John Thompson III

For other persons with the same name, see John Thompson (disambiguation).
John Thompson III
Sport(s) Basketball
Current position
Title Head coach
Team Georgetown
Conference Big East
Record 332–175 (.655)
Biographical details
Born (1966-03-11) March 11, 1966
Boston, Massachusetts
Playing career
1984–1988 Princeton
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1995–2000 Princeton (asst.)
2000–2004 Princeton
2004–present Georgetown
Head coaching record
Overall 332–175 (.655)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Big East Tournament championship (2007)
3× Big East regular season championship (2007, 2008, 2013)
3× Ivy League regular season championship (2001, 2002, 2004)
Awards
Big East Coach of the Year (2013)

John Robert Thompson III (born March 11, 1966) is the current head coach of the men's basketball team at Georgetown University. He grew up in Washington, D.C. and was named first team All-Metro by The Washington Post while playing for Gonzaga College High School in 1984. Thompson was hired on April 20, 2004 to replace Craig Esherick. Prior to being hired at Georgetown, Thompson was the head coach for four years at his alma mater, Princeton University.

Coaching career

Princeton

Thompson is the son of John Thompson, Jr. (Georgetown's head coach from 1972 to 1999), and a 1988 graduate of Princeton. Thompson, whose nickname is JT3, served as an assistant coach at Princeton under head coaches Pete Carril and Bill Carmody from 1995 through 2000. After being promoted to head coach, he compiled a 68–42 record with the Tigers from 2000 to 2004 and guided the team to three Ivy League championships, two NCAA tournament appearances, and one NIT tournament appearance. Three of his players earned Ivy League Player of the Year honors.

Georgetown

Thompson immediately introduced the Princeton offense at Georgetown, a style of play that he learned from coach Pete Carril at Princeton. The rarity of this style, and Thompson's success at adapting it to work with the brawnier Georgetown players, has been cited by The Washington Post as one of the major reasons for the team's quick turnaround. In Thompson's first year at Georgetown (2004–05), the Hoyas improved from 13–15 to a record of 19–13 and the team reached the quarterfinals of the NIT.

John Thompson III's first notable win with the team took place on January 21, 2006, when unranked Georgetown upset No. 1 Duke. This was Georgetown's first win over a No. 1 ranked team in 21 years. Thompson also achieved his 100th win as a head coach a few nights later with an 85–82 win in double overtime at Notre Dame.

Thompson talks with a referee in a 2006 game

The Hoyas made the 2006 NCAA Tournament as a #7 seed. They defeated the University of Northern Iowa in the first round and upset #2 seed Ohio State University in the second round to make the "Sweet Sixteen", where they lost to the eventual national champions, Florida. In that tournament, the Hoyas were the only team to hold Florida to a victory under 10 points (they lost by four), and also the only team to lead Florida in the second half of a game.

In 2007, after starting with a record of 4–3, Coach Thompson III led the Hoyas to the first Big East Championship since his father did the same in 1989. Thompson also coached the 2006–07 Big East Player of the Year, Georgetown Forward Jeff Green.

Thompson's 2007 NCAA Tournament was one marked with success. The Hoyas were awarded a #2 seed in the East region. After an opening round win over Belmont and a second round victory in a hard fought game against Boston College the Hoyas faced Vanderbilt in the 'Sweet Sixteen.' On March 23, 2007 in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Thompson's Hoyas defeated Vanderbilt, 66–65, on the strength of Jeff Green's game-winning shot and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight for the first time since 1996. Against Vanderbilt, the Hoyas rallied from 13 points down in the first half and held on despite 7-foot-2 center Roy Hibbert fouling out in the final minutes. Two days later, on March 25, 2007, Thompson led the Hoyas to the 2007 NCAA Final Four with a 96–84 overtime victory against the University of North Carolina. The Hoyas were defeated 67–60 by Ohio State in the Final Four. Despite the loss, John Thompson III led the team on an impressive run to its first Final Four in 22 years.

In September 2007, Thompson signed a six-year contract extension that would keep him at Georgetown until 2013.

In March 2008, Thompson and Georgetown returned to the NCAA Tournament again as a #2 seed. After defeating #15 seed University of Maryland-Baltimore County 66–47, the Hoyas were upset in the second round by #10 Davidson and their star player Stephen Curry by a score of 74–70.

The 2008–09 season started with the Hoyas a Top 20 ranked team and a strong candidate to compete for the Big East title. They got off to a hot start (12–3) and saw their ranking rise as high as No. 9. But then the team went on a terrible slide, losing 11 of their next 15 and finishing the season 16–15, the worst record in Thompson's 5 years at the helm.

Head coaching record

Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Princeton (Ivy League) (2000–2004)
2000–01 Princeton 16–11 11–3 1st NCAA First Round
2001–02 Princeton 16–12 11–3 T–1st NIT First Round
2002–03 Princeton 16–11 10–4 3rd
2003–04 Princeton 20–8 13–1 1st NCAA First Round
Princeton: 68–42 (.618) 45–11 (.804)
Georgetown (Big East Conference) (2004–present)
2004–05 Georgetown 19–13 8–8 T–7th NIT Quarterfinals
2005–06 Georgetown 23–10 10–6 T–4th NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2006–07 Georgetown 30–7 13–3 1st NCAA Final Four
2007–08 Georgetown 28–6 15–3 1st NCAA Second Round
2008–09 Georgetown 16–15 7–11 11th NIT First Round
2009–10 Georgetown 23–11 10–8 7th NCAA First Round
2010–11 Georgetown 21–11 10–8 8th NCAA Second Round
2011–12 Georgetown 24–9 12–6 T–4th NCAA Third Round
2012–13 Georgetown 25–7 14–4 T–1st NCAA Second Round
2013–14 Georgetown 18–15 8–10 7th NIT Second Round
2014–15 Georgetown 22–11 12–6 T–2nd NCAA Third Round
2015–16 Georgetown 15–18 7–11 8th
2016–17 Georgetown 0–0 0–0
Georgetown: 264–133 (.665) 126–84 (.600)
Total: 332–175 (.655)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

Notes

    References

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