Inheriting a Hoyas team which had been 3–23 the year before, Thompson led the Hoyas to a .500 record by his second season. By his third season in 1974–75, Georgetown qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1943. Over 27 years, Thompson's Hoyas went 596–239 (), running off a streak of 24 postseason appearances – 20 in the NCAA tournament and 4 in the NIT – including a 14-year streak of NCAA appearances from 1979 to 1992 that saw three Final Four appearances in 1982, 1984 and 1985. The 1984 squad, led by center Patrick Ewing, won the Division I national championship over Houston, and Thompson became the first African-American coach to lead his team to the title. Two years earlier, Thompson had become the first Black coach to advance their team to the Final Four. Georgetown missed repeating as champs in 1985, losing in the finals to underdog Villanova.