FanPost

I Hate John Thompson Jr., And You Should Too



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via media3.washingtonpost.com


John Thompson Jr. is a coaching legend, a Basketball Hall of Famer, and a National Championship winner. He holds the record for Big East Conference Titles (seven regular season, six tournament) and has an overall record of 596-239. He made three final fours, coached 26 players good enough to be drafted by the NBA, eight in the first round. Famous players under his tenure include Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning, and Allen Iverson. He famously confronted drug lord and known murderer Rayful Edmond III about associating with his players, and is rumored to have threatened his life, the life of a man who had killed many men for less. There was no reprisal.

John Thompson Jr. is a horrible person. He notoriously has supported a system of nepotism at Georgetown that has allowed his son, John Thompson III, to ineptly coach Georgetown into near Esherick ruin at times. He boasted of the fact that he abused his players at Georgetown's 100th Anniversary event, saying that it was his own special form of love. He is a man who has completely cut his former players out of his life, unless they have something to offer him, such as being a former NBA great and looking good. Former player Fred Brown told the Washington Post back in 2007, "Look, I don't really need Coach Thompson. But there are people who do need Coach Thompson, there are people who would have liked for him to do certain things for them. But after you leave, you could never get a call back." John Thompson does not care for his former players. Many of his former players have expressed a desire to break into the ranks of the college coaching circuit. Only one alumni (Horace Broadnax, Savannah State) has a head coaching job in the college ranks. John Thompson will not support his players who wish to coach and does not help them find jobs. Georgetown has no alumni coaching its team.

John Thompson Jr. cares about no one except for the people that offer something that he can use for his own personal gain. He used players for his own fame, and likely will never acknowledge the fact that his players are the ones who helped make him into a Basketball Hall of Famer. Thompson's legacy was built on the likes of people like Michael Graham, people Thompson used as thugs and enforcers as if he was coaching a hockey game. There is a famous picture of Thompson consoling Fred Brown after throwing the ball away to James Worthy, costing Georgetown a National Championship and sparking the legend of Michael Jordan. If only Brown knew then that Thompson only cared about you as long as you were useful to him.

 

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