John Thompson III was fired as the Georgetown men’s basketball coach on Thursday. The day was stunning and sad and, after recent turmoil and decline, it also was a necessary relief.
After a second straight losing season, all of us were unsure about what would happen next. Many of us thought that Thompson and Georgetown would part ways. None of us wanted it to end this way. But the dramatic decline of Hoya hoops in recent years led many of us to the conclusion that a change was needed and would be coming.
After more than four decades of the Thompson’s family’s building and rebuilding of the Hoya basketball program, even those who foresaw JT3’s departure thought that it would be amicable.