In NFL history, the name of Phil Bengston is all but forgotten. The lead assistant on five NFL titles with the Green Bay Packers under head coach Vince Lombardi, Bengston had the unenviable task of succeeding the legend. Such was the case with Georgetown's Craig Esherick, who succeeded John Thompson in 1999.

After two years of recruits mostly from his St. Anthony teams from 1972-74, John Thompson went to the Maryland suburbs to sign Esherick, a second team All-Met guard from Springbrook HS in Silver Spring. Esherick could likely have started at a number of other local programs but chose Georgetown for the opportunity to play under Thompson and to earn a degree in finance. He averaged 3.7 points in 89 college games, serving mainly as a backup forward through his final two years on the team and graduated in 1978.

"Coaching wasn't my intended career, but after I graduated from Georgetown Law and passed the D.C. bar, I was offered an opportunity that I had to take: full-time assistant coach at Georgetown," Esherick told Arlington Magazine in 2016. "I always thought I could practice law if I didn't like coaching. Obviously, that didn't happen."

In 1982, Esherick succeeded Bill Stein as John Thompson's lead assistant, focusing on the offensive side of the ball. Along with fellow classmate turned assistant coach Mike Riley (C'78), the two assistants were on the bench with John Thompson for the next 17 years, which also included four Big East championships and a turn assisting Thompson with the 1988 U.S Olympic men's basketball team. Esherick remained popular among former players, including those to whom Thompson had grown distant with in the ensuing years.

In later years, Esherick noted that he had received interest from various schools in the 1990's inquiring about him becoming head coach and to one unnamed school what Esherick told the Washington Post was "his for the taking". Instead, he was happy as an assistant at Georgetown.

On Nov. 9, 1997, University of North Carolina coach Dean Smith abruptly retired after 36 years at the school, handing the head coaching duties to his long time assistant, Bill Guthridge. The press conference was a who's who of UNC luminaries, with two exceptions. Smith invited his longtime friend John Thompson to attend, and thompson invited Esherick to join him. By accident (or by design), Craig Esherick was looking into the future.

Fourteen months later, on Jan. 8, 1999, Thompson abruptly resigned and named Esherick his successor, holding a press conference not unlike the one Dean Smith held in 1997. True to Georgetown, the decision was known internally two days earlier, but no one leaked it to the press. The next day, led to the MCI Center court by a dozen former players, Esherick led the Hoyas to a 75-70 win over Providence, ending a four game losing streak.

Esherick's first two teams were short on depth, and progress was slow. The 1998-99 team finished 15-15 before a first round NIT loss to Princeton, Georgetown's first losing season since 1974. The 1999-00 team went 16-13 in the regular season, and despite upsets over West Virginia and Syracuse in the Big East tournament, returned to the NIT, winning a memorable three overtime game over Virginia in the first round. It was not until 2000-01 that Esherick led the Hoyas back to the NCAA.

With a lineup of three seniors and freshman forward Mike Sweetney, Georgetown roared out of the gate in 2000-01, winning its first 16 of the season and being ranked as high as #9 nationally. With a 23-6 record in the regular season, Gerogetown was going to the NCAA's, but a humbling loss in the first round of the Big East tournament sent it to a meager 10th seed. A layup at the buzzer from senior Nat Burton gave the Hoyas a dramatic win over Arkansas in the opening round , and GU advanced to the regional semifinals before falling to Maryland in the first matchup between the schools in eight years.

Whatever good feelings were generated by the NCAA bid of 2001 were spoiled a season later, one of the most bizarre seasons in Georgetown basketball history. By sheer numbers (19-11, 9-7 Big East) the Hoyas were an NCAA caliber team, but a run of bad luck was against them: 0-6 versus top 25 teams, 0-3 in overtime games, and losing leads in five games when it held the lead in the final minute. Perhaps most damaging: scheduling an opening round walkover of Division III Marymount College did not count for NCAA tournament selection purposes, giving the Hoyas only 18 wins on the season.

Over a ten day period the Hoyas lost three home games in unusual fashion, any one of which would have salted away an NCAA bid. In a four overtime loss to Notre Dame, senior Kevin Braswell held for the last shot three times, and missed all three. A week later, Georgetown lost a late lead in regulation and shot 2 for 16 in the overtime period en route to a loss to Villanova. Three days later versus #1 ranked UConn, Esherick chose not to foul the Huskies in the final moments, allowing UConn to essentially run out the clock in a 75-74 finish. But none prepared the Hoya fans for what followed: after Georgetown had been invited to the NIT to play Richmond, ESPN overruled the selection committee and sent Georgetown to play Iowa State. Citing a travel schedule that had sent his team on the road six of its last eight games over the past four weeks, and afforded no opportunity by ESPN to play any games at home, Esherick declined the NIT bid outright. Fans were outraged in that the 19-11 Hoyas would miss the post-season for the first time in 28 years.

The 2002-03 season was no less combative for Esherick and a disgruntled fan base. The Hoyas started the season 7-0 but slumped to 14-13 by the end of the regular season, including an 0-6 record versus ranked teams. Esherick accepted a bid to the 2003 NIT, where Georgetown advanced to the finals before a late loss to St. John's. In an attempt to provide Esherick some job security, his contract was extended through the 2008-09 season.

Trouble continued for the Hoyas in the summer of 2003. Junior All-American Mike Sweetney left early for the NBA Draft, while local recruits Tony Bethel and Drew Hall announced transfers. Assistant coach Ronny Thompson, who was the subject of rumors suggesting he was pushing for greater control within the program, left for Arkansas and took Georgetown's #1 incoming recruit, center Darian Townes, with him.

"Esherick has seemingly outlasted the [former St. John's coach Brian] Mahoney comparison, but a closer look at his record to date produces a less flattering picture." wrote columnist Kevin Casey. "More illuminating are Esherick's results against good competition: 38-42 in Big East play, 5-5 in the Big East Tournament, 9-10 against teams from the Big Ten, ACC, Pac-10 and SEC...Boiled down to its elements, Esherick's record is certainly not terrible, but it's far from great. It's just...average."

The 2003-04 Hoyas struggled with depth. From a 10-1 record to open the season, Georgetown lost 14 of its final 17 games and finished under .500 for the first full season in Esherick's tenure. More troubling, Georgetown had missed the NCAA tournament for a third consecutive season.

"I will be here next year," Craig Esherick told reporters on March 6, 2004 after the Hoyas dropped its eighth straight to end the regular season, a 60-55 home loss to Virginia Tech. "I ain't going anywhere. I may be here for another 30 years," he said.

On March 16, while on a recruiting trip in Kansas, Esherick was summoned back to Washington to meet with University president Jack DeGioia. Two weeks before Esherick's retort to the press, DeGioia issued a public statement at a Hoya Hoop Club event that supported Esherick going forward. Nevertheless, DeGioia fired Esherick that evening.

"I certainly did not see it coming," Esherick told the HOYA in 2004, his last public statement on the firing. "I know we didn't have a great year, and I know what happens to coaches [when they have a bad year]."

In the meeting, "Jack got right to the point and said he decided he wanted to make a change," Esherick said. "I asked him, I said, 'Jack, two weeks ago you made a public comment...endorsing me. What happened? What changed?' And he basically said that he had come to a conclusion after careful thought and he just thought the program needed new leadership."

"If [Craig] Esherick is guilty of anything," wrote the Chicago Tribune, "it is doing mere maintenance rather than reconstruction. He has not been the program's downfall. It had already fallen from the level occupied by consistent winners such as Duke, Arizona, Kentucky and now Maryland when he was handed the reins."

In lieu of another coaching job, Esherick worked as a television analyst and served as a lecturer at NYU before joining the faculty at George Mason University in 2008, where he serves as an associate professor at its Center for Sport Management. He is the author of three books in the field.

Year	Post-Season	Record	Pct.	Home	Away	B.E. Tourn	NCAA/NIT
1998-99	NIT	8-10	0.444	4-4	3-4	1-1	0-1
1999-00	NIT	19-15	0.559	13-4	3-8	2-1	1-1
2000-01	NCAA	25-8	0.758	13-3	8-3	0-1	2-1
2001-02	NIT Declined	19-11	0.633	12-5	6-4	1-1
2002-03	NIT	19-15	0.559	11-6	6-7	1-1	4-1
2003-04		13-15	0.464	10-6	3-8	0-1
Totals		103-74	0.572	62-30	29-34	5-6	7-4