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It'll get done, eventually.
Off the record, that's what everybody keeps telling me. Just wait. Don't worry. Calm my nerves, hold my horses -- or Hoyas, in this case -- and find something else to write about because the moment I make a big deal out of the strange situation surrounding John Thompson III's contract is the same moment he'll agree to a new contract, and I'll look silly for ever wasting words on the subject.
Those folks might be right.
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| Georgetown's making the wrong call by not re-upping with John Thompson III. (US Presswire) |
And I'm guessing good old JT3 is too.
So now is the time to ask: What's up at Georgetown?
"The students and alumni are really concerned," Raymond Borgone, a Georgetown student, told me by phone Thursday night. "Everybody is afraid the administration is sleeping on this and coach is feeling disrespected. You know, he says all the right things because that's always the way he's quoted about everything. But everybody is worried they're not going to get it done and the school is going to lose him.
"He's done so much in so little time," Borgone added, "and if the school were to lose him everything would just go back to where it was a few years ago."
If you're wondering what led me to call Borgone, it's a simple story, really. I was reading and researching, utilizing Google like every self-respecting writer should, and I found a column he penned for the campus newspaper detailing the need for Thompson to get a new contract.
It was written Nov. 17, 2006.
Otherwise known as seven months ago.
Britney Spears has gone from having long brown hair to absolutely no hair to long blonde hair, divorced Kevin Federline and done two stints in rehab in the past seven months. She's a busy gal, that Britney. But in that same time span -- since Borgone's column -- the Georgetown administration has managed to accomplish very little despite obviously needing to extend the contract of arguably the hottest coach in the nation not named Billy Donovan.
I know things take time, but this is silly.
Though at least a dozen coaches have had their contracts extended this offseason -- everybody from Rick Pitino to Chris Lowery to Mike Brey to Larry Eustachy -- Thompson is still sitting right where he has long been, making $456,000 a year with just two years remaining on the contract. Granted, that's a nice salary for most of us. But in the wacky world of college basketball it's an embarrassingly low figure for a guy coming off a Sweet 16 in 2006 and Final Four in 2007, a salary that reportedly ranks 11th in the Big East.
Eleventh in the Big East!
What in the name of Craig Esherick is Georgetown doing?
The answer to that question, apparently, is a determined "No comment." Athletic director Bernard Muir, Thompson and just about everybody else worth speaking to at Georgetown declined the opportunity to comment on this column, which leaves me with no choice but to cite their last public words on the subject. For that, I'll take you to May 4, when the Washington Times asked Georgetown president Jack DeGioia about Thompson's contract.
"I'm working on it," he said before, according to the paper, quickly exiting from further questioning after the team's annual awards dinner. Same night, Thompson was asked if it was safe to assume he'd be back next season. His response? "Next question."
Now nobody is talking.
But that actually says plenty.
Because if everything is fine, wouldn't somebody say everything is fine? Hell, in this business people tend to insist everything is fine even when everything clearly isn't fine. So when you combine the silence with the fact that it has been more than two months since the season ended, it's safe to assume the contract negotiations between Georgetown and Thompson haven't gone as planned, meaning everything can't possibly be fine.
Which is not to suggest the contract won't get done.
Rest assured, it will get done. I'm quite certain of that.
But while operating in such an unrushed manner, Georgetown is likely, at least in some regard, souring its relationship with its coach, and a soured relationship can lead a man to irrational things. Remember last year when John Calipari nearly left Memphis for N.C. State, got on the plane and flew to Raleigh and everything? The reason that happened wasn't because he necessarily wanted to leave Memphis or go to N.C. State, but because Calipari felt Memphis was disrespecting him in contract negotiations that stalled after he led the Tigers to the Elite Eight.
Ultimately, Calipari stayed at Memphis.
This year, he went to another Elite Eight.
Two days later, he had a raise and extension.
Credit athletic director R.C. Johnson for learning his lesson.
It's a lesson DeGioia, Muir and everybody else at Georgetown would be wise to review sometime soon. The school is in the middle of a perfect run under the perfect coach who in just three years has returned Georgetown to national prominence in a way Esherick never could after replacing Thompson's father (Hall of Famer John Thompson Jr.). Messing around with perfection while haggling over money -- or anything, really -- is a shortsighted way to operate in the current state of college athletics.
Thompson deserved a raise after the 2006 NCAA Tournament.
But he didn't get it.
Thompson deserved a raise after the 2007 NCAA Tournament.
But he still hasn't got it.
Perhaps there's a reasonable explanation for the lack of action, but I can't imagine what it could be. And if Georgetown doesn't alleviate this situation soon with a contract that makes a statement, the administration might find itself again negotiating after the 2008 NCAA Tournament, only it'll be with a new coach not named Thompson, and we all know how well that has worked for them in the past.