Finding a coach to match the 1,000-watt personality of the departed Jim Larranaga was impossible. So George Mason athletic director Tom O’Connor didn’t try. Instead, he hired Larranaga’s polar opposite: smooth, elegant Paul Hewitt.
If anyone can reach the Patriots, it has to be someone with a different approach. No one can pull off Larranaga’s act better than Larranaga. A coach still working his way up such as Mike Lonergan or a Larranaga disciple such as Bill Courtney would have paled in comparison.
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But in Hewitt, O’Connor found a man with his own aura — and a resume in some ways superior to his predecessor.
As the coach at Siena and Georgia Tech over the last 14 seasons, Hewitt has one more appearance in the NCAA tournament (six) than Larranaga had in his 14 years at George Mason, and he has been a step further in the tournament, taking the Yellow Jackets to the championship game in 2004.
As for recruiting, Hewitt has produced NBA Draft picks Derrick Favors (2010), Gani Lawal (2010), Thaddeus Young (2007), Javaris Crittenton (2007), Jarrett Jack (2005) and Chris Bosh (2003).
Wooing that kind of talent to George Mason will be impossible. But if Hewitt can swim in the shark-infested waters of the ACC, he certainly can thrive in the CAA.
At George Mason, Hewitt inherits a loaded team that will be favored to win the conference and is likely to be ranked in the preseason top 25. Pressure will be on from the start. Our guess here is that George Mason found the man best equipped to deal with it and take the Patriots onward — and perhaps even upward.
