10 Truths on Ed Cooley

With Georgetown in hot pursuit, let's clear the air

I’ve said it many times before and I’m sure I’ll say it again before it’s all said and done; I don’t know much, but I know more than nothing. I’ve been lucky to have a not-quite-insider but definitely not an outsider’s view into the Providence basketball program over the past few years. Much of this information is also 1) not that hard to piece together, 2) publicly available or 3) not super difficult to get someone (A person in the athletics department, a big time donor, someone who works in the wider Providence College ecosystem) to discuss. It’s college basketball, not the CIA. You can choose to believe or not believe anything I’m about to lay out below, but these are the facts.

1. Georgetown has Ed Cooley (and to a lesser extent Penn State Coach Micah Shrewsberry) at the top of their head coaching search

   This is well documented, but just wanted to start with the basics. Georgetown let Patrick Ewing go last Thursday after a historically bad two year run. It’s been widely reported that Ed Cooley and Micah Shrewsberry are the two names at the top of Georgetown’s wish list.

   Jeff Goodman @GoodmanHoops

   Georgetown will make a run at Providence coach Ed Cooley, source told @Stadium. No surprise, obviously. Sources say that Cooley will listen to the Hoyas offer. I'd still be surprised if Cooley actually makes that move within the league.

   Barry Svrluga @barrysvrluga

   I'm not going to pretend to be totally locked in on this, but: There are college coaches who believe Providence Coach Ed Cooley will be headed to Georgetown.

   Troy Machir @TroyMachir

   Georgetown University's coaching search is primarily focusing on Mike Brey, Ed Cooley, and Micah Shrewsberry, I'm told by sources close to the situation.

   One thing that’s important to note here is that while Georgetown let go of Ewing last week, they started looking for a replacement coach weeks if not months ago. There was no way Ewing was coming back for another season after Georgetown lost to American, or Loyola Marymount, or South Carolina, or…. you get the point.

2. Ed Cooley signed a contract extension last September, I don’t know how ‘long’ the contract was for but it bumped his salary to ~$4 million a year and also increased his buyout (e.g., what another school would have to pay Providence to break Cooley’s contract). I have no idea what Cooley’s current buyout number is but either way, Georgetown has enough money to pay it.

   The Cooley contract piece is well documented. Georgetown has enough money to pay off Patrick Ewing’s contract, Cooley’s buyout, and Cooley’s new contract. They just do. A cursory search of prominent Georgetown alumni is really all the proof you need here.

3. Cooley had an opportunity to squash the Georgetown rumors on Sunday and did not do it. You would do the exact same thing if you were in his position.

   Kevin McNamara @KevinMcNamara33

   A happy Ed Cooley in another NCAA Tournament, addresses Georgetown situation. ‘I’m worried about Kentucky l.’

   I saw a lot of Friartown up in arms over this non-answer. I get it, it’s an emotional thing to think about Cooley potentially leaving for another Big East school. With that said, in no world, ever, would ANY coach being linked to another job say “I’m not taking job X. I have no interest in job X. I am going to stay at job Y forever.” That would eliminate all of Cooley’s leverage and at the end of the day, this is a business.

   Next time you go in for a raise, tell your boss that you actually have no interest in climbing the corporate ladder, have never considered pursuing an outside opportunity and are content to stay in your exact position with your exact pay until the day you retire. C’mon.

   One piece here that is true is Cooley saying “we’re sought after every year”. That’s a fact. This is nothing new for Providence and Ed Cooley. But, as we’re about to get into there are some reasons this time feels a bit different.

4. Cooley is extremely fond of Georgetown. John Thompson II was his mentor.

   This is well documented. I tend to look at this as a legitimate reason Cooley would take on the massive rebuild that needs to take place at Georgetown. After just 2 Big East wins in 2 seasons there is a lot of work that needs to be done. Maybe that challenge excites Cooley, but maybe a multi-year rebuild is a bit too daunting for a coach that will be 54 at the start of next season. I don’t know. I do know that it pains Cooley to see the program his mentor built in shambles.

5. His daughter is about to graduate from Georgetown.

   This is well documented. I’m pretty hesitant to jump in to family life but on the surface you could look at this one of two ways. Either Georgetown missed the boat and the time to hire Cooley was 4/5 years ago or Cooley (and his family) have an existing familiarity and comfort with Georgetown and the surrounding area. Up to you.

6. The further Providence advances in the NCAA Tournament, the more difficult it will be for Georgetown to pry him away from Providence.

   This is a fact and if I had to make an educated guess, one the biggest determining factors in what Cooley decides to end up doing. If Providence beats Kentucky on Friday (promise we will talk more about the actual upcoming game tomorrow) and then the Kansas State / Montana State winner on Sunday, I think he stays. Back to back Sweet 16 appearances gives Cooley incredible leverage in this scenario, but it also makes it bitterly difficult for Providence to not meet whatever demands he makes. Advancing to the Sweet 16 also puts Georgetown in the precarious position of having to wait another week to potentially get their man. Let’s say Georgetown waits it out and Cooley still decides to stay at Providence, they’d call it the Disaster in DC!

   The other side of this coin of course is Providence either bowing out to Kentucky on Friday night or to KState / Montana State on Sunday. In that scenario, I’m not sure what happens. I would imagine beating Kentucky and forcing Georgetown to wait at least 48 hours would still help the odds that Cooley stays at Providence, but that’s just my opinion. I am confident that the first scenario laid out above is a fact.

7. Cooley (and his coaching staff) are less than thrilled with the current Name, Image, Likeness infrastructure at Providence.

   This is not well documented, so you’ll just have to trust me here. I wrote a few months back about Providence’s NIL Infrastructure, namely the Friar Family Collective and its partnership with Opendorse. The long and short of it is, NIL at Providence has a long way to go. The infrastructure is there, but it is in its infancy and the arms race is fully upon us. In a way this goes back to point #2. I have no idea what Georgetown’s NIL opportunities look like, and unfortunately I do have a day job / much better ways to spend my time than look into it, but it’s not hard to imagine Georgetown with better NIL opportunities than Providence. Georgetown President John DeGioia is reportedly pretty resistant to the idea of NIL (he’s not the only one, NIL literally drove Jay Wright into retirement), so I’m not sure their infrastructure is as developed as Providence’s is. I do know that Cooley wants Providence to be more of a player in recruiting nationally. NIL, new and strange as it may be, is the only way to accomplish that.

8. Providence will have every opportunity to match any offer Georgetown makes.

   Cooley’s agent, Dennis Coleman of Ropes&Gray, is looking out for the best interest of his client. Whatever contract is offered to Cooley by Georgetown, I promise you Providence will have the opportunity to match it. I have no idea if they will. I have no idea what the reasoning will be behind the decision to not match if they go that route. But they will have the opportunity to match, or at least place a ‘best offer’. This is not a situation where Cooley will be packing his bags in the middle of the night and dashing off to Washington DC. For what it’s worth, Coleman did go to Georgetown Law. He also went to Brown undergrad. Make of that what you will, but I say it means nothing.

9. This will be the first big (massive) test of new Providence College President Fr. Kenneth Sicard and Athletic Director Steve Napolillo’s tenure.

   Father Sicard officially took over for Father Shanley on July 1, 2020. Steve Napolillo formally took over his new position on July 1, 2022. Napolillo did lead the ~6 month negotiations on Cooley’s contract extension last year though as former AD Bob Driscoll was on his way out the door to a well deserved retirement. In the few interactions I’ve had with Fr. Sicard it’s clear to me he understands the outsized impact successful athletics (primarily basketball and hockey) play in the overall success of Providence College. It is unclear (to me) if he’ll be as aggressive in pursuing athletic success as Father Shanley was but how he handles this situation will tell me a lot. I have had no serious interactions with Steve Nap outside of a passing ‘hello’ since he took over the role of AD.

10. IF, and let me repeat that one more time, IF Ed Cooley does leave for Georgetown, Providence fans should get familiar with Rick Pitino and LaDontae Henton as potential replacements.

    Okay, I lied. There were 9 facts in this article and 1 half opinion, half semi-informed take on a potential coaching replacement.

    Pitino, 70, is currently the head coach at Iona. In 3 seasons at Iona he’s led the Gaels to 2 MAAC championships and 2 NCAA tournament appearances. Iona is Pitino’s reclamation project as he tries to rehab his image after several scandals at Louisville. Pitino has also not been shy about hinting that he wants one more shot at Power 6 college hoops before he calls it a career and a potential Providence reunion would not be out of the question. St. John’s, now led by Fr. Shanley, is certainly the leader in the clubhouse for Pitino, but if we get down the coaching replacement road it is certainly a name to keep in mind.

    Henton, who is nearly 40 years younger than Pitino, is currently finishing out his second season as a member of Cooley’s staff. In November 2022, Henton was promoted to Associate Director of Player Development, Scouting and Recruiting Coordination after serving as Special Assistant to the Head Coach during the ‘21-22 season. Much of Friartown will remember Henton as the first recruit to commit to Providence in the Ed Cooley era, enjoying a spectacular 4 year career (2011 - 15) where he led the Friars to the 2014 Big East Tournament Championship, 2 NCAA tournaments, and was the second Friar ever to score 2,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds. LaDontae still ranks second all time in scoring (2,059) and fifth all time in rebounds (1,054) at Providence. After Providence, Henton enjoyed professional basketball stints in Spain, Israel, Hungary and several stints in the G-league. If I had to make an educated guess, Henton would be Cooley’s preferred choice to replace him at Providence. Obviously, Cooley doesn’t get to make that decision if he bolts for Georgetown but still worth mentioning. I know for a fact Henton is being groomed for a head coaching position (at Providence or elsewhere), but what I don’t know is whether 2 years on the bench as the non-lead assistant is enough time to take the reigns of this program. We may have to find out. We may not.

    Jeff Goodman @GoodmanHoops

    Providence fans: How nervous are you? And no, I’m not talking about the Kentucky game. I still don’t think Cooley leaves for Georgetown.