Anderson - is he really the guy ?

[beast of the east]

With all the crap being slung about Pitino does have have  skew of 4 and 5 stars coming in next season for his 3rd year at iona?

Just like the comments here about other schools facilities,  they are baseless.  I've been assured that our facilities are by far the worst in the big east and maybe the worst among big conference schools. 

We can't sell a tourney berth with regularity.

We can't sell our facilities.

We can't even sell that we play more games at msg when the best b.e. schools play one regular season game here and 3 in the BET.   

we  can't sell the nba.  Since 2011 we have exactly one player who has stayed on an nba roster.

Should we still be able to recruit better than CMA has so far.  Definitely yes.    

Consider this.  If most posters here don't want to come to our games, what makes you think a 4 and 5 star should given all the things we don't have at this point?

Bottom line - with crappy facilities there are more attractive schools to go to.

in a lot of ways, we are starting at ground zero.  This is the right way to build a competitive program, with investment and investors.

 

[otis]

Him and his staff are known to be tireless workers .....

_____

What recruits, if any has Coach Cleveland delivered, or for that matter what recruits he has even been involved with?  

I honestly don't know what CMA's nephew Coach Cleveland duties are on the St. John's staff.,

Perhaps Mr. Cleveland is a tireless worker, but it seems that the heavy lifting is being done by CMA and Van Macon.   Does anyone know?

 

[NCJohnnie]

Otis wrote:
What recruits, if any has Coach Cleveland delivered, or for that matter what recruits he has even been involved with?  

I honestly don't know what CMA's nephew Coach Cleveland duties are on the St. John's staff.,

Perhaps Mr. Cleveland is a tireless worker, but it seems that the heavy lifting is being done by CMA and Van Macon.   Does anyone know?

According to this Zach story Cleveland was the lead recruiter on 2022 signee Kolby King. Only one I'm aware of.

St. John's lands defense-first guard Kolby King for 2022 (nypost.com)

 

[RedStormNC]

I love all these posters that think Seton Hall’s both on campus and the Prudential Centers facilities are equal to or below ours !  Have these guys ever set foot into downstairs Walsh Gym or the team complex at the Rock to compare? OR even in the Taffner area, I would bet 100% NOT… SO PLEASE STOP with that incorrect view.​​​​​​…how are they comparing or maybe they don’t know what recruits look for comparison, let’s not compare the Carnesecca Court vs Walsh…let’s compare the weight rooms, sports medicine, team locker rooms, player lounges, refueling stations, training table area, all of the areas where we have the worst in the Big East, things the recruits see on their official visit with their parents. This is where they tell potential players “this is where we will make you into a NBA player” , and then they compare that to other schools. We don’t even have a dedicated trophy room or area that shows all of our college accomplishments. (God only knows what ever happened to all our old trophies. Most were thrown away when they made the move from Carnesecca offices to Taffner) They do a good job placing wall stickers and wraps in the hallways, but every school does that too.

‘’In Cragg we Trust” let’s hope the BOT lets him do his job like he can. He knows facilities and what it takes to get those 4/5 star guys!

quick story, when Taffner was completed and open for the first time, word was out among the BE schools about it. When the visiting teams came to practice there, usually the night before, the coaches and team administrators and support staff always asked for a tour of Taffner. You should have seen their faces at the end of the visit when their usual comment was” this is all you got with all that money? Why are all the rooms so small, who designed it this way? The practice court is ok, but the support areas were ignored. Who builds a facility with one bathroom? How come the coaches share offices? No video room? You share this building with all the other 16 sports too? “ I don’t think Louisville and Villanova and Syracuse and the rest were too worried about us overtaking them in the Big East arms race!

AJH - once again, great post. Thanks.

Based on your knowledge, what is the pitch our program makes on the official visit tied to facilities?

Do we proactively acknowledge the weak facility situation, do we say its enough to get the job done, or do we avoid it and hope not toomany questions and just know they can see, compare and also recognize the other schools use it against us?

 

[Section3]

I love all these posters that think Seton Hall’s both on campus and the Prudential Centers facilities are equal to or below ours !  Have these guys ever set foot into downstairs Walsh Gym or the team complex at the Rock to compare? OR even in the Taffner area, I would bet 100% NOT… SO PLEASE STOP with that incorrect view.​​​​​​…how are they comparing or maybe they don’t know what recruits look for comparison, let’s not compare the Carnesecca Court vs Walsh…let’s compare the weight rooms, sports medicine, team locker rooms, player lounges, refueling stations, training table area, all of the areas where we have the worst in the Big East, things the recruits see on their official visit with their parents. This is where they tell potential players “this is where we will make you into a NBA player” , and then they compare that to other schools. We don’t even have a dedicated trophy room or area that shows all of our college accomplishments. (God only knows what ever happened to all our old trophies. Most were thrown away when they made the move from Carnesecca offices to Taffner) They do a good job placing wall stickers and wraps in the hallways, but every school does that too.

‘’In Cragg we Trust” let’s hope the BOT lets him do his job like he can. He knows facilities and what it takes to get those 4/5 star guys!

quick story, when Taffner was completed and open for the first time, word was out among the BE schools about it. When the visiting teams came to practice there, usually the night before, the coaches and team administrators and support staff always asked for a tour of Taffner. You should have seen their faces at the end of the visit when their usual comment was” this is all you got with all that money? Why are all the rooms so small, who designed it this way? The practice court is ok, but the support areas were ignored. Who builds a facility with one bathroom? How come the coaches share offices? No video room? You share this building with all the other 16 sports too? “ I don’t think Louisville and Villanova and Syracuse and the rest were too worried about us overtaking them in the Big East arms race!

AJH - once again, great post. Thanks.

Based on your knowledge, what is the pitch our program makes on the official visit tied to facilities?

Do we proactively acknoeledge the weak facility situation, do we say its enough to get the job done, or do we avoid it and hope not toomany questions and just know they can see, compare and also recognize the other schools use it against us?

“Dim lighting and cheap material. That’s how you move product” (Morty Seinfeld)

 

[ManhattAn1]

Lavin was successful because when the recruits were on official visits the focus was on NY city not campus.    Barely spent any time on campus. 

 

[ras]

Plus Lavin is a good recruiter. Had monster classes at UCLA. 

 

[GardenCity62]

Beast of the East made many points as to why SJU is in bad shape regarding the men’s basketball program . I’ll disagree with the Pitino comment because recruiting for SJU is different than recruiting for Iona. I believe SJU would be in much better shape if the hierarchy could have lived with his hiring.
But I’ll agree with your other points and they spell out pretty well why there is such a fed up feeling with many posters. Twenty five years of failure and the board is still controlling the program. All these years of bringing the program to its knees   and they are still in control. Could any donor have done worse. Possibly but not likely and at least we would have better facilities. 
At this time Father Shanley really has his work cut out and I hope he is not relying on the board for any advice.

 

[Alumni Hall]

Section 8
Norm had the new facility. Lavin made some small aesthetic changes in the locker room (modernized the shower area and got new lockers, but he changed the configuration of the locker room so they lost space). Lavin was the one who got MSG to agree to let SJU use the Knicks or Rangers locker room after the Garden modernized their facilities. Custom SJ chairs for locker room, custom logo carpet, name plates. Lavin also got booster money to purchase new equipment for the weight room. When Mullin arrived, he got the school to make some minor changes in the team room, but the floor plan prohibited any expansion. In his last year there, he got a booster to donate $$$ for hot/cold tubs but that took away the team media room which doubled as the press room. 
As ‘for what they each tell recruits, it was always “we have plans to renovate” but usually it was cosmetic things like new banners in a Taffner and wall wrapping with logos. 
As for the mention of Lavin not spending a lot of time on campus with recruits, that is not accurate. Most recruits were brought into town for 48 hours. The first day consisted of a campus tour by the coaches, a meeting with the academic area in athletics, a meeting with their prospective Dean, 30 minutes with the strength coach, 30 minutes with the athletic trainer, possibly meeting Fr Rock and the AD if time permitted. Lunch off campus. Then watch team practice in Taffner then off to NYC with coaches and player host for dinner. The next day was spent in NYC visiting MSG if available along with seeing the sights and a few meals. If the visit coincided with a game, the recruit would return to either campus or MSG.
 

 

[panther2]

Section 8
Norm had the new facility. Lavin made some small aesthetic changes in the locker room (modernized the shower area and got new lockers, but he changed the configuration of the locker room so they lost space). Lavin was the one who got MSG to agree to let SJU use the Knicks or Rangers locker room after the Garden modernized their facilities. Custom SJ chairs for locker room, custom logo carpet, name plates. Lavin also got booster money to purchase new equipment for the weight room. When Mullin arrived, he got the school to make some minor changes in the team room, but the floor plan prohibited any expansion. In his last year there, he got a booster to donate $$$ for hot/cold tubs but that took away the team media room which doubled as the press room. 
As ‘for what they each tell recruits, it was always “we have plans to renovate” but usually it was cosmetic things like new banners in a Taffner and wall wrapping with logos. 
As for the mention of Lavin not spending a lot of time on campus with recruits, that is not accurate. Most recruits were brought into town for 48 hours. The first day consisted of a campus tour by the coaches, a meeting with the academic area in athletics, a meeting with their prospective Dean, 30 minutes with the strength coach, 30 minutes with the athletic trainer, possibly meeting Fr Rock and the AD if time permitted. Lunch off campus. Then watch team practice in Taffner then off to NYC with coaches and player host for dinner. The next day was spent in NYC visiting MSG if available along with seeing the sights and a few meals. If the visit coincided with a game, the recruit would return to either campus or MSG.



 

Thanks very much for posting this. It upsets me when when people tell outright lies about Lavin. I knew Amir Garrett's father from the times I took our team to tournaments in Vegas. I spent time with Amir, his father, and the other recruits in his class. Amir played for me at IS8 the Spring and Fall before he entered St Johns. Maurice Harkless played for me the summer before his senior year at South Kent. I personally saw how Lavin interacted with recruits. Lavin also spent time connecting with former players. Coach Lavin spent more time with recruits than any other coach that I have been involved with at St Johns, going back to Fran.

Lavin may have had his shortcomings, and if you want to point them out, fine. But for any poster to lie about his interactions with recruits and his players, is just wrong.

 

 

[SLYFOXX1968]

Lavin was successful because when the recruits were on official visits the focus was on NY city not campus.    Barely spent any time on campus.     That was a good strategy then and Lavin was a big name Broadcaster when he came to SJ .   He rode his first big Recruiting Class through his time here .   Harkless , Pointer , Garrett, DLO, Sampson , Pelle , Green  we’re here for Lavin’s  2nd year . Excluding Pelle and Sampson , neither who qualified . Sampson came in the 3 rd year but, Harkless went to the NBA.   Branch came in as a Transfer and later Jordan and Obepka .  Hardy was a carry over from Roberts but , blossomed under Lavin and Dunlop . All his recruits were highly rated . But , never put it all together enough to be a BE contender . It’s true Lavin won 20  games but , as now , we had our traditional early season cupcakes to feast on.  Much like this year .      We haven’t taken into account the Pandemic ‘s effect on getting kids to NYC .   Local kids are living it but , the out of state kids might not be aware . Their parents might be though .  Crime ?  It’s a fact . Can’t be denied . It  can have impact .   Throw in the Facilities which are by all accounts , abysmal and it’s not difficult to understand how hard it is to Recruit talent . 

 

[beast of the east]

Section 8
Norm had the new facility. Lavin made some small aesthetic changes in the locker room (modernized the shower area and got new lockers, but he changed the configuration of the locker room so they lost space). Lavin was the one who got MSG to agree to let SJU use the Knicks or Rangers locker room after the Garden modernized their facilities. Custom SJ chairs for locker room, custom logo carpet, name plates. Lavin also got booster money to purchase new equipment for the weight room. When Mullin arrived, he got the school to make some minor changes in the team room, but the floor plan prohibited any expansion. In his last year there, he got a booster to donate $$$ for hot/cold tubs but that took away the team media room which doubled as the press room. 
As ‘for what they each tell recruits, it was always “we have plans to renovate” but usually it was cosmetic things like new banners in a Taffner and wall wrapping with logos. 
As for the mention of Lavin not spending a lot of time on campus with recruits, that is not accurate. Most recruits were brought into town for 48 hours. The first day consisted of a campus tour by the coaches, a meeting with the academic area in athletics, a meeting with their prospective Dean, 30 minutes with the strength coach, 30 minutes with the athletic trainer, possibly meeting Fr Rock and the AD if time permitted. Lunch off campus. Then watch team practice in Taffner then off to NYC with coaches and player host for dinner. The next day was spent in NYC visiting MSG if available along with seeing the sights and a few meals. If the visit coincided with a game, the recruit would return to either campus or MSG.

 

You are the most intriguing poster on here. I'm ruling out Father Maher but you were obviously close to the action and likely no longer employed by the school. With much more detail everything you post synchs with what I know.

Great posts.

 

[MainMan]

Lavin’s charisma and people skills are off the charts. And it’s not some bs pr move or cover. People like being around him. And he likes being around people. A lot of lower level folks in athletics were sad to see him go because he treated everybody so well regardless of rank.
CMA is not as charismatic- no one is - but he is well respected and liked.

 

[Las Vegan]

The description of the poor planning of Taffner has been comprehensive and convincing. The problem with Carnesecca Arena is obvious, so my question is, given all the mistakes made in designing the campus, how can the competent people running the show now fix the problem? What can be fixed? What needs to be imploded? Where is there room to put up a new building?

 

[mjmaherjr]

AJ bring the carnesseca upper level heat of insider facts on all the behind the scenes St. John’s stuff. Not sure if any poster has ever come to us with such detailed insider info with no agenda.  AJ is a must read !! Thanks for all this info AJ !

 

[SJU85]

"... When the visiting teams came to practice there, usually the night before, the coaches and team administrators and support staff always asked for a tour of Taffner. You should have seen their faces at the end of the visit when their usual comment was” this is all you got with all that money? Why are all the rooms so small, who designed it this way? The practice court is ok, but the support areas were ignored. Who builds a facility with one bathroom? How come the coaches share offices? No video room? You share this building with all the other 16 sports too? "

 

Those were some of the same questions I had when I was first saw Taffner and others included "Why does your media/meeting room have hard NYC Public School style hard auditorium seats?, why the cheap building materials?  Why one bathroom and a small one at that?  It was poorly designed, poorly designed, cheaply constructed and outdated when it opened.

I don't know about rest of the conference but I would find it hard to believe, even with some of the changes over recent years, that Taffner is at the top of the facilities in the conference.  If it is,well, that doesn't say much for the conference.

And for the poster who tried to compare the Baseball's teams success with their facilities and the cold weather, please, it is not a comparison.  St. John's has been a good east cost program in baseball but they are not a National Power.  They when the BE which gets you to the NCAA and on occasion will get an at-large bid if they had a good season but didn't win the BE tourny (on the rare occasion the BE actually gets an at-large bid).  They are not beating anyone out (except other east coast teams) for top notch recruits let alone those top notch players who decide to choose to go to college instead of the minors.

 

[paultzman]

Section 8
Norm had the new facility. Lavin made some small aesthetic changes in the locker room (modernized the shower area and got new lockers, but he changed the configuration of the locker room so they lost space). Lavin was the one who got MSG to agree to let SJU use the Knicks or Rangers locker room after the Garden modernized their facilities. Custom SJ chairs for locker room, custom logo carpet, name plates. Lavin also got booster money to purchase new equipment for the weight room. When Mullin arrived, he got the school to make some minor changes in the team room, but the floor plan prohibited any expansion. In his last year there, he got a booster to donate $$$ for hot/cold tubs but that took away the team media room which doubled as the press room. 
As ‘for what they each tell recruits, it was always “we have plans to renovate” but usually it was cosmetic things like new banners in a Taffner and wall wrapping with logos. 
As for the mention of Lavin not spending a lot of time on campus with recruits, that is not accurate. Most recruits were brought into town for 48 hours. The first day consisted of a campus tour by the coaches, a meeting with the academic area in athletics, a meeting with their prospective Dean, 30 minutes with the strength coach, 30 minutes with the athletic trainer, possibly meeting Fr Rock and the AD if time permitted. Lunch off campus. Then watch team practice in Taffner then off to NYC with coaches and player host for dinner. The next day was spent in NYC visiting MSG if available along with seeing the sights and a few meals. If the visit coincided with a game, the recruit would return to either campus or MSG.



 

You are the most intriguing poster on here. I'm ruling out Father Maher but you were obviously close to the action and likely no longer employed by the school. With much more detail everything you post synchs with what I know.

Great posts.

Our former trainer I sense

 

[RedStormNC]

I think its Chris Monasch or Ed Manetta....lol

Don't care who...just appreciate the insights

 

[beast of the east]

Section 8
Norm had the new facility. Lavin made some small aesthetic changes in the locker room (modernized the shower area and got new lockers, but he changed the configuration of the locker room so they lost space). Lavin was the one who got MSG to agree to let SJU use the Knicks or Rangers locker room after the Garden modernized their facilities. Custom SJ chairs for locker room, custom logo carpet, name plates. Lavin also got booster money to purchase new equipment for the weight room. When Mullin arrived, he got the school to make some minor changes in the team room, but the floor plan prohibited any expansion. In his last year there, he got a booster to donate $$$ for hot/cold tubs but that took away the team media room which doubled as the press room. 
As ‘for what they each tell recruits, it was always “we have plans to renovate” but usually it was cosmetic things like new banners in a Taffner and wall wrapping with logos. 
As for the mention of Lavin not spending a lot of time on campus with recruits, that is not accurate. Most recruits were brought into town for 48 hours. The first day consisted of a campus tour by the coaches, a meeting with the academic area in athletics, a meeting with their prospective Dean, 30 minutes with the strength coach, 30 minutes with the athletic trainer, possibly meeting Fr Rock and the AD if time permitted. Lunch off campus. Then watch team practice in Taffner then off to NYC with coaches and player host for dinner. The next day was spent in NYC visiting MSG if available along with seeing the sights and a few meals. If the visit coincided with a game, the recruit would return to either campus or MSG.




 

You are the most intriguing poster on here. I'm ruling out Father Maher but you were obviously close to the action and likely no longer employed by the school. With much more detail everything you post synchs with what I know.

Great posts.

Our former trainer I sense

Linfonte is a really good guess but after being on the bench for so long not sure if he would be so forthcoming. Maybe KB since his brother still works at sju but I don't think he would post stuff like this if he did know.

If i had to guess Harrington had a hand in scaling back plans for tafner to build it as cheaply as possible. He could have sold one or two of his watches.

 

[paultzman]

Section 8
Norm had the new facility. Lavin made some small aesthetic changes in the locker room (modernized the shower area and got new lockers, but he changed the configuration of the locker room so they lost space). Lavin was the one who got MSG to agree to let SJU use the Knicks or Rangers locker room after the Garden modernized their facilities. Custom SJ chairs for locker room, custom logo carpet, name plates. Lavin also got booster money to purchase new equipment for the weight room. When Mullin arrived, he got the school to make some minor changes in the team room, but the floor plan prohibited any expansion. In his last year there, he got a booster to donate $$$ for hot/cold tubs but that took away the team media room which doubled as the press room. 
As ‘for what they each tell recruits, it was always “we have plans to renovate” but usually it was cosmetic things like new banners in a Taffner and wall wrapping with logos. 
As for the mention of Lavin not spending a lot of time on campus with recruits, that is not accurate. Most recruits were brought into town for 48 hours. The first day consisted of a campus tour by the coaches, a meeting with the academic area in athletics, a meeting with their prospective Dean, 30 minutes with the strength coach, 30 minutes with the athletic trainer, possibly meeting Fr Rock and the AD if time permitted. Lunch off campus. Then watch team practice in Taffner then off to NYC with coaches and player host for dinner. The next day was spent in NYC visiting MSG if available along with seeing the sights and a few meals. If the visit coincided with a game, the recruit would return to either campus or MSG.





 

You are the most intriguing poster on here. I'm ruling out Father Maher but you were obviously close to the action and likely no longer employed by the school. With much more detail everything you post synchs with what I know.

Great posts.

Our former trainer I sense

Linfonte is a really good guess but after being on the bench for so long not sure if he would be so forthcoming. Maybe KB since his brother still works at sju but I don't think he would post stuff like this if he did know.

If i had to guess Harrington had a hand in scaling back plans for tafner to build it as cheaply as possible. He could have sold one or two of his watches.

I seldom guess