Breaking News
John Thompson — one of the greatest and most important coaches in college basketball history — has died. He was 78.
Thompson passed away Monday morning. The circumstances surrounding his death are still unclear.
Thompson was the first Black head coach to win a major college championship, when he led Georgetown to the NCAA title in 1984.
That team featured stars like Patrick Ewing, Reggie Williams and David Wingate.
Thompson coached at Georgetown for 27 seasons — and has the most wins in the school’s history … racking up 596 wins.
Before his coaching days, Thompson was a college basketball star at Providence — where he was an honorable mention All-American in 1964.
He was later selected in the 3rd-round of the 1964 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics — where he played for 2 seasons. Oh, the team won the NBA title in both of those seasons!
After that, Thompson became a high school basketball coach in Washington D.C. before making the jump to Georgetown … and the rest is history.
Among the stars who played for Thompson — Ewing, Allen Iverson, Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo.
Thompson ultimately resigned from Georgetown in January 1999 — and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame later that year.
RIP