Explain the Hewitt hate to me
- Thread starter ATL1
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The contract is the obvious answer but that's not his fault.
Heard he was not the most likable guy. (Could be hearsay)
Was a good recruiter but not a good coach.
Put the program in a bad situation in regards to APR
The underachieving and the contract are the two main factors.
Heard he was not the most likable guy. (Could be hearsay)
Was a good recruiter but not a good coach.
Put the program in a bad situation in regards to APR
The underachieving and the contract are the two main factors.
He was overrated as a recruiter.
His last couple of teams couldn't even inbound the ball.
He loved to call TO's after a made three or fast-break dunk, killing any momentum we had.
ESPNjacket
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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.
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.
Milwaukee
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Not sure how people can convince themselves that CPH was "overrated" as a recruiter.
chewybaka
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Dave Braine thought he was the next Coach K ...GT version...it's sad for ALL including Coach H...that it did not work out that way... If it did we would have thought our AD was a genius...
deeeznutz
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This here was my biggest problem. It seemed towards the end of his tenure (last 4 years or so) he took any criticism of the team as a personal shot at him, and would dig in his feet basically refusing to acknowledge there were any issues as our records and attendance both were spiraling downward. I can understand that he maybe felt like he was under constant fire (because by that point it kind of was) but combined with his lifetime contract it appeared to us fans that he couldn't even recognize the problems that had developed in his teams. It had a very "Baghdad Bob" feel to it by the end.
WreckinGT
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The guy took us from the National Title game to an awful basketball team in just a few years. He may have been a victim of his own success as he set the bar high early in his tenure and couldn't even see that bar by the time he left. That combined with the ridiculous contract and some embarrassing moments going three minutes without getting the ball across half court, and losing to Kennesaw St just caused extreme unrest within the fan base. Gregory would have probably gotten a little more hate as well if the fan base wasn't so apathetic now.
Oldgoldandwhite
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Can't coach a lick, could not identify BB talent, smug attitude. Did I say can't coach?
techgrad
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1. I don't remember him ever taking responsibility for the horrid state of the program he put us in. Instead, he liked to make excuses.
2. He complained he was like the 10th choice when he was hired. Words to that effect.
3. He complained about lack of fan support, that he was being cyber-bullied.
Cremins and Gregory really embraced Tech. Hewitt never seemed to. He had an escape clause in his contract for if he were ever hired to coach the Knicks. Sounded to me like this was just business to him, which some might be okay with, but I found a little off-putting.
2. He complained he was like the 10th choice when he was hired. Words to that effect.
3. He complained about lack of fan support, that he was being cyber-bullied.
Cremins and Gregory really embraced Tech. Hewitt never seemed to. He had an escape clause in his contract for if he were ever hired to coach the Knicks. Sounded to me like this was just business to him, which some might be okay with, but I found a little off-putting.
AE 87
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I honestly think that we consistently underperformed our talent the last several years and that our teams looked unprepared to play as a team.
For that reason, I wanted him to move on.
However, I didn't dislike him until he showed himself so ungrateful. GT gave him a very good contract and allowed him to work with an Olympic team and Black Coaches even when things were turning south for the team. Then, when it was clear that a parting of ways was going to have to happen, he had an opportunity to move on to StJohn's, but he stayed to keep GT on the hook.
For that reason, I wanted him to move on.
However, I didn't dislike him until he showed himself so ungrateful. GT gave him a very good contract and allowed him to work with an Olympic team and Black Coaches even when things were turning south for the team. Then, when it was clear that a parting of ways was going to have to happen, he had an opportunity to move on to StJohn's, but he stayed to keep GT on the hook.
He has or I guess had the rep of being a great, top-notch recruiter. He was here 11 years. He had 3 great classes, 02, 06, and 09. 04, 07, and 08 were good. 05 was good on paper but clinch never lived up to his 5* rating and jackson never set foot on campus. 10 and 11 were awful. I do think he was a good, above average recruiter just not in the top tier.
KeystoneJacket
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Turned off a lot of former players.
lv20gt
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gregory never had to deal with a fanbase that constantly tried to discredit his every achievement while here. In contrast people constantly made excuses for Gregory his entire time here, and even now. Hell, for the first three years it felt like after every win there was someone saying that it was a game we would have lost under Hewitt. The idea that the championship run team coached themselves was not only a thing that sprung up the last few years under Hewitt. That sentiment was there for a long time. There was also the sentiment that Hewitt cared more about putting black players in the NBA than winning at GT. No. Not players. But specifically black players. And again, that wasn't just an idea at the end. There are other examples, but it's not going to help anything to bring that up again.
Hewitt shouldn't have made the comments he did about the fans, but to pretend like those feelings were caused because he didn't like being criticized for not being able to inbound the ball is just wrong. There were very good reasons for him to feel the way he did.