group of 10 or more friends that went to every Big East tournament game for at least 15 years. Lots of beer and steaks. We also went to Villanova home games all the time.
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anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy
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keep your panties unbunched. But question for the old timers. Wasnt he pretty publicly racist against white people? As in he refused to recruit white kids?
I liked Coach John Thompson and Coach John Chaney. To me they always came across as authentic and successful and stayed close to their roots. Bob Hurley Sr. probably could have had that stature around here (Rutgers), but it never happened. Hopefully Brandin Knight picks up the mantle in the future.
JT said he wanted to provide opportunities for black kids to earn a degree at a good school, so he focused on recruiting black players. But over the years, he had several white players on his teams. For me, the signature JT moment came when his old adversary, Lou Carnaseca of St Johns retired. There was great respect between the two. Louie was known for always wearing a loud sweater under his suit jacket, and the last time he coached against Georgetown, out came JT wearing a loud sweater as well, in tribute to Louie. In later years, JT was a sports talk show host, and he was actually jovial in his exchanges with callers and guests, belying the glowering image he displayed as a coach.
Kyk - I separate politics from sports so his political views never enter into my calculus when thinking about his coaching skills. He had some great teams and was a great coach. I did not agree with his politics but folks use to be able to agree to disagree.
How many white parents were lining up to send their kids to Georgetown to play for John Thompson? Especially if they believed the media narrative that he was this big, menacing racist black man? Perhaps he decided not to waste his time recruiting people who actually believed that.
I found a good story about Thompson published in the Washington Post right after he won the national championship. A former assistant coach of his confirms exactly what you wrote. In any case, it was a good profile that provides insight into his thought process. Many of the things that he says are still relevant in today's climate. The part about recruiting is toward the end of the story. https://www.washingtonpost.com/arch...hompson/539024eb-a8a6-4f69-b4c2-d897c04bc2bc/
I met him multiple times. Funny as hell, knew everybody's name, amazing basketball IQ and....the most foul mouthed adult i have ever met in my life, but most times in a humorous way. RIP
Nope.
He recruited white kids but not many white kids, or maybe it was their parents, wanted to play for a black Coach when Big John was coaching.
Or maybe they got paid to go to another school.
Thompson had teams with 2-3 white kids on them. His national championship team did not have any white players.
But here is the irony:
If a white coach has an all-black team, he's a humanitarian. He's helping kids. He's a f@cking hero.
If a black coach has an all-black team, some people are going to ask if he was racist?
And use a false example to back up their question by asking something like: As in he refused to recruit white kids?
Great article. Thompson was misunderstood by people who lack understanding.
i forget which year it was but in the latter half of the 90's, we had beaten Georgetown when they were ranked maybe just into the top 25. Our team wasnt amazing record wise and beating a historic known team who was ranked none the less was a big thing forus (being newer to the conference) and everyone was excited...we were all psyched for the big win and celebrating in the locker room/tunnel. I kind of remember fans storming the court too?
I remember in JT's press conf afterwards though he basically had the "act like you're supposed to be there" mentality and was criticizing the fans and saying how its not like RU beat a #1 team (and how beating his team was not worthy of a court storm haha)..
That thought process always stuck with me over the years.
I remember in JT's press conf afterwards though he basically had the "act like you're supposed to be there" mentality and was criticizing the fans and saying how its not like RU beat a #1 team (and how beating his team was not worthy of a court storm haha)..
That thought process always stuck with me over the years.
I remember the game well. Wenzel was coach. Billet was there and we had guys like the immortal Terry Mills and Johnny Blake. I know he was dismissive, but I still enjoyed the hell out of that win.
Was never a fan of his but he was absolutely correct. I was at that game and was thrilled that we won, but the court storming made us look minor league.
Fake news. He had white kids play for him. Besides what’s the difference? how many schools refused to recruit black kids for so long?
PPOD Award - Pathetic Post Of the Day. You need help.
Some of these guys that post here are really something else as I'm sure you are starting to bear witness to unfortunately.Nope.
He recruited white kids but not many white kids, or maybe it was their parents, wanted to play for a black Coach when Big John was coaching.
Or maybe they got paid to go to another school.
Thompson had teams with 2-3 white kids on them. His national championship team did not have any white players.
But here is the irony:
If a white coach has an all-black team, he's a humanitarian. He's helping kids. He's a f@cking hero.
If a black coach has an all-black team, some people are going to ask if he was racist?
And use a false example to back up their question by asking something like: As in he refused to recruit white kids?
I actually have him on ignore. That's a great feature btw and I highly recommend people use that instead of letting posters upset them. I'm sure some people have me on ignore and that's cool too.
I decided to view what he posted and I wasn't surprised. In fact I almost respect his consistency.
Thompson is an icon in DC. Quite possibly the most important figure in DC sports history. He was also fortunate to have great writers like Kornheiser, Wilbon and John Feinstein covering him for the Washington Post when Georgetown was the brand in college basketball. Wilbon tells great JT stories and you can tell JT was a big influence on Wilbon's career and life.
The Rayful Edmund story is unbelievable. In fact Wilbon tells the story that John made Mike drive around DC with him looking for Rayful.
To me, the moment that most personifies John Thompson was walking off the court in protest of the Prop 48 rule. That defiance was a big deal in 1989. I cant find the video but have seen it. The ovation he gets from a sold out Capital Centre when he walks out pre-tip was amazing. I've linked the UPI and Washington Post stories on it below.
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1989/0...h-walks-out-of-basketball-game/8672600757200/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/gtown/longterm/1999/thompson/archives/thomp011589.htm
If you want to know how big the Big East was with Georgetown, St Johns, Syracuse, and the rest, just look at this:
https://sicovers.com/featured/ronal...ovember-26-1984-sports-illustrated-cover.html
https://sicovers.com/featured/ronal...ovember-26-1984-sports-illustrated-cover.html
The area had an embarrassment of riches with JT at Georgetown and Lefty at Maryland. Lefty never won an NCAA championship. His best shot came when he signed Moses Malone and had him on campus when the ABA came calling and Moses began a storied pro career. Without Moses, Maryland, led by John Lucas and Mo Howard, still made it to the Sweet Sixteen. That was in 1975.