Mon, Feb 20, 2006 page18

• Thompsons a son and father act in Georgetown hoops

  • NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE
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  John Thompson Jr. sits on a small wooden chair at McDonough Gym, where the Georgetown men's basketball team practices. The court is empty, and so is the chair next to him.

  It is dark outside. Practice ended more than an hour ago, and Thompson -- who coached the Hoyas from 1972 to 1999 and won 596 games and a national championship -- is waiting for his son, who coaches the Hoyas now.

  Wearing a gray team sweatsuit, John Thompson III emerges from his second-floor office and walks down a flight of stairs toward his father. He kisses him on the forehead and sits on the other chair.

  The son had the two chairs put there last season when he was hired as the Hoyas' coach after spending the previous nine years at Princeton, his alma mater. One chair is for his father to sit and watch practices when he is not busy with his local sports-talk radio show. The other is for the son to sit and talk to his father.

  "It's nice for me to have the luxury of sticking my nose in," Big John, 64, said with a smile. "I'm not the former coach; I'm Pops, and that gives me privilege."

  The father and the son have memories in this 54-year-old gym. When Big John used to run practices, he would have John and his other son, Ronny, blow his whistle to make players run sprints. Sometimes they ran through layup lines.

  After practice, they would retreat to their father's office, sit on his lap and watch game films. As John III grew older, he began to offer coaching suggestions. Now Big John gives advice to his son, not that he has needed much of it.

  Two years after going 13-15 and missing the postseason for the first time since 1974, the Hoyas (17-6, 8-4 Big East) are ranked 17th in the nation and fighting for a spot in the NCAA tournament. They will face fourth-ranked Villanova (20-2, 10-1) on Sunday in Philadelphia.

  "We don't want to shoot for a quick fix," said John III, who turns 40 next month. "We don't want to be a cute team. We want to re-establish one of the top programs in the country."

  Big John has an office in McDonough Gym, too. It is a first-floor cubby in a converted kitchenette. There is no nameplate on the door. No secretary. You would never know the room was there unless someone showed you. The 6-foot-10-inch Thompson takes a key and opens a set of small wood doors. Then he unlocks another door to get in.

  In lieu of a desk, there are three cushy chairs. The walls are decorated with pictures of some of his former players: Allen Iverson, Patrick Ewing and Sleepy Floyd. There is a big map of the world, a note from Bill Russell and a picture of Martin Luther King Jr.

  A photograph of Big John with his grandchildren rests on a small shelf, near a computer and a fax machine.

  "I'm very lucky, because very few people have had an opportunity to rerun some of their life," Big John said. "I can say that I wish I'd have done more with my own kids, but I got a second chance because I've got my grandkids running around here."

  John III and his wife, Monica, have a 7-year-old daughter, Morgan and two sons, John Wallace, 4, and Matthew, 2. The boys have yet to enter elementary school, but John III said his daughter was the one most likely to become a coach.

  Big John -- Poppy, as his grandchildren call him -- surely knows how hard it is to coach a college basketball team and raise a family, though he said his son balanced the two better than he did. He helps whenever he can. He takes the grandchildren to get haircuts. He attends Morgan's school plays.

  Big John's presence is even more important these days, as Monica battles breast cancer, which was diagnosed in November. Georgetown's athletic director, Bernard Muir, and the university president, John DeGioia, met with John III and said he could take as much time as he needed to be with her. He has found a way to care for her and for his team.
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