Coaching Decision Poll

[ADORAZ]

Only 2 options we should consider:

1. Big name like Smart, Miller, Mullin. Immediate impact hire who can bring in big recruits.
2. Lavin

1 isn't happening so 2 is our best option. There's a new Hurley type coach every year. You know, they make the dance do well for a couple years and then either get hired by a bigger school or start underperforming and are never heard from again. Was anyone even mentioning his name a few months ago?

 

[paultzman]

It would be ironic after all this back & forth if Lavin opts to walk.

 

[MarkRedman]

SJU also needs to give Lavin the tools that he needs and spend more money on upgrading the facilities, which I hear is also a problem.

I don'tbuy tha the facilities are a problem. Taffner is relatively new and was a big upgrade over what we had before. CA is a dump but we are not gonna build a 10,000 seat arena on campus. We play a majority of our games at the Garden. It was just totally renovated and is a great place for a basketball game. Better dorms for athletes (like UK)?

Actually, the building of dorms hurt our local recruiting
Years ago, local kids were eager to come to SJU to pocket the cost of living stipend
Dorms have been great for out of town recruits, not so much for NYC area kids
As for Taffner, my friend saw it for the first time this year and thought it was a dump

 

[Ricky Smith]

Just as an aside.. this is off topic.. My opinion.. I would have thought Lavin could have thrown a bouquet to Polee in his press conference . It would have been a classy thing to do..And, was surprised he made no mention.

Polee almost single handed broke our back in the game Friday night.. Especially, with the health issues Polee experienced this season and came back from.

Dwayne was his first major recruit and while he left, I thought Polee would have been an asset to SJU as a 4 year player. I do not know what happened but, was he pushed out of the Program for Jakarr and Moe? Might that have been a miscalculation by Steve? Especially, since Jakarr did not qualify to play that year...

A lot of guys left, did not qualify or transferred in lavin's time here.

Polee? He deserved some praise as a opposing player who played well against us.

Just a thought.

Do you know how many kids have transferred from NC state since Mark took over as coach? More than we had leave, and look what they did to Nova! You are reaching

I don't think I am but, your entitled to express a differing view. Lavin promotes a touchy , feely type atmosphere that I think he likes to portray in public.. Polee, I think deserved a little accolade from Steve.

That was the main point I tried to make. NC State isn't my concern or interest.

A few years ago the Wear twins and Larry Drew transferred to Ucla, they were from Cali, do you think UNC fans wanted to see Roy Williams give praise to them? Polee went back home and I wouldn't want my coach heaping praise on a kid that left

Instead he put some of the blame on kids that left

BS..stop stretching the facts...there was no blame game played...

EDIT: My comments are based on assumption that you are referring to Lavin during post game press conference..If not, my apologies

"Nobody expected Harless and Sampson to leave early, no one expected Amir to leave for baseball"

Why did he bring this up?

 

[mjmaherjr]

It would be ironic after all this back & forth if Lavin opts to walk.

Yep. And I could see how any coach would do that if he didn't have a ton of recruits on the horizon and didn't want next years potential poor team to affect his long term prospects since walking into final year of contract.

 

[Ricky Smith]

It would be ironic after all this back & forth if Lavin opts to walk.

Like Christmas!

 

[MarkRedman]

SJU also needs to give Lavin the tools that he needs and spend more money on upgrading the facilities, which I hear is also a problem.

I don'tbuy tha the facilities are a problem. Taffner is relatively new and was a big upgrade over what we had before. CA is a dump but we are not gonna build a 10,000 seat arena on campus. We play a majority of our games at the Garden. It was just totally renovated and is a great place for a basketball game. Better dorms for athletes (like UK)?

Check your facts
We played 10 games at CA and 8 at MSG this year

 

[SJUalum98]

It would be ironic after all this back & forth if Lavin opts to walk.

I honestly don't believe that he'd walk away unless he had something else lined up.

Im sure those "recruiting trips" to see low level JUCOs in Northern California last year was strictly business.

 

[sirvoo]

I voted no to the extension and favor making a transition now. Almost exactly 4 years ago we had 6 or 7 studs coming our way. Now we have B Sampson and a roster of question marks.

Nobody is delusional enough to say we should be perennial contenders but coach has put us in no better position than we were when he started. I want a top 25 team that is in the hunt for an Ncaa win or two. Don't see it happening with this guy

 

[MarkRedman]

It would be ironic after all this back & forth if Lavin opts to walk.

Yep. And I could see how any coach would do that if he didn't have a ton of recruits on the horizon and didn't want next years potential poor team to affect his long term prospects since walking into final year of contract.

If, indeed, the well has dried up for next year, this would be a great time to walk
Keep your reputation intact, do ESPN for a year and prepare for the next gig

 

[ZanMan]

"Nobody expected Harless and Sampson to leave early, no one expected Amir to leave for baseball"

Why did he bring this up?

He was asked why he thinks his postseason record is so bad during his tenure here. I believe our buddy Zach asked him.

Lavin also suggested they sit down over coffee and discuss it further in depth.

 

[sirvoo]

And he's had some crap luck I'll grant you.. But eventually you have to accept that's not an aberration. We just happen to toil with subpar characters like chris obekpa who cares more about the road to Zion than winning and Nurideen/pelle/Keith thomas/the list goes on and on

 

[Avon Barksdale]

i took Lavin at his word and believed him that this Program would be resurrected and become a contender again in the BE Conference and nationally. He did not meet those goals as a Coach. He has had adequate time to build a Program and, hasn't.

Are you really that delusional? So him having us nationally ranked in 2 of 4 years on the bench and making the tourney in 2 of 4 years doesn't constitute being resurrected from the pit of dispare the program had been in for a decade? Maybe YOU and the others you mention should be realists in your expectations for St Johns University... Have you built a program from scratch in a major conference? Just curious how long it takes and what it should look like after 5 years... 3 20 win seasons seems like a damn good foundation to build off of.

Being nationally ranked in December in the grand scheme isn't that great. Seton hall was nationally ranked and I don't see their fan base endorsing Willard. It's all about March, and Lavin is 7-18 overall and 2-9 in tournaments at SJU.

Look at any successful head coach that has taken over a dead program in a major conference. Show me one coach who had to create a program from absolute scratch in a major conference that has a .600 plus winning percentage within the first 5 years of rebuild. If you can't see what he has been able to accomplish than there is no need to debate this. Improvement every year. Would i like to see a better winning percentage in March, of course. However it's nice actually playing in mid March once again. I just don't think you and the others look at things realistically. Look at Coach Ks first 5 years at Duke, Wright at Nova etc etc... Mind you none of these guys took over a program that had to have a complete foundation built like Lavin had to. Anyway we'll see how the chips fall over the next couple weeks.

My main issue with the constant improvement is, what about next year? He certainly has NOT set up this program for stabilized success. Unless everything breaks right this off season, we could have many ugly years ahead. We should not be doing a full rebuild at this point in his tenure

When did you finally wake up and smell the toast?

 

[room112]

i took Lavin at his word and believed him that this Program would be resurrected and become a contender again in the BE Conference and nationally. He did not meet those goals as a Coach. He has had adequate time to build a Program and, hasn't.

Are you really that delusional? So him having us nationally ranked in 2 of 4 years on the bench and making the tourney in 2 of 4 years doesn't constitute being resurrected from the pit of dispare the program had been in for a decade? Maybe YOU and the others you mention should be realists in your expectations for St Johns University... Have you built a program from scratch in a major conference? Just curious how long it takes and what it should look like after 5 years... 3 20 win seasons seems like a damn good foundation to build off of.

Being nationally ranked in December in the grand scheme isn't that great. Seton hall was nationally ranked and I don't see their fan base endorsing Willard. It's all about March, and Lavin is 7-18 overall and 2-9 in tournaments at SJU.

Look at any successful head coach that has taken over a dead program in a major conference. Show me one coach who had to create a program from absolute scratch in a major conference that has a .600 plus winning percentage within the first 5 years of rebuild. If you can't see what he has been able to accomplish than there is no need to debate this. Improvement every year. Would i like to see a better winning percentage in March, of course. However it's nice actually playing in mid March once again. I just don't think you and the others look at things realistically. Look at Coach Ks first 5 years at Duke, Wright at Nova etc etc... Mind you none of these guys took over a program that had to have a complete foundation built like Lavin had to. Anyway we'll see how the chips fall over the next couple weeks.

My main issue with the constant improvement is, what about next year? He certainly has NOT set up this program for stabilized success. Unless everything breaks right this off season, we could have many ugly years ahead. We should not be doing a full rebuild at this point in his tenure

Many ugly years? It's certainly possible. It's why the buy out is a key part of the extension.

Which is why I say cut ties now. Aside from a recruiting miracle, how are we going to be good in the coming years? Might as well let someone else start from scratch now or else we could set back the program even further

 

[simplyred]

SJU also needs to give Lavin the tools that he needs and spend more money on upgrading the facilities, which I hear is also a problem.

I don'tbuy tha the facilities are a problem. Taffner is relatively new and was a big upgrade over what we had before. CA is a dump but we are not gonna build a 10,000 seat arena on campus. We play a majority of our games at the Garden. It was just totally renovated and is a great place for a basketball game. Better dorms for athletes (like UK)?

Check your facts
We played 10 games at CA and 8 at MSG this year

Add the Pre-season NIT and our BET game and it's 11-10 MSG---since we are being technical.

 

[Section3]

Just as an aside.. this is off topic.. My opinion.. I would have thought Lavin could have thrown a bouquet to Polee in his press conference . It would have been a classy thing to do..And, was surprised he made no mention.

Polee almost single handed broke our back in the game Friday night.. Especially, with the health issues Polee experienced this season and came back from.

Dwayne was his first major recruit and while he left, I thought Polee would have been an asset to SJU as a 4 year player. I do not know what happened but, was he pushed out of the Program for Jakarr and Moe? Might that have been a miscalculation by Steve? Especially, since Jakarr did not qualify to play that year...

A lot of guys left, did not qualify or transferred in lavin's time here.

Polee? He deserved some praise as a opposing player who played well against us.

Just a thought.

Do you know how many kids have transferred from NC state since Mark took over as coach? More than we had leave, and look what they did to Nova! You are reaching

I don't think I am but, your entitled to express a differing view. Lavin promotes a touchy , feely type atmosphere that I think he likes to portray in public.. Polee, I think deserved a little accolade from Steve.

That was the main point I tried to make. NC State isn't my concern or interest.

A few years ago the Wear twins and Larry Drew transferred to Ucla, they were from Cali, do you think UNC fans wanted to see Roy Williams give praise to them? Polee went back home and I wouldn't want my coach heaping praise on a kid that left

Instead he put some of the blame on kids that left

BS..stop stretching the facts...there was no blame game played...

EDIT: My comments are based on assumption that you are referring to Lavin during post game press conference..If not, my apologies

"Nobody expected Harless and Sampson to leave early, no one expected Amir to leave for baseball"

Why did he bring this up?

This wasnt a monologue..he was asked questions...these references, if anything, were used as reasons...dont see him blaming anyone...if you want to say that he should have adapted and brought in other guys, I Have no issue...but I dont think he was blaming anyone..

Fact is, losing those guys early did impact our success over the past 3 years...Who has Nova lost to early to the NBA over the past 3-4 years?
Again, lots of things to carp about with the results, recruiting etc...but dont think he was blaming anyone or making stuff up

 

[Section3]

SJU also needs to give Lavin the tools that he needs and spend more money on upgrading the facilities, which I hear is also a problem.

I don'tbuy tha the facilities are a problem. Taffner is relatively new and was a big upgrade over what we had before. CA is a dump but we are not gonna build a 10,000 seat arena on campus. We play a majority of our games at the Garden. It was just totally renovated and is a great place for a basketball game. Better dorms for athletes (like UK)?

Actually, the building of dorms hurt our local recruiting
Years ago, local kids were eager to come to SJU to pocket the cost of living stipend
Dorms have been great for out of town recruits, not so much for NYC area kids
As for Taffner, my friend saw it for the first time this year and thought it was a dump

they still get the stipend from what I understand as long as they liv off campus

 

[paultzman]

It would be ironic after all this back & forth if Lavin opts to walk.

Yep. And I could see how any coach would do that if he didn't have a ton of recruits on the horizon and didn't want next years potential poor team to affect his long term prospects since walking into final year of contract.

Exactly Mike. He also may not agree with all the terms. Just thinking out loud. Hopefully that does not make me a "hater" or "disciple".

 

[mjmaherjr]

It would be ironic after all this back & forth if Lavin opts to walk.

Yep. And I could see how any coach would do that if he didn't have a ton of recruits on the horizon and didn't want next years potential poor team to affect his long term prospects since walking into final year of contract.

Exactly Mike. He also may not agree with all the terms. Just thinking out loud. Hopefully that does not make me a "hater" or "disciple".

No one can do that. They have to refer to you as the redmen.com poster bracket champion

 

[paultzman]

It would be ironic after all this back & forth if Lavin opts to walk.

Yep. And I could see how any coach would do that if he didn't have a ton of recruits on the horizon and didn't want next years potential poor team to affect his long term prospects since walking into final year of contract.

Exactly Mike. He also may not agree with all the terms. Just thinking out loud. Hopefully that does not make me a "hater" or "disciple".

No one can do that. They have to refer to you as the redmen.com poster bracket champion

Mike, you will be champ in the morning after title is vacated. Two of those seven footers Lawman noted on my team, took SATs after two years at Rise Academy.