John Thompson's name is synonymous with many things, but winning is the most obvious. Winning competitive basketball games has been a regular part of Thompson's life since high school. In four years at Arch Bishop Carroll High School, he and his teammates compiled a record of 103 wins and eight losses. Even Thompson's poorer teams posted winning records and found their way to the post-season.

At Providence University, which was ironically the first opponent in Georgetown's post-Thompson era, Thompson was the captain for two years, leading his teammates to the National Invitation Tournament championship. Thompson graduated with a degree in economics that probably has helped him become the savvy businessman he is today with endorsements, board positions, and business dealings.

The winning continued while Thompson was a player in the NBA, but Thompson was, for a brief moment, an afterthought in his team's success. His professional career saw him in a backup role, behind the legendary Bill Russell. Still, Thompson picked up two rings in the midst of the great Celtic dynasty.

Across town from St. Anthony's, Georgetown's basketball program struggled. In the 1971 season, the Hoyas went a pathetic 3-23. In an era where black coaches were as rare as black quarterbacks, only a desperate program would take a chance on Thompson. In 1972, Georgetown defied the "conventional wisdom" of the era and made Thompson the school's 15th basketball coach.

By the end of the '70s, Thompson had made Georgetown's basketball program a perennial winner, and in 1979, he helped lay the groundwork for the formation of the Big East conference. The Hoyas won the conference's first championship with a road victory against Syracuse, igniting one of college basketball's all-time great rivalries.

The exposure of the Big East helped Thompson land top notch recruits, such as Eric "Sleepy" Floyd, the school's first-ever consensus All-American. In 1982, Floyd was joined on the Hilltop by first-year sensation Patrick Ewing. The duo helped the Hoyas to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament.

During the final game, with the team one possession away from a national championship, Michael Jordan, another recent retiree, drained a 19-foot jumper to give the Tar Heels the lead. On the next possession, Fred Brown passed the ball to North Carolina's "Big Game" James Worthy, who dribbled away the remaining seconds for the title.


Two years later, Brown and Thompson embraced in front of a sold-out Kingdome as the Hoyas defeated the Houston Cougars and won their first-ever NCAA Championship, making Thompson the first African American coach to win a national championship. Though his racial identity made his victory unique and revolutionary, his grasp of strategy made the victory possible.

Thompson turned Georgetown around by instituting a system that was revolutionary on the court. Thompson is well known for his accomplishments and outspokenness, but his brilliance with "X"s and "O"s turned the Georgetown program into a winner. Most offensive strategy in the game today is a reaction to Thompson's defensive innovations. Though Thompson is not the unquestioned inventor of pressure defense, the 40-minute full-court press, and an all-out assault on the offensive glass, he made these schemes work. Before Thompson arrived, a team needed one ball-handler: the point guard. Due to his influence, power forwards handle the ball to combat full-court pressure. Though offense has evolved in response to Thompson's tactics, most dominant defenses still utilize formulas popularized by Thompson.

The national championship marked the peak of the Georgetown program, but not the extent of Thompson's impact on college athletics. Thompson forged a reputation as an outspoken civil rights activist in the NCAA. On Jan. 14, 1989, Thompson staged a walkout in opposition to changes in NCAA rules that increased SAT requirements for freshman eligibility. The NCAA responded by reversing the change the rules one year later.

In the '90s, he has finally seen the dividends of his pioneering success with the hiring of more and more African American coaches. Arkansas' Richardson and Kentucky's Tubby Smith have both won national titles in the current decade. Both coaches employed elements of Thompson's strategy.

John Thompson was a leader, a trailblazer and someone who made a lot of things possible for all coaches. He will go down the path of greatness in coaching.