Coach Cooley - HHC meet and greet October 4 10:00 EST

[coach98]

October 4th at 10 am at the Thompson Athletic Center. Or you can attend virtually via Zoom

www.eventbrite.com/e/georgetown-event-meet-our-new-head-basketball-coach-tickets-699163315297?aff=oddtdtcreator

[DanMcQ]

[Bigs"R"Us]

Sept 27, 2023 10:23:22 GMT -5 DanMcQ said:

It’s Wednesday at 10am. People have to work. I can’t get on a 1.5 hour zoom at that time. Is the event for retirees? 🤣

[coach98]

Kinda. It was organized by Georgetown University Association of Retired Faculty and Staff. I'm going to tune in via Zoom. 

[hoyaboya]

Sept 28, 2023 13:47:16 GMT -5 coach98 said:

Kinda. It was organized by Georgetown University Association of Retired Faculty and Staff. I'm going to tune in via Zoom. 

Looks like it was organized by more than just retirees:

[TrueHoyaBlue]

If the likely government shutdown is still going on Wednesday, that gives me something to do!

[hoyaboya]

Anybody attend this that can provide a recap?

[hoyasaxa2003]

So, I listened in and here is a summary. ITo be clear everything following is a paraphrase--often a close paraphrase--but not quotes from Cooley, as this is based on my notes.

On College Basketball/NIL: Cooley just got back from Indianapolis. The audio was hard to hear in this section, but it sounded like he's on an NCAA committee, perhaps legistlative commiteee. Cooley expressed that while the NCAA is trying to make things better, with all the regulations, rules, and NIL it's putting good on things that are bad. But basically, until Congress intervenes, everything done will be small. Cooley said that coaches need a more powerful voice with their jobs.

On Georgetown and Building The Program: Cooley said that at Georgetown, we need to be thoughtful. We are not building from the ground up but from the roots. It is a seismic change, it’s a different direction, and to reestablish the identity and tradition in a different culture, in a different time. Cooley emphasized he is still mindful for his former players at Providence, and he has much gratitude and appreciation for his time there.

When Will We Be Good? Cooley said the narrative is when will we be good? Cooley said somthing like this (it's a paraphrase, but close to a quite): "We'll see, we'll see. I mean, when. We’ll see. We’ll see . . . I can tell you though, our men are very disciplined, our men will defend. The Big East is probably going to have 7 out of 11 teams ranked of which 3 will probably be in the top 7 or 8."

On the Transfer Portal: We got beat up very early in the portal side of this based on the last two years, and if we’re being honest, it’s okay. It’s okay. So we attracted the ones who liked us and who we thought fit, but it may be a rough rollercoaster ride until we get what we need to build winning.

On Needing A Solid Base Before We Win: I can tell you this, before we win a basketball game, we need to win alignment, we need to win infrastructure, we need to win culture, season ticket sales, marketing, advertising, engagement, community, alumni, there are so many different wins we need to have before we go out there and say we are going to beat such and such. Winning will come as a byproduct of an established culture that’s not going to just give in. And that’s what we are trying to establish right now. We may be bad early, we could be good early, but I wouldn’t expect much until we get aligned and people know who we are as people first, not just as coaches and players.

On Learning to Build a Program: Yet, what I learned [referencing his past coaching roles] on that is how to build, and how to build community. When we went to Fairfield, dead last place. Negative overtone. Went to Providence, dead last place, negative overtone. Here at Georgetown, dead last place, negative overtone. So if history serves us well, it’s just a matter of time to answer your “when,” I think. I think our staff is doing an incredible job trying to get people, not that can come to Georgetown, those who fit at Georgetown and who can play for me the head coach. Right, what’s our identity. Okay. What do we stand for. If you’re here at Georgetown for 4 years, we have 100% graduation rate, which I am very, very, proud of because at the end of the day that’s what we are doing. At the end of the day, we want respect our crowd, we want to respect our community, but if we’re being totally honest we want to make sure these men and women graduate. Because 99.6% of them aren’t pros.

On His Staff: Cooley said he was thankful for his staff, and said many were with him for a long time. On Chief of Staff Sharon Brunell, he said that he looks for diversity, including gender. He noted she knows what happens on a day-to-day basis at Georgetown, and he thought that was very important.

On Opennness/Transparency: In the past, it was needed as far as privacy, not inclusive, back in the day we needed that for our young men. But as times change, society changed, transparency and openness allows for openness for things like this. Allows for people to come and watch practice and allow for open and honest conversation, and without that, I don’t know …

What Do You Do With Your Guys? Well, we as a staff, I as a head coach try to show them who we are as people, not as coaches. Where they see you as father, husband, mentor, spending time with them, what’s their why? Where are they trying to go? How are they utilizing Georgetown’s education component? Basketball? For the most part they come here to get to the NBA, what I tell them is use us to try to get to the NBA, don’t not going to class, don’t not listen, be a participant in your education because you’re going to need a job. They all come to our home, and we are still trying to establish our home here. I am 54, 53.5 was in New England. Learning the city, how to do anything here. The traffic here is horrendous, it’s awful. I’ve never taken so many taxis and Ubers in my life, so it’s been a change. We take them out to eat, bowling. We will do a lot, a ton in our community.

What Have You Been Surprised About at Georgetown? What surprised me most about Georgetown, that’s a loaded question. I have to think about that a second. That’s a great question. I’d say not so much Georgetown, but the District, or all the DMV schools and colleges, with the talent that’s here in the DMV area, I’m shocked more kids don’t stay home. That’s what I’ll say. I won’t comment on Georgetown because I don’t know it yet. I am more surprised that the schools here do not have a routine of keeping their young men and women.

On Whether Cooley Has Plans to Engage Alumni and Former Players? 100%. 100% I’ve tried to reach out to a lot of former players. Our goal is to try to get 5 a week, I’ve just ran out of time. But we have reached out to a lot. I mean a lot. And I think that’s it’s really important to those older, established men that when they come back to the Hilltop to feel like it’s home. And it will take time to build trust because we are definitely different. But one thing I will always respect is Coach Thompson. The reason I am sitting here is because of that man. As a young man, there were 4 coaches in America that looked like me, and he’s probably the one who influenced me the most.

On Tradition/The Past: Why do I bring all the past to present? Because I really hope we respect the tradition that has happened here and we’ll try to rebuild that, and I want to overemphasize this is the only place I would leave Providence College for for a variety of reasons, but I think change is good for everyone and it’s really okay. And I definitely want all of you to know how much I miss and loved where I was at, but I’m more excited to see where we go here.

On Leadership Style: Cooley essentially says he was born the way he is. If you can inspire and engage and make them feel better by giving them your time, letting them know how important they are, seeing the, the person. If you let fear get in the way you’re never going to get to the mountain top . . .

Leadership is hard but that’s just a word, it’s a challenge to make change and a lot of people are afraid of change. Pump your brakes, the plane is going to land. We will land the plane, it may not be smooth but we will get that thing on the ground, and that’s the thing. I was born a leader, I was blessed with a gene that wasn’t afraid to fail.

What Can We Do To Support? You’ve seen a lot, you’ve seen a lot of change. When I'm asked that in my 5th or 6th month. We are going to ask for support in a lot of different ways. Season tickets, NIL initiatives, infrastructure things we are trying to do here, it’s not just financial support. Something like this, every person you touch, it may not be sold out, but that will grow. Cooley then said that growth happened when he was at Boston College, Fairfield, and Providence. And it will grow here.

[prhoya]

Oct 4, 2023 13:00:26 GMT -5 hoyasaxa2003 said:

So, I listened in and here is a summary. ITo be clear everything following is a paraphrase--often a close paraphrase--but not quotes from Cooley, as this is based on my notes.

On College Basketball/NIL: Cooley just got back from Indianapolis. The audio was hard to hear in this section, but it sounded like he's on an NCAA committee, perhaps legistlative commiteee. Cooley expressed that while the NCAA is trying to make things better, with all the regulations, rules, and NIL it's putting good on things that are bad. But basically, until Congress intervenes, everything done will be small. Cooley said that coaches need a more powerful voice with their jobs.

On Georgetown and Building The Program: Cooley said that at Georgetown, we need to be thoughtful. We are not building from the ground up but from the roots. It is a seismic change, it’s a different direction, and to reestablish the identity and tradition in a different culture, in a different time. Cooley emphasized he is still mindful for his former players at Providence, and he has much gratitude and appreciation for his time there.

When Will We Be Good? Cooley said the narrative is when will we be good? Cooley said somthing like this (it's a paraphrase, but close to a quite): "We'll see, we'll see. I mean, when. We’ll see. We’ll see . . . I can tell you though, our men are very disciplined, our men will defend. The Big East is probably going to have 7 out of 11 teams ranked of which 3 will probably be in the top 7 or 8."

On the Transfer Portal: We got beat up very early in the portal side of this based on the last two years, and if we’re being honest, it’s okay. It’s okay. So we attracted the ones who liked us and who we thought fit, but it may be a rough rollercoaster ride until we get what we need to build winning.

On Needing A Solid Base Before We Win: I can tell you this, before we win a basketball game, we need to win alignment, we need to win infrastructure, we need to win culture, season ticket sales, marketing, advertising, engagement, community, alumni, there are so many different wins we need to have before we go out there and say we are going to beat such and such. Winning will come as a byproduct of an established culture that’s not going to just give in. And that’s what we are trying to establish right now. We may be bad early, we could be good early, but I wouldn’t expect much until we get aligned and people know who we are as people first, not just as coaches and players.

On Learning to Build a Program: Yet, what I learned [referencing his past coaching roles] on that is how to build, and how to build community. When we went to Fairfield, dead last place. Negative overtone. Went to Providence, dead last place, negative overtone. Here at Georgetown, dead last place, negative overtone. So if history serves us well, it’s just a matter of time to answer your “when,” I think. I think our staff is doing an incredible job trying to get people, not that can come to Georgetown, those who fit at Georgetown and who can play for me the head coach. Right, what’s our identity. Okay. What do we stand for. If you’re here at Georgetown for 4 years, we have 100% graduation rate, which I am very, very, proud of because at the end of the day that’s what we are doing. At the end of the day, we want respect our crowd, we want to respect our community, but if we’re being totally honest we want to make sure these men and women graduate. Because 99.6% of them aren’t pros.

On His Staff: Cooley said he was thankful for his staff, and said many were with him for a long time. On Chief of Staff Sharon Brunell, he said that he looks for diversity, including gender. He noted she knows what happens on a day-to-day basis at Georgetown, and he thought that was very important.

On Opennness/Transparency: In the past, it was needed as far as privacy, not inclusive, back in the day we needed that for our young men. But as times change, society changed, transparency and openness allows for openness for things like this. Allows for people to come and watch practice and allow for open and honest conversation, and without that, I don’t know …

What Do You Do With Your Guys? Well, we as a staff, I as a head coach try to show them who we are as people, not as coaches. Where they see you as father, husband, mentor, spending time with them, what’s their why? Where are they trying to go? How are they utilizing Georgetown’s education component? Basketball? For the most part they come here to get to the NBA, what I tell them is use us to try to get to the NBA, don’t not going to class, don’t not listen, be a participant in your education because you’re going to need a job. They all come to our home, and we are still trying to establish our home here. I am 54, 53.5 was in New England. Learning the city, how to do anything here. The traffic here is horrendous, it’s awful. I’ve never taken so many taxis and Ubers in my life, so it’s been a change. We take them out to eat, bowling. We will do a lot, a ton in our community.

What Have You Been Surprised About at Georgetown? What surprised me most about Georgetown, that’s a loaded question. I have to think about that a second. That’s a great question. I’d say not so much Georgetown, but the District, or all the DMV schools and colleges, with the talent that’s here in the DMV area, I’m shocked more kids don’t stay home. That’s what I’ll say. I won’t comment on Georgetown because I don’t know it yet. I am more surprised that the schools here do not have a routine of keeping their young men and women.

On Whether Cooley Has Plans to Engage Alumni and Former Players? 100%. 100% I’ve tried to reach out to a lot of former players. Our goal is to try to get 5 a week, I’ve just ran out of time. But we have reached out to a lot. I mean a lot. And I think that’s it’s really important to those older, established men that when they come back to the Hilltop to feel like it’s home. And it will take time to build trust because we are definitely different. But one thing I will always respect is Coach Thompson. The reason I am sitting here is because of that man. As a young man, there were 4 coaches in America that looked like me, and he’s probably the one who influenced me the most.

On Tradition/The Past: Why do I bring all the past to present? Because I really hope we respect the tradition that has happened here and we’ll try to rebuild that, and I want to overemphasize this is the only place I would leave Providence College for for a variety of reasons, but I think change is good for everyone and it’s really okay. And I definitely want all of you to know how much I miss and loved where I was at, but I’m more excited to see where we go here.

On Leadership Style: Cooley essentially says he was born the way he is. If you can inspire and engage and make them feel better by giving them your time, letting them know how important they are, seeing the, the person. If you let fear get in the way you’re never going to get to the mountain top . . .

Leadership is hard but that’s just a word, it’s a challenge to make change and a lot of people are afraid of change. Pump your brakes, the plane is going to land. We will land the plane, it may not be smooth but we will get that thing on the ground, and that’s the thing. I was born a leader, I was blessed with a gene that wasn’t afraid to fail.

What Can We Do To Support? You’ve seen a lot, you’ve seen a lot of change. When I'm asked that in my 5th or 6th month. We are going to ask for support in a lot of different ways. Season tickets, NIL initiatives, infrastructure things we are trying to do here, it’s not just financial support. Something like this, every person you touch, it may not be sold out, but that will grow. Cooley then said that growth happened when he was at Boston College, Fairfield, and Providence. And it will grow here.

Thanks, 2003! Very interesting! He didn't realize how tough it was going to be to get players after the Thompson/Ewing debacle of a decade.

The bar is so low that I don't get a sense of urgency or pressure.

[hoyaboya]

Oct 4, 2023 13:31:06 GMT -5 prhoya said:

Oct 4, 2023 13:00:26 GMT -5 hoyasaxa2003 said:

So, I listened in and here is a summary. ITo be clear everything following is a paraphrase--often a close paraphrase--but not quotes from Cooley, as this is based on my notes.

On College Basketball/NIL: Cooley just got back from Indianapolis. The audio was hard to hear in this section, but it sounded like he's on an NCAA committee, perhaps legistlative commiteee. Cooley expressed that while the NCAA is trying to make things better, with all the regulations, rules, and NIL it's putting good on things that are bad. But basically, until Congress intervenes, everything done will be small. Cooley said that coaches need a more powerful voice with their jobs.

On Georgetown and Building The Program: Cooley said that at Georgetown, we need to be thoughtful. We are not building from the ground up but from the roots. It is a seismic change, it’s a different direction, and to reestablish the identity and tradition in a different culture, in a different time. Cooley emphasized he is still mindful for his former players at Providence, and he has much gratitude and appreciation for his time there.

When Will We Be Good? Cooley said the narrative is when will we be good? Cooley said somthing like this (it's a paraphrase, but close to a quite): "We'll see, we'll see. I mean, when. We’ll see. We’ll see . . . I can tell you though, our men are very disciplined, our men will defend. The Big East is probably going to have 7 out of 11 teams ranked of which 3 will probably be in the top 7 or 8."

On the Transfer Portal: We got beat up very early in the portal side of this based on the last two years, and if we’re being honest, it’s okay. It’s okay. So we attracted the ones who liked us and who we thought fit, but it may be a rough rollercoaster ride until we get what we need to build winning.

On Needing A Solid Base Before We Win: I can tell you this, before we win a basketball game, we need to win alignment, we need to win infrastructure, we need to win culture, season ticket sales, marketing, advertising, engagement, community, alumni, there are so many different wins we need to have before we go out there and say we are going to beat such and such. Winning will come as a byproduct of an established culture that’s not going to just give in. And that’s what we are trying to establish right now. We may be bad early, we could be good early, but I wouldn’t expect much until we get aligned and people know who we are as people first, not just as coaches and players.

On Learning to Build a Program: Yet, what I learned [referencing his past coaching roles] on that is how to build, and how to build community. When we went to Fairfield, dead last place. Negative overtone. Went to Providence, dead last place, negative overtone. Here at Georgetown, dead last place, negative overtone. So if history serves us well, it’s just a matter of time to answer your “when,” I think. I think our staff is doing an incredible job trying to get people, not that can come to Georgetown, those who fit at Georgetown and who can play for me the head coach. Right, what’s our identity. Okay. What do we stand for. If you’re here at Georgetown for 4 years, we have 100% graduation rate, which I am very, very, proud of because at the end of the day that’s what we are doing. At the end of the day, we want respect our crowd, we want to respect our community, but if we’re being totally honest we want to make sure these men and women graduate. Because 99.6% of them aren’t pros.

On His Staff: Cooley said he was thankful for his staff, and said many were with him for a long time. On Chief of Staff Sharon Brunell, he said that he looks for diversity, including gender. He noted she knows what happens on a day-to-day basis at Georgetown, and he thought that was very important.

On Opennness/Transparency: In the past, it was needed as far as privacy, not inclusive, back in the day we needed that for our young men. But as times change, society changed, transparency and openness allows for openness for things like this. Allows for people to come and watch practice and allow for open and honest conversation, and without that, I don’t know …

What Do You Do With Your Guys? Well, we as a staff, I as a head coach try to show them who we are as people, not as coaches. Where they see you as father, husband, mentor, spending time with them, what’s their why? Where are they trying to go? How are they utilizing Georgetown’s education component? Basketball? For the most part they come here to get to the NBA, what I tell them is use us to try to get to the NBA, don’t not going to class, don’t not listen, be a participant in your education because you’re going to need a job. They all come to our home, and we are still trying to establish our home here. I am 54, 53.5 was in New England. Learning the city, how to do anything here. The traffic here is horrendous, it’s awful. I’ve never taken so many taxis and Ubers in my life, so it’s been a change. We take them out to eat, bowling. We will do a lot, a ton in our community.

What Have You Been Surprised About at Georgetown? What surprised me most about Georgetown, that’s a loaded question. I have to think about that a second. That’s a great question. I’d say not so much Georgetown, but the District, or all the DMV schools and colleges, with the talent that’s here in the DMV area, I’m shocked more kids don’t stay home. That’s what I’ll say. I won’t comment on Georgetown because I don’t know it yet. I am more surprised that the schools here do not have a routine of keeping their young men and women.

On Whether Cooley Has Plans to Engage Alumni and Former Players? 100%. 100% I’ve tried to reach out to a lot of former players. Our goal is to try to get 5 a week, I’ve just ran out of time. But we have reached out to a lot. I mean a lot. And I think that’s it’s really important to those older, established men that when they come back to the Hilltop to feel like it’s home. And it will take time to build trust because we are definitely different. But one thing I will always respect is Coach Thompson. The reason I am sitting here is because of that man. As a young man, there were 4 coaches in America that looked like me, and he’s probably the one who influenced me the most.

On Tradition/The Past: Why do I bring all the past to present? Because I really hope we respect the tradition that has happened here and we’ll try to rebuild that, and I want to overemphasize this is the only place I would leave Providence College for for a variety of reasons, but I think change is good for everyone and it’s really okay. And I definitely want all of you to know how much I miss and loved where I was at, but I’m more excited to see where we go here.

On Leadership Style: Cooley essentially says he was born the way he is. If you can inspire and engage and make them feel better by giving them your time, letting them know how important they are, seeing the, the person. If you let fear get in the way you’re never going to get to the mountain top . . .

Leadership is hard but that’s just a word, it’s a challenge to make change and a lot of people are afraid of change. Pump your brakes, the plane is going to land. We will land the plane, it may not be smooth but we will get that thing on the ground, and that’s the thing. I was born a leader, I was blessed with a gene that wasn’t afraid to fail.

What Can We Do To Support? You’ve seen a lot, you’ve seen a lot of change. When I'm asked that in my 5th or 6th month. We are going to ask for support in a lot of different ways. Season tickets, NIL initiatives, infrastructure things we are trying to do here, it’s not just financial support. Something like this, every person you touch, it may not be sold out, but that will grow. Cooley then said that growth happened when he was at Boston College, Fairfield, and Providence. And it will grow here.

Thanks, 2003! Very interesting! He didn't realize how tough it was going to be to get players after the Thompson/Ewing debacle of a decade.

The bar is so low that I don't get a sense of urgency or pressure.

Really appreciate the recap, 2003. I agree that the bar is really low and he doesn't seem to exude much urgency with his comments. It's almost like he's surprised at the lack of engagement at Georgetown compared to where he came from at Providence.

[hoyasaxa2003]

Just speaking in terms of tone and tenor, I did get the sense that Cooley thinks it is important and urgent to get the right infrastructure in place for winning. In that sense, he seemed to convey a need/desire to get that right, and get it right so that the basis is there for winning. But no, I did not get a "we need to win this year" vibe. And I think that's in part a reflection that Cooley is realistic and knows we aren't going to go 10-10 in the Big East this year. Or at least, we aren't likely to do that.

I do find the transfer portal comments interesting, and I think Cooley's comments echo what MCIGuy had reported Cooley saying in one of the print-only sports magazines. Essentially, that Georgetown has been so bad, it was hard to get guys to come here from the portal. This isn't surprising, as many of the top transfers tend to be upperclassman who want to win now.

I think Cooley will have a lot more to "sell" on the transfer portal if we get a lot better this year than last year and with the 2024 guys who show a commitment to improving. So, you'd hope we'd be more able to draw in some help from the portal in March/April 2024 than this past year. Plus, hopefully our NIL initiatives are better equipped then, as we know they weren't great under Ewing (and not necessarily his fault given DeGioia's comments on NIL).

I would add there were no questions about individual players at all. For example, nothing about McKenna, etc. but I also have no idea how the questions were screened or who was asking them, since I only had the audio. So I couldn't see who was there, or even how many. Or, for example, I have no idea if Reed was even there.

I really do think Cooley is going to turn the program around. As he said, he's essentially done that already at Fairfield and Providence. I am not sure I got this into the quotes above, but at one point Cooley said something to the effect, "I know you all are here wondering when is this guy going to turn this around and win" or something to that effect. So, it's clear that Cooley knows he needs to win. But, is it a "we need to win this year at all costs" mentality? No, I don't think so.

And I think that's what the transfer portal comments conveyed. Cooley and his staff weren't going to just take anybody to fill the roster at the risk of not finding the right guys. That may very well slow things down, but if that's an approach that has worked for Cooley before, it's hard to fight that.

One Note: I believe that in-person attendees were given a chance to tour the practice facility after the event; a nice gesture which seems simple but that previous coaches did not always do.

[thedragon]

Oct 4, 2023 13:31:06 GMT -5 prhoya said:

Oct 4, 2023 13:00:26 GMT -5 hoyasaxa2003 said:

So, I listened in and here is a summary. ITo be clear everything following is a paraphrase--often a close paraphrase--but not quotes from Cooley, as this is based on my notes.

On College Basketball/NIL: Cooley just got back from Indianapolis. The audio was hard to hear in this section, but it sounded like he's on an NCAA committee, perhaps legistlative commiteee. Cooley expressed that while the NCAA is trying to make things better, with all the regulations, rules, and NIL it's putting good on things that are bad. But basically, until Congress intervenes, everything done will be small. Cooley said that coaches need a more powerful voice with their jobs.

On Georgetown and Building The Program: Cooley said that at Georgetown, we need to be thoughtful. We are not building from the ground up but from the roots. It is a seismic change, it’s a different direction, and to reestablish the identity and tradition in a different culture, in a different time. Cooley emphasized he is still mindful for his former players at Providence, and he has much gratitude and appreciation for his time there.

When Will We Be Good? Cooley said the narrative is when will we be good? Cooley said somthing like this (it's a paraphrase, but close to a quite): "We'll see, we'll see. I mean, when. We’ll see. We’ll see . . . I can tell you though, our men are very disciplined, our men will defend. The Big East is probably going to have 7 out of 11 teams ranked of which 3 will probably be in the top 7 or 8."

On the Transfer Portal: We got beat up very early in the portal side of this based on the last two years, and if we’re being honest, it’s okay. It’s okay. So we attracted the ones who liked us and who we thought fit, but it may be a rough rollercoaster ride until we get what we need to build winning.

On Needing A Solid Base Before We Win: I can tell you this, before we win a basketball game, we need to win alignment, we need to win infrastructure, we need to win culture, season ticket sales, marketing, advertising, engagement, community, alumni, there are so many different wins we need to have before we go out there and say we are going to beat such and such. Winning will come as a byproduct of an established culture that’s not going to just give in. And that’s what we are trying to establish right now. We may be bad early, we could be good early, but I wouldn’t expect much until we get aligned and people know who we are as people first, not just as coaches and players.

On Learning to Build a Program: Yet, what I learned [referencing his past coaching roles] on that is how to build, and how to build community. When we went to Fairfield, dead last place. Negative overtone. Went to Providence, dead last place, negative overtone. Here at Georgetown, dead last place, negative overtone. So if history serves us well, it’s just a matter of time to answer your “when,” I think. I think our staff is doing an incredible job trying to get people, not that can come to Georgetown, those who fit at Georgetown and who can play for me the head coach. Right, what’s our identity. Okay. What do we stand for. If you’re here at Georgetown for 4 years, we have 100% graduation rate, which I am very, very, proud of because at the end of the day that’s what we are doing. At the end of the day, we want respect our crowd, we want to respect our community, but if we’re being totally honest we want to make sure these men and women graduate. Because 99.6% of them aren’t pros.

On His Staff: Cooley said he was thankful for his staff, and said many were with him for a long time. On Chief of Staff Sharon Brunell, he said that he looks for diversity, including gender. He noted she knows what happens on a day-to-day basis at Georgetown, and he thought that was very important.

On Opennness/Transparency: In the past, it was needed as far as privacy, not inclusive, back in the day we needed that for our young men. But as times change, society changed, transparency and openness allows for openness for things like this. Allows for people to come and watch practice and allow for open and honest conversation, and without that, I don’t know …

What Do You Do With Your Guys? Well, we as a staff, I as a head coach try to show them who we are as people, not as coaches. Where they see you as father, husband, mentor, spending time with them, what’s their why? Where are they trying to go? How are they utilizing Georgetown’s education component? Basketball? For the most part they come here to get to the NBA, what I tell them is use us to try to get to the NBA, don’t not going to class, don’t not listen, be a participant in your education because you’re going to need a job. They all come to our home, and we are still trying to establish our home here. I am 54, 53.5 was in New England. Learning the city, how to do anything here. The traffic here is horrendous, it’s awful. I’ve never taken so many taxis and Ubers in my life, so it’s been a change. We take them out to eat, bowling. We will do a lot, a ton in our community.

What Have You Been Surprised About at Georgetown? What surprised me most about Georgetown, that’s a loaded question. I have to think about that a second. That’s a great question. I’d say not so much Georgetown, but the District, or all the DMV schools and colleges, with the talent that’s here in the DMV area, I’m shocked more kids don’t stay home. That’s what I’ll say. I won’t comment on Georgetown because I don’t know it yet. I am more surprised that the schools here do not have a routine of keeping their young men and women.

On Whether Cooley Has Plans to Engage Alumni and Former Players? 100%. 100% I’ve tried to reach out to a lot of former players. Our goal is to try to get 5 a week, I’ve just ran out of time. But we have reached out to a lot. I mean a lot. And I think that’s it’s really important to those older, established men that when they come back to the Hilltop to feel like it’s home. And it will take time to build trust because we are definitely different. But one thing I will always respect is Coach Thompson. The reason I am sitting here is because of that man. As a young man, there were 4 coaches in America that looked like me, and he’s probably the one who influenced me the most.

On Tradition/The Past: Why do I bring all the past to present? Because I really hope we respect the tradition that has happened here and we’ll try to rebuild that, and I want to overemphasize this is the only place I would leave Providence College for for a variety of reasons, but I think change is good for everyone and it’s really okay. And I definitely want all of you to know how much I miss and loved where I was at, but I’m more excited to see where we go here.

On Leadership Style: Cooley essentially says he was born the way he is. If you can inspire and engage and make them feel better by giving them your time, letting them know how important they are, seeing the, the person. If you let fear get in the way you’re never going to get to the mountain top . . .

Leadership is hard but that’s just a word, it’s a challenge to make change and a lot of people are afraid of change. Pump your brakes, the plane is going to land. We will land the plane, it may not be smooth but we will get that thing on the ground, and that’s the thing. I was born a leader, I was blessed with a gene that wasn’t afraid to fail.

What Can We Do To Support? You’ve seen a lot, you’ve seen a lot of change. When I'm asked that in my 5th or 6th month. We are going to ask for support in a lot of different ways. Season tickets, NIL initiatives, infrastructure things we are trying to do here, it’s not just financial support. Something like this, every person you touch, it may not be sold out, but that will grow. Cooley then said that growth happened when he was at Boston College, Fairfield, and Providence. And it will grow here.

Thanks, 2003! Very interesting! He didn't realize how tough it was going to be to get players after the Thompson/Ewing debacle of a decade.

The bar is so low that I don't get a sense of urgency or pressure.

Not meant to be snark (hard to tell sometimes on here) - but why Pr would there be urgency or pressure? It's year 1 of a massive rebuild undertaking.

On edit: I see boya agreed with you. So now please consider my question snarky

[prhoya]

Oct 4, 2023 14:22:58 GMT -5 thedragon said:

Not meant to be snark (hard to tell sometimes on here) - but why Pr would there be urgency or pressure? It's year 1 of a massive rebuild undertaking.

On edit: I see boya agreed with you. So now please consider my question snarky

Ja! To answer you, I would need to go back to quote Cooley’s initial interviews and cannot right now.

Talking about boya, since he likes to post so many articles, may I suggest boya create a more relevant thread with all of Cooley’s interviews so that we have his quotes in a single thread? Easily searchable and quotable…

[coach98]

Great summary.
Ed is a good politician. I think it's wise for him to tamper expectations right now. I thought he was being incredibly candid when he said they were rebuilding from the roots. The brand is in trouble and he's not sugarcoating it.
I wish he would stop referencing his time at Providence and how much he loved it and it was home. It comes across as either disingenuous or like he's longing to be back there.

[calhoya]

I share 2003's cautious optimism. While I was somewhat neutral on Cooley originally, no complaints about his effort and willingness to engage with the campus community, former players and the fans. As for how quickly this program can turnaround, as I get older I have less patience and time for long rebuilds, but it is my hope that after years of underperforming the level of talent on the team, a competent coaching staff can help this year's team overperform any limitations due to the size or composition of the roster. Also believe that in the world of college free agency, quick turnarounds are very possible. If this team is recognized in February for having improved over the course of the year then a strong recruiting class for 2024 will become even stronger.

[hoyasaxa2003]

Oct 4, 2023 15:01:35 GMT -5 coach98 said:

Great summary.
Ed is a good politician. I think it's wise for him to tamper expectations right now. I thought he was being incredibly candid when he said they were rebuilding from the roots. The brand is in trouble and he's not sugarcoating it.
I wish he would stop referencing his time at Providence and how much he loved it and it was home. It comes across as either disingenuous or like he's longing to be back there.

It's the truth. To use Cooley's words, the "infrastructure" behind the program was terrible before his arrival AND on top of that we were horrible and only won 2 Big East games over two years. From a transfer portal/recruiting standpoint, that does not make us desirable. I realize people say you can turnaround a program really fast--and it does happen--but in most instances those programs have better infrastructures than those that existed at Georgetown.

I know some people want everything NOW and think doing everything that needs to be done should happen immediately, but that's just not realistic.

[coach98]

Oct 4, 2023 16:22:56 GMT -5 hoyasaxa2003 said:

Oct 4, 2023 15:01:35 GMT -5 coach98 said:

Great summary.
Ed is a good politician. I think it's wise for him to tamper expectations right now. I thought he was being incredibly candid when he said they were rebuilding from the roots. The brand is in trouble and he's not sugarcoating it.
I wish he would stop referencing his time at Providence and how much he loved it and it was home. It comes across as either disingenuous or like he's longing to be back there.

It's the truth. To use Cooley's words, the "infrastructure" behind the program was terrible before his arrival AND on top of that we were horrible and only won 2 Big East games over two years. From a transfer portal/recruiting standpoint, that does not make us desirable. I realize people say you can turnaround a program really fast--and it does happen--but in most instances those programs have better infrastructures than those that existed at Georgetown.

I know some people want everything NOW and think doing everything that needs to be done should happen immediately, but that's just not realistic.

How did the infrastructure get so bad? How did DeGioia and Reed not realize this?

[kghoya]

Most of the infrastructure is still there.

[hibernatinghoyafan]

Be respectable this year, develop the guys who will be here next year and pay a great foundation, then we attack the portal for 2-3 top tier guys that can elevate us back into the conversation next year. You can see the potential for a great platform but need to win a few games to keep the momentum going.

[hoyaboya]

Oct 4, 2023 14:52:12 GMT -5 prhoya said:

Oct 4, 2023 14:22:58 GMT -5 thedragon said:

Not meant to be snark (hard to tell sometimes on here) - but why Pr would there be urgency or pressure? It's year 1 of a massive rebuild undertaking.

On edit: I see boya agreed with you. So now please consider my question snarky

Ja! To answer you, I would need to go back to quote Cooley’s initial interviews and cannot right now.

Talking about boya, since he likes to post so many articles, may I suggest boya create a more relevant thread with all of Cooley’s interviews so that we have his quotes in a single thread? Easily searchable and quotable…

I think the most relevant piece, though not a direct quote, is from this Hilltop Hoops article from late April:

"In casual conversations with alumni and donors off-stage and at other JCW events, Ed Cooley is continuing to express a lot of confidence about the roster the team will have next season. He doesn’t seem worried about what awaits if Hunter Dickinson passes on Georgetown. We’ll see what happens."

hilltophoops.substack.com/p/john-carroll-weekend-georgetown-cooley

His tenor about this season and managing Hoyas supporters' expectations seems to have changed significantly in 5 months.