Craig Robert Esherick (born November 1, 1956) is an American academic, lawyer, and former basketball coach who is currently an assistant professor of

sport management Sport management is the field of business dealing with sports and recreation. Sports management involves any combination of skills that correspond with planning, organizing, directing, controlling, budgeting, leading, or evaluating of any organiz ...

for George Mason University and

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main ( play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and ...

for

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

games. He was formerly the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

of the Georgetown University men's basketball team and assistant

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

coach and scout for the 1988 U.S. Men's Olympic basketball team.

Biography

Esherick grew up in Silver Spring,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, and graduated from Springbrook High School in 1974 as an all-state forward. He was a four-year basketball letterman at Georgetown from 1974 to 1978 and thereafter attended

Georgetown University Law School The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and ...

, receiving a J.D. degree in 1982. During his final two years of law school at Georgetown, he served as a graduate assistant to

John Thompson Jr. John Robert Thompson Jr. (September 2, 1941August 30, 2020) was an American college basketball coach for the Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball, Georgetown Hoyas men's team. He became the first African-American head coach to win a major collegiat ...

In 1982, Thompson offered Esherick the position of assistant coach, and along with former teammate Mike Riley, he stayed in the position for the next 17½ seasons. After abruptly resigning in January 1999, Thompson named Esherick head coach.

Georgetown head coach

Esherick continued the style of play and scheduling habits of his predecessor as coach. During his 5½-season tenure, Esherick came under growing criticism for the weak non-conference teams he scheduled, and his inability to close out tight games. After Esherick took over the team on January 8, 1999, Georgetown finished the 1998–99 season with a record of 15–15 before falling to

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

in the first round of the

1999 National Invitation Tournament The 1999 National Invitation Tournament was the 1999 edition of the annual NCAA college basketball competition. Selected teams Below is a list of the 32 teams selected for the tournament.

. The 1999–2000 team improved to 19–15, earning another NIT bid. Following a quadruple overtime win over the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

, 115–111, Georgetown lost to the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...

in the second round. In Esherick's third season, 2000–01, the team made the 2001 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament under the stardom of future top-10

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

draft pick Mike Sweetney. The Hoyas made it to the "Sweet 16", losing to the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

in the West Region Semifinals. Esherick's final three seasons proved disappointing. The 2001–02 season saw the Hoyas narrowly miss the NCAA tournament with a 19–11 mark, and Esherick was criticized for rejecting a bid to the 2002 NIT, as he objected to playing away from home throughout that tournament because of the number of classes his players would miss. In the 2002–03 season, Georgetown earned a bid to the 2003 NIT, in which the Hoyas advanced to the championship game, losing to St. John's. The departure of Mike Sweetney left the Hoyas' lineup bare entering the 2003–04 season, in which the Hoyas started 13–6 before collapsing and losing their last nine games of the season, ending with a 13–15 record. A year earlier, Georgetown had extended Esherick's contract through 2009. He indicated to the press late in the 2003–04 season that his position as head coach was secure, that he had a good recruiting class joining the team for the following season – it included future stars Jeff Green,

Roy Hibbert Roy Denzil Hibbert (born December 11, 1986) is a Jamaican-American former professional basketball player. He is a two-time NBA All-Star, and earned NBA All-Defensive Second Team honors in 2014. Hibbert was the runner-up for the NBA Defensive Play ...

, and Jonathan WallaceThe Georgetown Basketball History Project: Head Coaches
/ref> – and that they should "stay tuned," and Georgetown president

John DeGioia John Joseph DeGioia (born 1957) is an American academic administrator and philosopher who has been the president of Georgetown University since 2001. He is the first lay president of the school and is currently its longest-serving president. ...

gave him a public show of support around the same time. Despite all this, and despite Esherick's declaration on March 5, 2004, that "I ain't going anywhere – I may be here for another 30 years," DeGioia fired him on March 16, 2004, six days after the end of the season, following student protests over his continued tenure and failure to produce winning teams. Esherick had spent 28 of the first 30 years of his adult life at Georgetown as a player, assistant coach, and head coach. He was replaced by John Thompson, Jr.'s son,

head coach John Thompson III.

Head coaching record

‡

resigned on January 8, 1999, with Georgetown's record at 7–6 overall and 0–4 in the Big East; Esherick coached the rest of season. Georgetown's record for the entire 1998–99 season was 15–16 overall and 6–12 in the Big East.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Esherick, Craig 1956 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Maryland Basketball players from Maryland College basketball announcers in the United States College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball coaches Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball players Place of birth missing (living people) People from Silver Spring, Maryland Sportspeople from Montgomery County, Maryland McDonough School of Business alumni Georgetown University Law Center alumni