Explain the Hewitt hate to me

[Whiskey_Clear]

My dislike for Hewitt doesn't compare to my disdain for Dave Brainless. That said, he ran the program into the gutter and was way overpaid to do it. I don't get the love for the guy but to each his own.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

What reason did Hewitt have for disliking the fanbase? Other than their desire to flush his contract and regime down the drain? Honest question. I haven't followed the bball program closely since Cremins got canned and have no clue.

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

And he recruited lots of good athletes that didn't have high levels of fundamental basketball skills. That might work playing pick up but not in the acc.

This. We would have won the NCAA all track and jump team.

 

[COJacket]

And he recruited lots of good athletes that didn't have high levels of fundamental basketball skills. That might work playing pick up but not in the acc.

And not in the Atlantic 10 conference. In the ACC, he would only finish with one winning ACC season in those 11 years which ultimately lead to his eventual dismissal. In the A10 , he had 2 very good seasons to start, but it was on the back of some very good left over talent (3 seniors to start I believe were all conference). And then, Hewitt led his team to an 11–20 mark (4–12 in Atlantic 10) in his third season. In his fourth season at George Mason, the Patriots were 9–22 record (4–14 in Atlantic 10). After being eliminated from the Atlantic 10 tournament in the first round for the second year in a row, Hewitt was fired on March 16, 2015. He had no players on the all conference team last 2 years I believe. He flat out could not win unless the talent over came his coaching mistakes and I do not believe he really coached any player "up". They grew because of game experience, not coaching.

 

[lv20gt]

What reason did Hewitt have for disliking the fanbase? Other than their desire to flush his contract and regime down the drain? Honest question. I haven't followed the bball program closely since Cremins got canned and have no clue.

You should have the general idea from what I've already posted.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

You seemed to allude to something else as well. But if it's just a perceived race thing I'm not much interested.

 

[LargeFO]

Sorry but the race thing is BS. Do you know why a lot of people started thinking that maybe the final four team somewhat coached themselves? Because his teams after that got worse and worse at basic things. I remember a game against NCSU where we couldn't inbound the ball 5 straight times. That's just insanely poor for a college coach.

 

[D-man44]

Sorry but the race thing is BS. Do you know why a lot of people started thinking that maybe the final four team somewhat coached themselves? Because his teams after that got worse and worse at basic things. I remember a game against NCSU where we couldn't inbound the ball 5 straight times. That's just insanely poor for a college coach.

And his use of timeouts was awful

 

[65Jacket]

His assistants got us to the final four. When they left, he was clueless. As someone else said, all he recruited were tall and lengthy athletes. Most did not have any shooting or other basketball skills.

 

[calvin forever]

I was enamored with the guy early on. People overlook the coaching job he did to make the tourney his first year here. Loved the style of play of the final four team...amped up defensive pressure coupled with electric transition offense. Guys like Ish or Jack just hounding opponents full court.

Eventually I became frustrated, of course, with the clogged toilet offense and the underperforming squads that had nba talent. And although I don't hold CPH responsible, I hate how much his ridiculous contract has set back the program.

 

[TechnicalPossum]

My dislike wasn't for him personally, but his coaching style. I was at tech from 2005-2009 and the offense was pretty much waste 20 seconds and heave up a bad shot 50% of the time. It was really unpleasant basketball to watch even with all the talent he had.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I do not think the contract can be overstated as a factor. Most of the other complaints do not generate near the angst from fans if he simply gets fired at a more appropriate and earlier date.

 

[TheSilasSonRising]

Many have already posted some very valid reasons - although "hate" is somewhat of a strong word to me.

I believe a part of it was because his name was not Bobby Cremins.

That is also a reason why I believe any coach at a major program, who is considering replacing a legend, just might do well to study similar situations. Examples being the people that immediately followed Dodd, Bryant, Dean Smith, Royal McKay, Osborne, Shug Jordan - the list goes on quite a bit.

 

[forensicbuzz]

I think most people (I could be wrong) were frustrated that GT Basketball seemed to not be his #1 focus after the first 5 or so years, and it showed on the court.

 

[YlJacket]

I don't think Hewitt's issue was replacing Cremins. By the time Braine actually made a move on Cremins it was well understood it was time - past time - to make a move. And when Hewitt made the NCAA with Cremins remnants he was way past any post hero bad juju.

 

[bke1984]

Hewitt didn't make the final four with Cremmins remnants. I think Marvin Lewis was the only kid on that team recruited by Bobby.

However, I think people put way too much stock into the NCAAT that season when evaluating Hewitt at Tech.

We were 9-7 in conference that season and didn't finish above .500 any other year while he was here. How would you feel if had lost to Kansas in OT in the elite eight? Or even Nevada or Boston College in the previous two rounds. All of those games were very close if I recall. Does Hewitt's resume even deserve another look at that point?

I wouldn't say I hate the guy, but he basically drove the program into the ground after the final four run. It was time for him to go.

Regarding the contract, that's not his fault...and actually that's pretty damn impressive that he was able to get that deal.

 

[bke1984]

Plus I was tired of watching us turn the ball over on inbound plays at a rate of something like 75%. We'd literally just have everyone stand around and toss the ball up in the air or heave it into the backcourt

 

[ESPNjacket]

Hewitt didn't make the final four with Cremmins remnants. I think Marvin Lewis was the only kid on that team recruited by Bobby.

No one said he did. He made it to the NCAAT with Cremins' remnants in his first year. The point is that most didn't expect that to be a tournament team. As Yljacket mentions most of the fans were excited to have someone new who seemed to have brought some energy back to the program.

The next year was the big recruiting class that formed the core of the final four team.

 

[ATL1]

Hewitt's initial success (taking the underachieving Cremins leftovers to the NCAAT then the great recruiting class leading to the very good 2004 and 2005 teams) was followed up by a distinct change in his attitude toward the press and the public.

He became intolerant of criticism and started making statements that seemed to blame the school for any problems with his teams. After his first five years he still would get some talented players but those teams all had glaring flaws (poor ball handling in particular) that led to disappointing outcomes. Meanwhile, he spoke out on behalf of the Black Coaches Association while his team wasn't playing well, which really stirred the pot of anger that had started to build. Many felt that he didn't accept the reality of a degrading program, while wasting time arguing with the local sportswriters and lashing back at criticism.

Once many got into their minds that he was a bad coach they started to re-write history in order to overstate their case, which many believe to be how to persuade people. The online GT basketball community turned into a war of who could explain Hewitt's suckiness was suckier than everyone else. The most effective method they employed was to claim he was a better recruiter than he actually was in order to prove that made him the worst coach ever. They even tried to claim he didn't really coach the 2004 final four team, it was a facade, those players coached themselves. They then started using NBA success of some of his players as proof that he was the worst ever. Any success was spinned into proof of being bad. Any failure was more proof. All things proved it.

Then the revelation of the never ending contract was published in the local paper.

It spiraled into what lingers as the Hewitt hate.

Most complete answer I've read.

 

[ramblinwreck1378]

Inbounding issues have been addressed at length.

It was impossible for his teams to win on the road in the ACC, especially towards the end of his time here.

The beginning of the end for me was the disappointment of the 04-05 team. That team returned all major contributors except for Lewis and Clarence Moore. Sr. Elder, Muhammad, McHenry, Bynum, and Schenscher - also Jr. Jack. Were preseason #3 and finished unranked and with an exit in the 2nd round of the NCAAT. Granted, we ran into a (underseeded) buzzsaw in Louisville that year who ended up reaching the Final Four, but IMO we underachieved in the regular season, going 8-8 in conf with that roster - yielding us receiving a 5 seed.

The last few years, it seemed like apathy set in with Hewitt, with him obviously understanding the fine print of his contract. He knew it would be difficult for us to let him go - and while I don't think he enjoyed losing - I certainly don't think the drive and competitive edge was with him in the last few years like it was in the first few, especially when it came to game prep and coaching.