Georgetown Suspends Ed Cooley for Hitting Fan With Water Bottle During Loss

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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 Nyahkoon 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 😳
— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) December 21, 2025
He opened his press conference apologizing to the family pic.twitter.com/LFm3MYDF47
Georgetown announced later on Sunday that Cooley received a suspension for the Hoyas’ next game vs. Coppin State on Monday. He will return a week from Wednesday when the Hoyas play St. John’s.
The Hoyas dropped to 8–4 on the season.
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Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University. She is a dog mom and an avid reader.
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