RIP Big John Thompson

[Tripping William]

Washington DC’s ABC affiliate, WJLA, is reporting that John Thompson has passed away at age 78.

https://wjla.com/amp/news/local/former-georgetown-coach-john-thompson-dies

Sad day, and not just for Hoya fans.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Wow. Truly a pillar of the basketball universe.

[Daddylawman]

He was a huge figure in making the Big East what it was in its Heyday. I remember the day he came out for a game against St. John's wearing a Lou Carnesecca sweater

[JasonEvans]

He was a huge figure in making the Big East what it was in its Heyday. I remember the day he came out for a game against St. John's wearing a Lou Carnesecca sweater

https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/qchron.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/b/4f/b4f4928f-af71-5cb3-a892-653d69fa2239/5e57f162b45e4.image.jpg

[Tripping William]

He was a huge figure

Full stop. :o

[sagegrouse]

Very sorry to hear it. He was a wise man and a great coach. Way too young. Reports he has an autobiography scheduled for publication in January.

[ChillinDuke]

Wow. Sad day. Truly a pillar, is right.

Was he ill? I hadn't heard he was, which makes this a little surprising and also makes him a little young but I guess not crazy so.

- Chillin

[DukieInKansas]

Condolences to his family, friends,Georgetown faithful, and all basketball fans.

[Billy Dat]

A literal and figurative giant who left a massive legacy.

I think he and K were pretty close, I'll be interested to see what his public comments are like, what kind of specifics and nuances he decided to emphasize about JT.

[ehdg]

A true legend n turned Georgetown into a power house. He was very out spoken but for the right reasons. He also won 2 NBA championships playing with the Boston Celtics n backing up the Legend Bill Russell. The man knew n taught defense so well!

[miramar]

I think he and K were pretty close, I'll be interested to see what his public comments are like, what kind of specifics and nuances he decided to emphasize about JT.

I think that Thompson was also close to Dean Smith.

In Coach K's case, I think that he was the first (or one of the first) coaches who didn't let Thompson intimidate him. In the classic Duke Georgetown game from 1989, the coaching staff figured out from looking at the tape that because of Alonzo Mourning's shot blocking ability, opposing teams were not attacking the basket. So he told the team to go to the rim, even if they had their shots blocked. Needless to say, one of the outcomes was Phil Henderson's monster slam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbIxFvMmcmc

IIRC, that was also Christian Laettner's first huge game, but I could be mistaken on that one.

[sagegrouse]

IIRC, that was also Christian Laettner's first huge game, but I could be mistaken on that one.

You are correct: Christian was 9-10 0-0 6-7 for 24 points plus nine rebounds leading Duke in scoring (Henderson had 23 and Ferry 21) and rebounding.

Box score. (https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/boxscores/1989-03-26-duke.html)

[JasonEvans]

I think he and K were pretty close, I'll be interested to see what his public comments are like, what kind of specifics and nuances he decided to emphasize about JT.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Egw5AZAVoAUWSAY?format=jpg&name=large

[Billy Dat]

K Quote

Cool, thanks for posting. He definitely leaned into some of the BLM-themed language of his recent public commentary, which I sort of expected (and am glad he did).

K has coached for so long that he has relationships with many different generations of coaches, but I am sure he is closest to those who were closer to him in age.

[chris13]

I thought this was a beautiful remembrance

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/08/31/john-thompson-feinstein/

[sagegrouse]

I thought this was a beautiful remembrance

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/08/31/john-thompson-feinstein/

Amazing. also contained this clue, recalling a 2015 event, to Big John's health problems:


The presentation dinner was held in the fall in Chapel Hill. John’s diabetes made it difficult for him to stand for any length of time, so he sat on a high stool.

[davec]

You are correct: Christian was 9-10 0-0 6-7 for 24 points plus nine rebounds leading Duke in scoring (Henderson had 23 and Ferry 21) and rebounding.

Box score. (https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/boxscores/1989-03-26-duke.html)

Had to laugh after checking out the box score. Not a lot of bench play for Duke that game... Plus ca change?

[Billy Dat]

I thought this was a beautiful remembrance

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/08/31/john-thompson-feinstein/

It also had this...

The first year John was eligible for the Hall of Fame, he didn’t get in, which infuriated him. One of the people who publicly expressed outrage at the time was Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski. John never forgot.

“I wanted to dislike him because he was Dean’s biggest rival,” he told me once. “But I can’t do it. The man’s a class act.”

[jv001]

You are correct: Christian was 9-10 0-0 6-7 for 24 points plus nine rebounds leading Duke in scoring (Henderson had 23 and Ferry 21) and rebounding.

Box score. (https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/boxscores/1989-03-26-duke.html)

Prayers for the family. Coach Thompson was one of the greatest college basketball coaches of my lifetime. He will be missed.
Looking at that Boxscore, it was amazing to see Mourning and Mutombo on the Hoya team. Dikembe coming off the bench. I guess he must have been a freshman in 1989.

[wsb3]

You are correct: Christian was 9-10 0-0 6-7 for 24 points plus nine rebounds leading Duke in scoring (Henderson had 23 and Ferry 21) and rebounding.

Box score. (https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/boxscores/1989-03-26-duke.html)

My memory may be incorrect but I thought Mourning blocked Christian's first shot. Christian got the ball right back scored & didn't miss again.


I haven't watched that game in a long time. Might be time to break it out the library.

[DST Fan]

In Coach K's case, I think that he was the first (or one of the first) coaches who didn't let Thompson intimidate him. In the classic Duke Georgetown game from 1989, the coaching staff figured out from looking at the tape that because of Alonzo Mourning's shot blocking ability, opposing teams were not attacking the basket. So he told the team to go to the rim, even if they had their shots blocked. Needless to say, one of the outcomes was Phil Henderson's monster slam.



As a Georgetown season ticket holder beginning in the late 1970's, I wouldn't say that other coaches were intimidated by John Thompson. Certainly, the original Big East coaches showed none of that. Not only did Rollie Massimino and Villanova knock off the Hoyas in the 1985 title game, but they also lost two close Big East games to Georgetown that season, including a 2-point game at home, and I believe Villanova finished fourth in the conference that year. The brawls with Sryacuse in the early years of the Big East were well-documented and I never thought for a moment that Syracuse and St. John's (or Jim Boeheim or Lou Carnesecca) were intimidated by JT, although Georgetown did blow out St. John's in the 1985 national semifinals before losing to Villanova.

And then there was the game against Maryland in 1979 played in the D.C. Armory, of all places. As the teams left the court for half-time, I watched from about 10 yards away as Lefty and John screamed at each other face to face and appeared to be close to exchanging blows. Lefty was not small, but JT towered over him. Perhaps a few refs were intimidated by John Thompson, I am not certain, but I do not believe any coaches who faced him regularly shared that feeling.

A couple of other observations about JT--

John Feinstein mentions in his column that some members of the media regularly suggested that JT was a racist. According to Feinstein, JT's response, basically, was that he focused more of his recruiting efforts on Black players and their families, who were more likely to welcome his interest. I also was told by a close friend who was recruited by eastern D-1 schools in the mid-1970's, including several Big East schools, that he was asked several times by other coaches why would he consider selecting Georgetown when white players had no chance to play there. Ironically, several of the people I sat with at the Georgetown games for many years used to complain regularly about what they believed was the excessive playing time of a couple of white Georgetown players during JT's tenure.

The other memory I will always have of JT was the disappointment of opening up our package of seasons tickets each year and seeing a minimum of 3-4 games in December against the likes of St. Leo, St. Francis and Wheeling Jesuit University. Some alumni complained about JT breaking with many Georgetown traditions, but he certainly was slow to change a number of the teams on the schedule. One year, one of the people who sat in our group mailed the December tickets back to the athletic director, Frank Rienzo, with the following note: "Frank, Maybe you can find someone who will take these tickets, but I certainly can't." In the end, however, I think we all concluded that it obviously was JT's right to prepare his team each year as he thought best.

[Dukehk]

RIP coach Thompson.

Legend of the game.

[luvdahops]

Had to laugh after checking out the box score. Not a lot of bench play for Duke that game... Plus ca change?

That team actually had a solid, genuine 8-man rotation, with Alaa Abdelnably, John Smith and Greg Koubek all averaging 15-20 mpg over the course of the season, and together contributing around 21 ppg. Alaa basically split time with Laettner and started over him for much of the season, before Christian really began to assert himself in conference play.

That Georgetown game was incredibly intense, though, and we all know K's biases in those situations.

[TywinBlue]

Rest in Peace Coach Thompson.
A true Legend in the game.

But I'm sure as you stroll through The Pearly Gates, St. Peter is going to ask why you never recruited Danny Ferry, the #1 high school basketball player in the country playing at DeMatha, in Georgetown's backyard....

[DukeHoo]

Rest in Peace Coach Thompson.
A true Legend in the game.

But I'm sure as you stroll through The Pearly Gates, St. Peter is going to ask why you never recruited Danny Ferry, the #1 high school basketball player in the country playing at DeMatha, in Georgetown's backyard...

If St. Peter knows his DC hoops history and has met Morgan Wootten, then he knows why.

[Music man55]

My memory may be incorrect but I thought Mourning blocked Christian's first shot. Christian got the ball right back scored & didn't miss again.


I haven't watched that game in a long time. Might be time to break it out the library.

Correct wsb3. Mourning did block Christian's first shot, Christian got it back and scored. I have always believed that set the tone of the game, along with Phil's posterizing slam on Mourning. It showed that Duke was not going to be intimidated!

[wsb3]

Correct wsb3. Mourning did block Christian's first shot, Christian got it back and scored. I have always believed that set the tone of the game, along with Phil's posterizing slam on Mourning. It showed that Duke was not going to be intimidated!

I agree Music Man that it did indeed set the tone. Brickey also was quite chippy when they tried to push him around.

I just watched that game and it was pretty remarkable that with the comeback Georgetown made to get to within two points, and Snyder fouling out with a few minutes to go that Duke was tough enough to win that game.

[MartyClark]

I didn't care for John Thompson during Georgetown's heyday. I didn't like the way Michael Graham and others engaged in really rough play. I thought John Thompson's "us against the world" attitude was contrived and led to unnecessary confrontation that ran against my old school ideas of sportsmanship.

I've enjoyed hearing some of his former players talk about him and reading articles by Feinstein, Jerry Brewer, David Aldridge and other.

There was a lot more to this man than I initially gave him credit for. RIP John Thompson

[devilwood]

You are correct: Christian was 9-10 0-0 6-7 for 24 points plus nine rebounds leading Duke in scoring (Henderson had 23 and Ferry 21) and rebounding.

Box score. (https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/boxscores/1989-03-26-duke.html)

He showed early on that he could be a prolific scorer, but he could also get in foul trouble. In an early season game at UVa he scored 15 points before fouling out. He complemented Ferry very well and was not expected to score (and only took one 3 pointer that season, which he made, although Coach K said he was one of the best three point shooters on the team).

In the late season game against AZ at the Meadowlands where he missed the front end of a one and one, with a chance to tie the game, he dominated Anthony Cook (a Senior who went on to a brief career in the NBA), with a stat line of 12 points and 10 rebounds.

The Georgetown game was a breakout performance but he showed a lot of flashes before that. He shot 72.3% for the season.