Exclusive: Ed Cooley on why he left Providence for Georgetown

Updated Mar 23, 2023 8:20 pm ET

New Georgetown coach Ed Cooley still holds a lot of love for Providence College, but said he just needed a change – for himself.

Speaking to FOX Sports' John Fanta in an exclusive interview after being introduced as the new coach of the Hoyas men's basketball team on Wednesday, Cooley detailed the process that led him to leave Providence for Georgetown. Cooley described it as a "quick process," though he thought about the decision "long and hard" as he left the place where he coached for the last 12 seasons.

"When I did a deep dive of what's important — I always said yes to everybody, and I always said no to Ed. Coach Cooley did everything, but Ed needed a change," Cooley said. "I thought Georgetown was the place for me to make that change. As hard as it was because it's in-conference, and because a lot of people look at that as villainous or betrayal, I hope people give me an opportunity to serve Ed. And it sounds selfish, it sounds real selfish, but sometimes change is need on both sides and I felt for me change was needed."

Cooley mentioned how his daughter, Olivia, is graduating from Georgetown later this spring and her remaining in the D.C. area was part of his decision to take on the new challenge. Cooley also said he didn't see a change on the horizon initially, but that he ultimately realized that Georgetown had a lot to offer. 

"The Big East has a lot to do with the change even though it's tough because it's in-conference," Cooley said. "I love the Big East. I love basketball-centric places. They're the recruiting fertile ground of the DMV area that expands. The city, [my wife] Nurys wants to live in a city, and she's done a great job and doing what I've wanted to do for 29 years. That played into the role of making a change. 

"It was just something different. So, why not? We've got more years behind us than ahead of us. I'm excited to be here. I'm looking forward to the challenge of building another program."

Cooley also addressed speculation that his move to Georgetown had been in the works for some time. He denied that was the case, saying that he's had one rule when other programs showed interest in him in recent years. 

"We've been fortunate to be approached every year for the last five or six years. I'm honored to say that and I'm humbled to say that," Cooley said. "But they know they're under direct orders: Do not mess with me until the end of the year. So, right when the season ended, we got contacted. 

"And then the narrative out there was just wrong. Just wrong. The integrity piece is important to us. The conversations happened when they happened and 48 hours later, 72 hours later here we are in D.C. now the head coach of Georgetown."

In the days between Providence's season-ending loss to Kentucky and Cooley taking the Georgetown job, some personal details of Cooley's life emerged, most notably that his Rhode Island home was on the market. Cooley said his house was being sold over the last four or five months, however, and expressed displeasure over the way his departure was being reported locally.

"It's been tough, Cooley said. "I can understand Friartown, love Friartown. It's like part of my DNA. The reason we're downsizing to begin with is because my kids are older, we're out and we're fortunate to have a place downtown in the city. … How that got out like that, how that changed the narrative it was just sad on the impact it had on my family. The optics were — how the media portrayed was wrong because it villainized us in some way. I understand your job. I understand a journalist's job. But we're humans just like anybody else. My kids have feelings. My wife has feelings. It was just wrong because we were downsizing anyway.

"It's OK, I understand everybody's anger," Cooley added. "I'm from Providence, raised there, born there, coached there. I'm still going to be one of them. That made it even harder when people think you turned their back on them and I understand their anger. But they only wanted Coach Cooley. I want to be Ed. I can't say that enough."

Now Cooley is turning his focus to fixing Georgetown. The Hoyas have only made the NCAA Tournament twice over the past 10 seasons and have gone 13-50 over the last two seasons.

Yet, Cooley still holds the program in high regard. Part of that is because of John Thompson, who coached the Hoyas for 27 seasons and was the first Black coach in history to win a national championship. 

Cooley said that Thompson gave young Black kids and Black coaches a "ball of hope" as he "gave us an opportunity to see ourselves through him." That's why he called it an honor to be the head coach of Georgetown and hopes he can achieve similar heights. 

"Iconic," Cooley said when asked to use one word to describe Georgetown's program. "Has it been down? Sure. But that's OK. The journey of building, the journey of getting back to the mountaintop is what this going to be all about. And when it's all said and done, that iconic name, that iconic G will once again stand on top of the mountain."

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