Relax, Georgetown basketball fans. Ed Cooley is not going anywhere.
Cooley put the rumor about him potentially being a candidate to replace former Virginia head coach Tony Bennett, who shockingly announced his retirement last week, to rest in an interview with Fox Sports on Monday.
“Zero truth to that,” Cooley said. “When you have many people who hide behind all these social media platforms, I'm where I need to be. I'm where I want to be. I will to tell you this, this will be the last college job I have. My goal is to make Georgetown basketball powerful again, inspire other people, that is all false news.”
“It's unfortunate that people jeopardize livelihoods, jeopardize people. It's unfortunate,” Cooley continued. “But Martin Luther King's dream will protect them too. They can dream big somewhere else, but don't dream on my dream. I'm living that dream as a Georgetown Hoya.”
Cooley is absolutely correct about these rumors being “false news.” The accounts that posted the rumors that Cooley was connected to the potential opening at Virginia are both known parody accounts, and there was no credible information linking the two sides.
Ed Cooley commits to rebuilding Georgetown basketball
One notable piece of information that did come from Cooley's response to the parody accounts linking him to Virginia was his decisive commitment to Georgetown basketball.
Georgetown has historically been one of the most successful programs in college basketball. But, over the last decade, has been one of the most disappointing teams in the sport. Other than a surprise NCAA Tournament appearance in 2021 after they earned an automatic big from winning the Big East Tournament following a 10-13 regular season, times have been tough at Georgetown.
But, Cooley is looking to change things. While things were not much better in Cooley's first season at the helm, with Georgetown going just 2-18 in Big East play with their only wins coming against DePaul, there is reason for optimism. Cooley was able to bring in sophomore point guard Malik Mack, who many considered to be one of the top available transfers this offseason. Mack, a Washington, D.C. native, averaged 17.2 points, 4.8 assists and 4.0 rebounds in his freshman season at Harvard, earning Ivy League Rookie of the Year.
With Mack leading the way and one of the top recruiting classes in the country coming in, the future is bright for Georgetown. And, Cooley appears committed to seeing things through.