Stacom: The Return of Cooley Part II. This Year It Is Different.

Stacom: The Return of Cooley Part II. This Year It Is Different.

The tip-off at the AMP between Providence College and Georgetown University at 12:30 on Saturday afternoon will mark the second return of Coach Ed Cooley as the coach of Georgetown.

As Providence College basketball fans, we all remember all the Bronx cheers thundering down in Coach’s direction and all the acrimony reaching the almost intense comical level of a WWF cage match between Sergeant Slaughter and the Iron Sheik, with a coach, of course, being cast as the arch-villain.

Georgetown is coming into town on an upswing after beating Villanova on the road in dramatic fashion 64-63. They stand at 13-6 for the season and 4-4 in Big East play. They also have two quality wins vs Creighton and Xavier. Speaking with Coach on Thursday morning, he mentioned that now his team is fully healthy- the 1st time since December 13th.  

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

His team features a balanced attack with four starters in scoring double figures and is led by a talented freshman, Thomas Sorber. Sober(6’10”, 255lbs) leads the team with a 14.2 scoring average along with 8.7 rebounds/game and 2.3 blocks/game. Ed Cooley had some high praise for Sorber In terms of his skill level and character. It seems other key people agree with the coach since Sorber has been climbing up a number of preliminary NBA mock draft boards lately.          

Apparently, Coach Cooley is in the process of successfully revitalizing a once proud and relevant Georgetown program in a relatively short amount of time. Cooley spoke about how important it is to be a good fit wherever you go. John Thompson, who established Georgetown’s success over a long career (1972-1999), like a lot of those old-school coaches, had his own unique style. It was an insular “us against the world” approach that capitalized on the instincts of the majority of the hardscrabble competitive players that comprised his rosters. But as we all know, times change, and anyone who knows or has met

Cooley is anything but “insular.” As we learned at Providence, if you’re looking for someone to vehemently promote your cause, it would be someone like Cooley.

In speaking with Cooley, he wanted to emphasize that he understands some of the hard feelings that were directed at him But he also stated unequivocally that he was born and raised in Providence, his wife is from Providence, his children were raised in Providence, all his extended family is still in Providence, and he’ll be eternally grateful for what Providence College and all the people associated with that institution did for him and his family.           

Those of us who have been around long enough understand the limitations of the axiom that “Time heals all wounds” - well, maybe it doesn’t heal completely, but it can temper the effects with a little perspective.

What Cooley accomplished at PC was considerable. The last NCAA tournament that Providence qualified for before he took over was the 2003-2004 team under Tim Welsh. When Cooley’s 2013- 2014 team made the NCAA tournament, he ended a 10-year drought of languishing in college basketball irrelevance. He proceeded to run off a five consecutive year string of 20-win seasons and five consecutive NCAA appearances. His last 2 years were highlighted by that unexpected lightning-in-a-bottle 2021-2022 team that went 27- 6, ranked as high as #8, and lost in the final 16. The final year of his reign, 2022-2023, although another 20 wins, NCAA season was the one that ended badly when somehow it got out that Coach was headed elsewhere 

Cooley's decision to leave was obviously not an easy one, and he knew there would be repercussions, but he stated that he sincerely believed at the time it was the best thing for him and his family and that money had nothing to do with his decision. Cooley stated, “You have to know when to say goodbye,” and soon after, he referenced that he learned a lot from his friend and mentor, Al Skinner. Ed was Al’s assistant for 10 years between his years at URI and Boston College before he got his 1st head coaching job at Fairfield in 2006. Al coached at BC from 1997-2020. It took Al 4 years to get it going, but once he did, in his last 10 seasons, his teams were consistently ranked in the top 25 at least, had seven 20-win seasons, and 7 NCAA appearances at a school where basketball is # 3 in the pecking order behind football and hockey, in a town that could care less about college sports And 3 of Skinner’s last 5 years when he made the NCAA they competed in the ACC which at the time was considered hands down, the best Conference in the country After one subpar season in 2009-2010 BC fired Al Skinner        

I mention all that to say Cooley saw all that happen to his good friend. I’m not comparing Cooley’s situation to Skinner’s. It’s not apples to apples, but when you join the carnival as a young person, you quickly absorb the rules and, if you’re lucky enough to climb up the food chain to the point you witness how unforgiving this ultimate meritocracy can be, it makes a lasting impression on you. Self-preservation is melded into your DNA        

Cooley is at a place where he thinks he has a similar situation to that he had at PC: a good structural alignment of coaches, AD, Administration, Board of Directors, etc. He relayed that he’ll always have a strong emotional attachment to Providence College and the City that bore him. He let it be known that he maintains strong relationships with a lot of his good friends and former players from PC and finds solace in the fact that, at the end of the day, he left the Providence College basketball program in a lot better shape than when he saw it. We have to admit that a lot of the great sellout home crowds and student body enthusiasm for the team are presently a carryover of what Coach Cooley initiated.

Cooley also, like a lot of people in his profession, had a lot of nice things to say about the coach that replaced him, Kim English, and feels strongly that PC is in good hands for the future.

“Kim, putting his stamp on the program. He’s very good on both sides of the ball, and the kids are disciplined and tough. He’s a young and dynamic coach with passion and energy, and that’s what the fans want to see,” said Cooley.           

I obviously won't be rooting for Georgetown on Saturday afternoon, but I will probably not be partaking in whatever negative Greek Chorus that might or might not ensue upon the introduction of the Georgetown coach; as mentioned, it can be part of the show, and a bit comical.

I’ll be more interested in seeing a good competitive game and see how PC responds after their last game, a tough road loss 75-73 last Friday at Villanova.