Funny...but many of these coaching related comments remind me of an evening I had years ago. My wife and I had dinner with Jim Valvano and his wife, Pam. This occurred shortly before Iona emerged on the map of relevant Div. I NCAA programs. He told me that he was going to put Iona on the map, and as I listened, I thought the guy was crazier than a march hare. I mean...Iona....with a campus so small you would miss it of you drove by faster than 5 miles per hour. He told me in that attention grabbing New York rasp that he was going to sell New York to his recruits. He would sell them the Rockettes, The Empire State Building, and Broadway. Hell, his team didn't even have access to the Garden, like we do. It was a terrific evening for me as we rambled over many of the players that we knew in common (we were the same age) from the Catholic High School leagues in the 60s. Well, I'll be damned if he didn't go out and do exactly what he prognosticated. I wasn't even impressed when he went out and landed Jeff Ruland at center (I mean, we had recruited Wayne McCoy...poster child from Sports Illustrated as a 9th grade player). As it turned out, I would have traded three Wayne McCoys for Ruland. And when Iona polished off that same SJU McCoy team in the Garden, I gave him a tip of the hat. What is there to say? But since the Valvano incident, and with the right hire, I've always felt that a coach, with the right knowledge, right charisma, and a plethora of charms...has the potential to do amazing things for any program. They're far and few between, but they're out there.
Coaching And A Night With Jim Valvano
- Thread starter docbutler
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Agree with doc butlers comments re coaching and always felt that SJU missed out with Al McGuire who I think would have taken SJU to great heights but the timing was never right.