John Thompson III (born March 11, 1966) is the current head coach of the Georgetown Hoyas, the men's basketball team at Georgetown University. He grew up in Washington, D.C. and was named first team All-Metro by the Washington Post while playing for Gonzaga College High School in 1984. Thompson III was hired on April 20, 2004 to replace Craig Esherick. Prior to being hired at Georgetown, Thompson had been the head coach for four years at his alma mater, Princeton University.

Career at Princeton

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Thompson III is the son of John Thompson (Georgetown's coach from 1972 to 1999), and a 1988 graduate of Princeton. Thompson, whose nickname is JT3, served as an assistant coach at Princeton from 1995 through 2000. After being promoted to head coach, he compiled a 68-42 record with the Tigers from 2000 to 2004 and coached the team to three Ivy League championships, two NCAA tournament appearances, and one NIT tournament appearance. Three of his players earned Ivy League Player of the Year honors.

Career at Georgetown

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In Thompson's first year at Georgetown (2004-05), the Hoyas improved from 13-15 to a record of 19-13 and the team reached the quarterfinals of the NIT. His overall record as a head coach between Georgetown and Princeton now stands at 100-59.

John Thompson III's first notable win with the team took place on January 21, 2006 when unranked Georgetown upset No. 1 Duke University. This was Georgetown's first win over a No. 1 ranked team in 21 years. Thompson also achieved his 100th win as a head coach a few nights later with an 85-82 win in double overtime at Notre Dame.

The Hoyas made the 2006 NCAA tournament as a #7 seed. They defeated the University of Northern Iowa in the first round and upset #2 seed Ohio State University in the second round to make the "Sweet Sixteen," where they lost to the national champions, University of Florida.

Thompson immediately introduced the Princeton offense at Georgetown, a style of play that he learned from Coach Pete Carril at Princeton. The rarity of this style, and Thompson's success at adapting it to work with the brawnier Georgetown players, has been cited by the Washington Post as one of the major reasons for the team's quick turnaround.

References

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• Washington Post, Jan. 22, 2006, Page E-1, "Hoyas KO the Big 1", ^*
• Washington Times, Jan. 25, 2006, "Hoyas Survive Big Scare",

^*

• "Princeton Offense Keeps Hoyas on the Move", Washington Post, Mike Wise, March 23, 2006; Page E12.

1966 births | African American basketball players | American basketball coaches | Princeton Tigers men's basketball players | Princeton Tigers men's basketball coaches | Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball coaches | Living people