While a great number of Georgetown students, faculty and administrators spent their summers away from the nation’s capitol, the stove of Hoya sports news was somewhere between red hot and scalding. Here are some of the major Hilltop happenings from the end of final exams to New Student Orientation.
ay 12: University of Delaware President Patrick Harker announced that Georgetown Athletic Director Bernard Muir would take the same position at Delaware beginning July 6. The Hoya ran an article on Muir’s departure in its May 15 issue.
June 3: Dan Porterfield, a longtime professor and administrator at Georgetown, was appointed as interim athletic director. The news was released by the university in the summer print issue of Blue & Gray. The Porterfield story existed as a rumor before it could officially be reported.
June 18: Georgetown announced that the annual homecoming football game will be played on Saturday, Sept. 26 against Howard. The Hoyas had been previously slated to face off against Richmond, but those plans were altered.
June 24: Head Coach John Thompson III announced that former Princeton and American Assistant Coach Michael Brennan would be joining his coaching staff. GUHoyas.com released an article on Brennan with the following quote from Thompson:
“I am very happy to have Mike join our staff. We won three league titles together at Princeton and since then he has won two more at American. His knowledge and understanding of the game are invaluable, but just as important is his ability to teach, instruct and pass that knowledge on to our players. His experiences as a player and coach will provide us with varied insights.”
Brennan replaced Robert Burke, whose departure had been a rumor for months. It is still unclear why Burke will not be returning. In May, his name was mysteriously missing from the staff directory on the university’s official Web site. Then, in June, Burke was no longer listed as an assistant coach on GUHoyas.com.
Even ESPN’s Andy Katz had trouble getting any information for a May 15 blog post:
“Georgetown is on lockdown regarding information on Assistant Coach Robert Burke. Multiple sources have said Burke is out as an assistant coach, despite being close friends with Head Coach John Thompson III (the two went to high school together in the D.C. area). But Thompson isn’t returning calls or text messages, and the Georgetown sports information staff won’t confirm or deny Burke’s employment status. Calls to Burke weren’t returned, either.”
Burke then took an assistant job at American, but still, there was nothing concrete coming out of
Georgetown Athletics to report on. So to make a long story short, Burke is out and Brennan is in.
June 25: Former Hoya forward DaJuan Summers, who left school a year early, was selected by the Detroit Pistons with the 35th pick in the NBA draft.
August 5: The Georgetown football team was picked to finish in last place in the Patriot League Preseason Poll.
August 7: Former Georgetown defensive end Ataefiok Etukeren (MSB ’09) signed as an undrafted rookie free agent with the Buffalo Bills. Etukeren, who received attention from NFL scouts throughout his career as a Hoya, has racked up five tackles so far this preseason.
August 11: Redshirt sophomore midfielder Ingrid Wells of the women’s soccer team was announced as a member of the all-Big East Preseason Team and was included on the 2009 Women’s Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy Watch List. The trophy is awarded to the nation’s best player at the end of every season.
August 12: Senior defender Len Coleman of the men’s soccer team was named to the all-Big East Preseason Team.”
