GW0509 wrote:

Joel Joseph wrote:

DC Native, fan since 1991?
Maybe you were overseas serving your Country between 2013-2016 (or in Federal Prison) that would cause such a response

Not really.  He's absolutely the third best coach behind Jarvis and Hobbs.  Unlike the other two, ML never won the A-10; in fact never really came close to winning the A-10 (I believe a distant 4th place was our best finish).  I think Mojo beat VCU as many times as ML did. None of his GW teams ever won multiple games in the A-10 tournament.  And on multiple occasions we squandered great OOC resumes (including being nationally ranked) and ended up in the NIT.

It's sort of the anti-JC approach where we won a bunch of OOC games early but we never played our best basketball towards the end of the season or in the conference tournament.

I do wonder what Mike's legacy would've been had he endured a swoon like Hobbs had after Omar-gate.  Probably would be like Chris Mooney at Richmond.  With the transfer portal as it is I REALLY doubt he would've been able to keep the 2016 recruiting class together like he did with the Core Four (which ended up being the Core Three + Cavanaugh anyway).

Now that doesn't mean I wouldn't take that resume in a heartbeat over what we've had to watch over the past 5 1/2 years. ML's teams are absolutely in the history books of the program and the NIT team will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in due time.  But I agree with DC Native that it's really not close when comparing ML's accomplishments to Jarvis or Hobbs.

For what it's worth, 2 wins against Shaka VCU teams beats 1 win over a middling VCU team plus a year we had like 7 wins total. But I agree. ML never got a chance to really compete with the other 2 legacies which lasted 8 and 10 years. Who knows how he'd have done with these new transfer situations but I will say that 16-17 team would've been special. 26 wins minimum and definitely tourney bound

GW0509 wrote:

Joel Joseph wrote:

DC Native, fan since 1991?
Maybe you were overseas serving your Country between 2013-2016 (or in Federal Prison) that would cause such a response

Not really.  He's absolutely the third best coach behind Jarvis and Hobbs.  Unlike the other two, ML never won the A-10; in fact never really came close to winning the A-10 (I believe a distant 4th place was our best finish).  I think Mojo beat VCU as many times as ML did. None of his GW teams ever won multiple games in the A-10 tournament.  And on multiple occasions we squandered great OOC resumes (including being nationally ranked) and ended up in the NIT.

It's sort of the anti-JC approach where we won a bunch of OOC games early but we never played our best basketball towards the end of the season or in the conference tournament.

I do wonder what Mike's legacy would've been had he endured a swoon like Hobbs had after Omar-gate.  Probably would be like Chris Mooney at Richmond.  With the transfer portal as it is I REALLY doubt he would've been able to keep the 2016 recruiting class together like he did with the Core Four (which ended up being the Core Three + Cavanaugh anyway).

Now that doesn't mean I wouldn't take that resume in a heartbeat over what we've had to watch over the past 5 1/2 years. ML's teams are absolutely in the history books of the program and the NIT team will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in due time.  But I agree with DC Native that it's really not close when comparing ML's accomplishments to Jarvis or Hobbs.

Interesting, I find the race for 2nd to be much closer than what you're making it out to be. I'd label Jarvis the obvious number one. While Hobbs accomplished more in terms of NCAA appearances and A-10 hardware, I think one has to acknowledge that Hobbs' three year peak took advantage of a historically weak A-10. The A-10 was so bad in 2006 that we were 16-0 in league, 27-3 overall and only an 8 seed. I know that is a point of contention for some here, but KenPom had us more in line with a 12 seed that year. That makes the comparison of eras a little more difficult in my opinion.

GW0509 wrote:

Joel Joseph wrote:

DC Native, fan since 1991?
Maybe you were overseas serving your Country between 2013-2016 (or in Federal Prison) that would cause such a response

Not really.  He's absolutely the third best coach behind Jarvis and Hobbs.  Unlike the other two, ML never won the A-10; in fact never really came close to winning the A-10 (I believe a distant 4th place was our best finish).  I think Mojo beat VCU as many times as ML did. None of his GW teams ever won multiple games in the A-10 tournament.  And on multiple occasions we squandered great OOC resumes (including being nationally ranked) and ended up in the NIT.

It's sort of the anti-JC approach where we won a bunch of OOC games early but we never played our best basketball towards the end of the season or in the conference tournament.

I do wonder what Mike's legacy would've been had he endured a swoon like Hobbs had after Omar-gate.  Probably would be like Chris Mooney at Richmond.  With the transfer portal as it is I REALLY doubt he would've been able to keep the 2016 recruiting class together like he did with the Core Four (which ended up being the Core Three + Cavanaugh anyway).

Now that doesn't mean I wouldn't take that resume in a heartbeat over what we've had to watch over the past 5 1/2 years. ML's teams are absolutely in the history books of the program and the NIT team will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in due time.  But I agree with DC Native that it's really not close when comparing ML's accomplishments to Jarvis or Hobbs.

 ML holds the school record for wins in a season (28)
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/george-washington/

Sure, Lonergan won the most games in GW history, but only because they played a lot more games. In terms of winning percentage, that was only the 13th best in program history (.737). Hobbs' 2006 team was 27-3, which was the best in program history (.900). Also, GW has only won the A10 tournament twice, both by Hobbs teams. GW has won the A10 regular season five times, twice by Jarvis, twice by Hobbs, and once by Penders. Lonergan never won the A10 regular season or tournament. Also, GW has four NCAA tournament wins in program history, three by Jarvis and one by Hobbs. The NIT run was a fantastic experience for GW fans, including myself, but let's be honest. Most fans were really disappointed that year that the team didn't get to the NCAA tournament. We had a great OOC and then disappointed in A10 regular season play.

Last edited by DC Native (12/08/2021 10:50 am)

I think Lonergan was a good coach and a very good fit for GW, and as a fan I was sorry to see him go. But rather that "we threw it all away" it should be "he threw it all away." Unfortunately, I think the university took the only course of action it could based on the reports of his former players.

DC Native wrote:

I think Lonergan was a good coach and a very good fit for GW, and as a fan I was sorry to see him go. But rather that "we threw it all away" it should be "he threw it all away." Unfortunately, I think the university took the only course of action it could based on the reports of his former players.

Does the actual former players who put their names to defending him not show you how bull that was

DC Native wrote:

Skittles wrote:

DC Native wrote:

I think Lonergan was a good coach and a very good fit for GW, and as a fan I was sorry to see him go. But rather that "we threw it all away" it should be "he threw it all away." Unfortunately, I think the university took the only course of action it could based on the reports of his former players.

Does the actual former players who put their names to defending him not show you how bull that was

I did not intend to reopen old wounds, only to comment that I thought both Jarvis and Hobbs were more accomplished GW coaches than Lonergan. But since the wound seems to already be reopened, I assume the university conducted an investigation that involved calling the players to ask them about the allegations. I assume the results of the investigation were never made public because: i) many of the players wanted to remain anonymous; and ii) there was no reason to further embarrass coach Lonergan after the decision to terminate was made. I would like to believe the university would have supported the coach if all former players had said the allegations were false.
 

I agreed with you. No arguments there but they did coach longer so who knows what 10 year ML would've done.

As for the investigation ML was cleared by the university a year prior by title ix investigation. The university fired ML because of the post article that forced them to choose btw the AD and the coach. They chose wrong but it is what it is. Note how the school has NEVER to this day been able to produce one single piece of evidence.

If it is a weekday 930-545pm, there will be a collection of names 6 years later, pushing how great the fired Coach was, while dumping on the current one, and GW ... 6 years later.  We saw all this... 6 years ago. and here is still is.  

None of these names even existed when the Coach was fired for player abuse, but month after month, year after a year, a small niche fan site is bombarded by it.  Nevermind that the person pushing this was his biggest critic before he was fired. On and on it goes.   The guy said "I will never get over this" and it was about the only honest thing he's said.

a 5 year run, with no NCAA wins, 1 trip, ending with the Coach fired for player abuse.  those were the days!
anniversaries! minutia! Forget Jarvis or Hobbs or anything else, let us endlessly recount these glory days and bemoan the decision to fire an abusive coach fired after his players reported his abusive behavior, to the media, since the school initially didn't seem too interested in taking action, until their hand was forced in the public,



 

I think if we all keep debating about it we will solve the problems and fix the past, too

squid wrote:

I think if we all keep debating about it we will solve the problems and fix the past, too

It's really not the point. The point is 5 years later the school refuses to even acknowledge the coach who won them the NIT, erasing him from their videos and probably keeping him from the eventual HOF ceremony for that team. 5 years later the same couple of people adamant on backing a predatory loser check in to preach how evil mike was. 5 years later we watch the school bleed Money, reputation, and basketball rank. Forgive some of us for being frustrated that we wish ML were out there instead.