LEGENDARY GEORGETOWN COACH JOHN THOMPSON DIES

One of college basketball’s bigger-than-life personalities has died.

Legendary Georgetown coach John Thompson, has died at age 78.

Thompson, who led Georgetown to the 1984 national championship, built the program into a juggernaut, taking the Hoyas to three Final Fours in the 1980s while also winning seven Big East titles and coaching the 1988 United States national team in the Olympics.

Thompson's coaching legacy includes the recruitment and development of four players in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame: Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo and Allen Iverson.

Thompson, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999, was a pioneer credited with opening the door for a generation of minority coaches.

Thompson walked off the court in 1989 before a game to protest Proposition 42, an NCAA measure that would ban academically ineligible freshmen from receiving scholarships. Thompson said he protested because he believed the proposition aimed to limit opportunities for minority students.