The 2025-26 Georgetown University men’s basketball season has officially come to a close and year three of the Ed Cooley era left your columnists with mixed feelings, to say the least.
There were incredible highs: A brilliant upset over Villanova University in the Big East tournament quarterfinals, a come-from-behind win against rival Providence College, sophomore guard Kayvaun Mulready’s “Threeagle” celebration and strong out-of-conference play.
However, the Hoyas finished last in the Big East regular season standings. Cooley is still on the hunt for his first finish in the top half of the conference while leading the Hilltop. Additionally, the transfer portal has already claimed the Hoyas’ top two scorers, junior starting guards Malik Mack and KJ Lewis, as well as notable depth pieces: graduate student guard Langston Love and sophomore forward Jayden Fort.
The season did not achieve the lofty standards necessary for Georgetown to be on track for a return to its glory of the 1980s and 1990s and has begun to raise questions about Ed Cooley’s job security.
If Cooley wants to stay on the Hilltop, he needs to win.
The Hoyas have not made the NCAA tournament since 2021 and have not received an at-large bid since 2015. Cooley was brought in to shake up the program so that the groundwork could be laid for a perennial tournament team and, hopefully, a national championship contender.
However, his tenure thus far has been less than stellar and Georgetown is paying Cooley a premium that is not conducive to losing. Georgetown’s financial disclosures reveal Cooley received nearly $4 million in compensation for the 2023-24 academic year, the most recent year documents are available. Next year, all signs point to tournament-or-bust for Cooley to remain in blue and gray.
Winning programs do not appear out of thin air and are largely built on the backs of the rosters the head coach assembles — especially in the modern era of free player movement.
At Providence College, Cooley was known as a developer, often keeping players in the program for four years, which culminated in gritty, physical, defensive-minded play. However, the name, image and likeness era is making it increasingly difficult to retain players year-to-year and Cooley needs to adjust. At Georgetown, his high-school recruit sample size is small, but quite strong. He brought in a top-15 NBA draft pick in Thomas Sorber, who had an explosive 2024-25 season before going pro, as well as key contributors Kayvaun Mulready and sophomore forward Caleb Williams.
Next year, the Hoyas look forward to adding four-star Alex Constanza and four-star Justin Caldwell as potential day-one impact players. Cooley must continue to prove his mettle in bringing potential to fruition in young players to attract future talent.
In the modern era, the transfer portal is both the great equalizer and the ultimate separator of the wheat from the chaff. Cooley needs to find proven players to fill the gap in the backcourt left by Mack and Lewis’ departures. Your columnists hope for a proven floor general point guard to run the offense through and a 3-and-D shooting guard to round out the backcourt.
Georgetown has already been linked to a number of mid-major guards, whose recruitment should evolve rapidly in the coming days.
The plug-and-play roster composition from the transfer portal has been hit-or-miss for Cooley. Many talented transfers did not hit their stride during their tenure with the Hoyas before going on to great success at other schools, including former guard Rowan Brumbaugh and forward Jordan Burks, who went on to Tulane University and the University of Central Florida respectively.
Acknowledging this, Cooley likely needs to look for players who can play well off of the Hoyas established frontcourt of Caleb Williams, sophomore center Julius Halaifonua and hopefully, senior center Vince Iwuchukwu, pending a ruling on his eligibility waiver.
Cooley also needs to address the culture surrounding the team on campus and among the greater Washington, D.C. population. The best teams in the nation have a legion of fans, both students and locals, who go to lengths to influence games. In its current iteration, the average Georgetown home game is attended by too few students, minimal D.C. residents and too many consultants in button-downs and vests. There’s a reason the Hoyas lost a majority of their home games this season.
If Cooley can achieve the lofty expectations of his fourth year, your columnists will be ecstatic. Another losing season, however, should all but guarantee Cooley’s departure from Georgetown.
It is do or die in 2026-27, as Cooley faces the biggest test of his tenure in a fight to keep his job and drag the Hoyas up from the depths of the Big East standings.
