Patrick Ewing 'Hoping' to Return as Georgetown HC After Finishing Last in Big East

The Georgetown men's basketball team lost its 18th straight game Sunday, a school record. After the contest, head coach Patrick Ewing expressed a desire to return next season and right the ship.

"Of course, I want to be back here," he told reporters. "But in this position and this job, whatever happens will happen. I'm hoping that I'll be back and doing something that I love at a place that I love and getting us back to being the king of the hill."

Outside of Ewing's importance to the school as a legendary former player and NBA Hall of Famer, however, it's hard to formulate a strong argument for Georgetown bringing him back. 

The Hoyas are just 6-22 this season with two games remaining and haven't won a single Big East game, a shocking outcome for a proud program that developed the likes of Ewing, Allen Iverson, Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo and Sleepy Floyd, among others. 

To put this season in perspective, the Hoyas have never finished in last place in the Big East since the league was formed in 1979. They've already clinched last place in the conference for the year.

Ewing is now 68-81 in his five seasons at the helm, with only one winning season to his name in 2018-19. Even the high of last season, when the Hoyas went on a miracle run through the Big East tournament by beating Marquette, Villanova, Seton Hall and Creighton to claim the conference championship, ended in the first round of the NCAA tournament. 

"Last year was a much better season for us," Ewing said Sunday.

Georgetown has struggled to regain its former place among the elites in college basketball during the John Thompson days of the 70s, 80s and 90s, when the school reached the NCAA tournament 17 times, won a championship in the 1983-84 season, reached three Final Fours and seven Elite Eights. 

Under the watch of Craig Esherick (1999-00 to 2003-04) and John Thompson III (2004-05 to 2016-17), the Hoyas had a respectable 15 winning seasons but qualified for the NCAA tournament just nine times, reached the Sweet 16 three times and the Final Four in 2006-07. 

Replacing a legend like John Thompson is always a tall task. That another school legend in Ewing has struggled to return Georgetown to prominence has been a tough pill to swallow for Hoyas supporters.