Georgetown’s Ed Cooley Apologizes After Hitting Fan With Water Bottle During Loss

The coach said it was “out of character” for him.

Georgetown head coach Ed Cooley was heated after a loss and threw a water bottle into the stands. / Brad Mills-Imagn Images

As Georgetown fell 80–77 to Xavier on Saturday night, Hoyas coach Ed Cooley was visibly frustrated with the outcome. He couldn’t keep his cool as he threw his water bottle towards Georgetown’s bench, but it flew into the stands and accidentally hit a child, who was sitting in his mother’s lap.

After the loss, Cooley opened his post-game press conference with an apology to the family he hurt. He planned to reach out to them afterwards, too, with a more direct apology.

“First and foremost, I have to apologize to the Iwuchukwu family,” Cooley said. “Really frustrated realized I threw my water bottle, and it hit [him] and his mom. Definitely out of character to be so frustrated, but really that’s not called for. I’ll call them and make amends to that. Just totally out of character, frustration. So I apologize to the fans, our players, the university. Totally, totally out of character for me to be that way.”

Ed Cooley just NAILED a child with a water bottle he was trying to hurl into the stands after Georgetown lost tonight to Xavier 😳

He opened his press conference apologizing to the family pic.twitter.com/LFm3MYDF47

— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) December 21, 2025

Even with this apology, Cooley will likely receive some sort of punishment from the NCAA as it’s not O.K. to throw objects near the stands in the first place.

The Hoyas dropped to 8–4 on the season.

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