Exactly, so how would he go about convincing an in demand coach to choose Gtown over their other options?
What does the program do well besides spend 15 million dollars?
This is why you need to hire a coach that's a force of nature and that is going to craft the program as he wants it and push aside the nonsense that prevents him from achieving that goal. This will likely require cleaning house. Right now, the program is not doing anything well, but bring in a good coach and that would change overnight.
You do point to the biggest problem, which is, I don't think DeGioia or the Board have the desire/inspiration to actually do a real search and hire someone who might actually turn things around. I think they're looking for the easy way out, which is why they ratified Patrick Ewing as John Thompson's favorite son. DeGioia likely figured it was a way to keep John Thompson Jr. happy, bring a famous alumni back into the fold, and go about his business.
Georgetown does not have an interventionist President, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I think for some coaches, that would be seen as a good thing, in that the coach can do whatever they want, but that won't work if the new coach has to fit into the current structure where people like Ronny Thompson are gatekeepers.
Really, I think this program and DeGioia are so far removed from anything resembling a real coaching search and running a real successful sports program that they are basically bumbling along with inertia, which is how we ended up with Ewing. I mean, even the successes we had was sort of lucky:
1999: John Thompson Jr. leaves at the age of 58 (one can even quibble that Thompson's last decade with the program were problematic other than the Iverson/Page years, but let's leave that for another day, he deserved to be coaching), and Esherick slots in. Would Esherick have gotten the job on his own? Who knows, because the mid-season departure sort of set Esherick on the path in motion. And clearly, Thompson was okay with it. So that's good enough.
2004: This is where the luck comes in. At the time, alumni and fans still care about the program in big enough numbers to throw a fit, especially after Esherick proclaims he'll be around for years. So, Esherick gets fired. As it so happens, there is an up-and-coming coach with real head coaching experience, who has had a lot of success at Princeton. And he happens to be a Thompson! Bingo! Jackpot. They hire JT3 (who I do think was qualified, though I am not sure that was why they hired him), and he has a lot of early success with the Final Four, it looks like a winner.
2017: By all accounts, alumni/fan unrest (most of which was rooted in wanting to chart a new path away from the Thompsons), Board unrest, combined with Alonzo Mourning whining about his son's playing time, force the issue, and John Thompson III got fired. I still think if JT3 had handled PR better, he might have squeezed more time. After all, his performance was not nearly as bad as Ewing's. Sure, he had the early exits, and fans were upset about it but not necessarily rational (saying he should be fired because of Ohio or FGCU made no sense, most of us would kill to be a high seed in the tournament and be over .500 at this point, I'd take JT3's tenure from 2005-2013 any day), but it wasn't until 2016/2017 that the wheels fell off. I am confident there was no desire by either DeGioia or John Thompson Jr. to make a move, but it was forced.
So what do they do? Follow the same formula, next man up! Except, there as no next Thompson up, as Ronny had already disgraced himself at Ball State. So, John Thompson calls Patrick Ewing (who by all reports wanted an NBA head coaching job and never even thought of coaching college before the intervention), and convinces him to come back to his alma mater. Sure, he had no experience with college ball, no familiarity with the college game, but he was in the "family," he had great name recognition, and he was an alumnus. Oh, and they can quietly bring Ronny Thompson back into the fold to help Ewing out after all (especially given his stellar Ball State experience), while hiding his role and employment status for a few years. Checks all the boxes.
First few years are rough, players leave, but hey in 2021 we win the BET! This is great. Patrick has had some success, let's keep him around forever, and give him a $12 million extension despite, at the time, having a 37% winning percentage in the Big East regular season games, never finishing above .500, and never even getting close to an at-large bid. But, Patrick won the BET! Let's give him an extension, even though he's got 2 years left on the original deal. And, on top of that, let's lock ourselves into that contract by not including a buyout for a reasonable fee. But, hey, shhh. COVID is happening, and we need to raise funds, so let's keep the extension a secret. [NOTE: No rational person or program allows that extension, which makes me extremely suspect of how the whole program and decision-making operates, and makes me pessimistic that even if there is a change, it'll be a good one.]
March 2022: Ewing has an abysmal season. So, we need change! So, we need to clean house, except for Ronny Thompson, who is actually going to help find some new assistants. Per reports, he reaches out to guys like Kevin Broadus, thinking that he's going to leave a head coaching role to join our program as an assistant to Patrick Ewing. And presumably, Ronny reached out to Nickelberry and Baldwin, but on the latter, not before we try to hire Jordan Brooks, who cannot bring his prized recruit along, so never mind. Oh, and by the way, we owe Ewing a ton of money, and the university at large might not like paying that out (if they even know, they probably don't, so let's not tell them!), so let's not even consider a parting of ways. Have to keep it on the down low.
December 2022: Fast forward to today. The season begins terribly, despite better talent. What to do? In all likelihood, the powers that involved are trying to figure out ways to just keep the same train moving forward. If I had to guess, if Ewing somehow survives this season, you'll see one of the assistants fired or scapegoated, and the players thrown even more under the bus than they already are. Then we'll restock with new players (after all, cannot trade for them like in the NBA), and show them video, point out their mistakes, and act befuddled and confused as to what else can possibly be done to get better.