Georgia Tech's Paul Hewitt Wants a Shorter Season, Even if it Means Less Pay

Georgia Tech head basketball coach Paul Hewitt is becoming one of my favorite coaches. He has no problem challenging the status quo and questioning the way the NCAA does things.

His newest rant is about how the college basketball season is too long. Hewitt thinks the season shouldn't start until after Thanksgiving and teams should play fewer games. If that means he gets paid less money, he's cool with that.

"You want to pro-rate my salary, go ahead," Hewitt said. "I would do it tomorrow. Because it just puts a lot of stress on our guys."

"I do find it interesting that we talk out of both sides of our mouth about the need to graduate and the need to make sure the grades are good," Hewitt said. "And we keep increasing the standards, but we don't give the kids any more time to be successful."

I applaud Hewitt because he honestly fights for the student part of the student-athlete. This past summer, he had a heated debate with the Knight Commission over their stance on punishing head coaches for grade point averages. It isn't that he's making excuses to save his rear, but he claimed coaches ask players to take easier courses that will keep their grades up instead of allowing them to take a more challenging course-load.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

12-03-2008 @ 9:38PM

Road said...

Hewitt convinces me he a top quality guy. He's right these kids are there for and education and to be and Engineer you have to attend class.

12-18-2008 @ 6:37PM

Joe said...

Hewitt is a class act is right on about a more compact season, but as a Tech alum and sports fan I would like to make two points: 1. He is very well paid for a coach with a mediocre record so his "willingness" to "pro-rate" his pay for a shorter season is rather hollow, and 2. He is a better leader for the BCA than he is for his basketball team, which has consistently been in the middle to lower ACC standings with the exception of one year. He is a very popular figure at Georgia Tech (and I imagine he is a popular opponent in the ACC where he has struggled since his hire almost a decade ago).