[Sam Leopold]

He was AD at Georgetown (once as basketball school as there ever was; what the hell happened?)

The parallels between the Georgetown program and our own are interesting and merit further exploring.

Stanford got a Final Four run in 1998 and then the next year lost a 2-vs.-10 matchup in the second round, helping to put Gonzaga on the map.
Georgetown got a Final Four run in 2007 and then the next year lost a 2-vs.-10 matchup in the second round, helping to put Steph Curry on the map.

After that the Hoyas endured a string of banner regular seasons followed by early exits from the NCAA tourney.  Then all the winning ran dry, save for a fluke run through the Big East tourney in 2021 and NCAA appearance which Colorado promptly quashed.

While I couldn't say precisely why Georgetown has been stuck on the mat, the forces at play are likely to be similar to those here.  They have a proven winner in Ed Cooley who was hired away from Providence and just got through his first Hoya season.  Whether he'll be able to replicate his winning with the Friars remains to be seen.

On our own program: Jay Wright is the medallion at the end of the rainbow.  You don't expect to land him, but you still try.  When evaluating candidates, some questions to consider: could their success to date have been a flash in the pan (Haase at UAB) or was it more sustained?  How has he won, and more importantly, how likely would it work here? John Groce had that impressive run at Ohio, then Illinois moved in.  It worked, but not for long -- the rise to Big Ten level competition proved a little too steep.  Sure, he's ruling the roost at Akron, but how likely to pan out would be a second chance to win above the MAC level? Brad Underwood dominated his conference competition at Stephen F. Austin before advancing to Oklahoma State and then Illinois.  From the amount of winning he has done, it would appear that the Illini found their guy.

[Sam Leopold]

He was AD at Georgetown (once as basketball school as there ever was; what the hell happened?)

The parallels between the Georgetown program and our own are interesting and merit further exploring.

Stanford got a Final Four run in 1998 and then the next year lost a 2-vs.-10 matchup in the second round, helping to put Gonzaga on the map.
Georgetown got a Final Four run in 2007 and then the next year lost a 2-vs.-10 matchup in the second round, helping to put Steph Curry on the map.

After that the Hoyas endured a string of banner regular seasons followed by early exits from the NCAA tourney.  Then all the winning ran dry, save for a fluke run through the Big East tourney in 2021 and NCAA appearance which Colorado promptly quashed.

While I couldn't say precisely why Georgetown has been stuck on the mat, the forces at play are likely to be similar to those here.  They have a proven winner in Ed Cooley who was hired away from Providence and just got through his first Hoya season.  Whether he'll be able to replicate his winning with the Friars remains to be seen.

On our own program: Jay Wright is the medallion at the end of the rainbow.  You don't expect to land him, but you still try.  When evaluating candidates, some questions to consider: could their success to date have been a flash in the pan (Haase at UAB) or was it more sustained?  How has he won, and more importantly, how likely would it work here? John Groce had that impressive run at Ohio, then Illinois moved in.  It worked, but not for long -- the rise to Big Ten level competition proved a little too steep.  Sure, he's ruling the roost at Akron, but how likely to pan out would be a second chance to win above the MAC level? Brad Underwood dominated his conference competition at Stephen F. Austin before advancing to Oklahoma State and then Illinois.  From the amount of winning he has done, it would appear that the Illini found their guy.