Georgetown to build sports facility

[Go Green]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/georgetown-university-to-break-ground-on-athletics-facility/2014/03/03/c2742ec8-a326-11e3-b865-38b254d92063_story.html

Appears to be for benefit of basketball teams. May marginally improve football program (if at all).

[Dane96]

I thought they were cash strapped? $60mm dollars...yet they can't spend $5mm to finish off the field? Jeesh.

[DFW HOYA]

I thought they were cash strapped? $60mm dollars...yet they can't spend $5mm to finish off the field? Jeesh.

Fact check:

1. The practice facility has been in the discussion stages for 14 years. Nothing moves quickly at Georgetown.

But the basketball program is losing recruits and is seen by some as losing national momentum as the only Top 25-30 program that doesn't even have a dedicated practice facility to call its own. John Thompson III is recruiting against Kansas and Carolina and Louisville with a high school sized gymnasium that has never been substantially renovated since it opened in 1951 and which is overstuffed with 29 sports, 150 staff, and 750 student-athletes using it daily. Thompson's office is actually a converted dorm room in the gym--it's that old.

2. The facility is not paid for. It apparently has enough money to break ground but won't actually be finished until it is paid. (Hopefully, this will not result in what happened to the MSF.) But given Georgetown's poor track record on building athletic projects, and not just in football, there may be donors who are sitting on the sidelines until they are convinced something is going to happen.

3. The new facility is primarily basketball based but will have a weight room and team facilities open to all sports. Football locker rooms are not included in the plans--in part, because they were supposed to be in the MSF, and well...

4. The MSF needs much more than $5M to be finished, as anyone who has seen the condition of the place will attest. It does not need $60M, but it's basically a teardown of what is there and a complete rebuild.

With the coaching change, there is the inevitable and otherwise healthy "where do we go from here?' discussion on strategic priorities. Bob Benson made facilities his priority #1 and when it stalled, so did his program. Kevin Kelly publicly steered clear of both facilities and scholarships and neither advanced. Rob Sgarlata has to figure out which of these, along with admissions, scheduling, and recruiting (all major disadvantages for GU in the Patriot and getting worse), are priorities he is willing to push for at the possible expense of other needs. No easy answers.

[Dane96]

There you have it...and fair enough!

[Go Green]

John Thompson III is recruiting against Kansas and Carolina and Louisville with a high school sized gymnasium that has never been substantially renovated since it opened in 1951 and which is overstuffed with 29 sports, 150 staff, and 750 student-athletes using it daily. Thompson's office is actually a converted dorm room in the gym--it's that old.



DFW - you know more about Georgetown than I ever will. But is Georgetown really recruiting against Kansas and Louisville (Carolina, maybe) for hoops? They seem to be completely different schools/environments. Ditto for places like Kentucky, Michigan State, and Arizona.

I can see JTIII butting heads for recruits against places like Duke, UCLA, Stanford, and Villanova. And yes- having top notch facilities is certainly necessary for those recruiting battles. But if a recruit is trying to decide between Kansas and Georgetown... I find that surprising.

[DFW HOYA]

I can see JTIII butting heads for recruits against places like Duke, UCLA, Stanford, and Villanova. And yes- having top notch facilities is certainly necessary for those recruiting battles. But if a recruit is trying to decide between Kansas and Georgetown... I find that surprising.

http://www.columbiatribune.com/sports/mu_basketball/top-recruit-otto-porter-chooses-georgetown-over-missouri-kansas/article_3288db08-42ed-5f8b-810f-b907d9723105.html

[Go Green]

http://www.columbiatribune.com/sports/mu_basketball/top-recruit-otto-porter-chooses-georgetown-over-missouri-kansas/article_3288db08-42ed-5f8b-810f-b907d9723105.html

I will never doubt you again!

:)

[seantaylor]

Georgetown has more money than Allah

[bostonspider]

And Richmond has lots more money than Georgetown... Probably the best endowed non-Ivy FCS University

[Lehigh Football Nation]

And Richmond has lots more money than Georgetown... Probably the best endowed non-Ivy FCS University

Richmond $2.02bn
Lehigh $1.1bn

Sounds like you should be in the Patriot League :P

[DFW HOYA]

It's not as bad as articles like this would suggest.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/03/10/can-us-government-tell-colleges-poor-financial-shape-those-are-not

[Nova09]

DFW - you know more about Georgetown than I ever will. But is Georgetown really recruiting against Kansas and Louisville (Carolina, maybe) for hoops? They seem to be completely different schools/environments. Ditto for places like Kentucky, Michigan State, and Arizona.

I can see JTIII butting heads for recruits against places like Duke, UCLA, Stanford, and Villanova. And yes- having top notch facilities is certainly necessary for those recruiting battles. But if a recruit is trying to decide between Kansas and Georgetown... I find that surprising.

Tyreke Evans and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist got real close with Jay before Calipari convinced them to use college as a year long showcase for the NBA and not to worry about silly things like "team development."

[grayghost06]

I'd have to think Georgetown's admissions policies are on a whole different strata than Kentucky's.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Seems like a good a place as any to say that I think the NBA should amend their draft policy to only accept kids directly from high school AND college sophomores and above to the NBA Draft. Once they've matriculated as freshmen (and maybe redshirted), they should spend at least two (or three in case of red****ring) years in school before being draft-eligible.

That would make these Darth Calipari-type teams have to build teams to some degree. Of course, Darth Calipari would probably be on the first train out of town if that happened.

[Yotes]

I'd have to think Georgetown's admissions policies are on a whole different strata than Kentucky's.
That's what academic probation is for. Not like those kids would have lasted long enough to get a non-qualifying GPA. Two semesters of independent studies and it's off to the NBA.