Eye on the Storm Podcast: Fran Fraschilla

Beasts of the East said:
....... In the end Fran got fired in 3 years at his next gig, so it wasn't like we lost a great coach. He likely took the same act on the road and it was not well received. And NM was a job Fran said he really wanted, unlike the SJU job, which Fran never wanted. Yep he said that.
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I have always believed that there were 2 losers in the StJ's/ Fran Fraschilla saga.

Fran lost because he was too young and immature at the time to grasp the opportunities to coach in the Big East at age 37 and thereby lost the ability to be the successful career college coach he could have been.

StJ's lost because it lost the opportunity to have the successful coach which Fran had the ability to be.
 
Beasts of the East said:
I loved the detail about recruiting Artest and Elton Brand, namely one or the other. As a high schooler Brand was more highly regarded, but for certain we didn't do badly getting Artest, though a friend in the AD heard Jarvis say after Ron left that he was the craziest kid he had ever coached.


Secondly, he claimed, perhaps rightly.that he was the lowest paid coach in the Big East,.but pretty certain that coming from.Manhattan he had gotten huge bump. From memory I think Looie made 125k, and Mahoney topped out at 400k. I cannot imagine that if Fran made 80k at Manhattan that he was making less than 225k at St. John's. Cal may have advised him to shop himself, but coming off a disappointing first round ncaa exit with Lopez, Zendon, turner and Artest his timing was awful.
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Definitely not surprised about that description of Ron, don't think anyone can be lol

Fran's contract at SJU I believe was 4 years 450k per year I've read
 
Beasts of the East said:
If Fran admits to being "an asshole" leading up to the Detroit game, there's a very good chance that act long preceded it and wore thin on Harrington and Manetta (less so Manetta). I recall he inflamed a player's mom who questioned whybher son wasn't playing more, and he essentially said "Look who is syarying ahead of him. Your son stinks"

Fran was by all means a plugged in great local recruiter. Did he develop Felipe or Zendon and take them to their best seasons? No. I would say Fran had some of the components of a great coach, but was missing some key attributes that undid him. After getting fired by st. Johns and NM I can't imagine there wete many D1 takers. All in all I have no malice, but we certainly didn't fumble away the next Jay Wright.
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I think so much of Fran's "shortcomings" or "mistakes" were due to ego and lack of big time experience and I think if you read between the lines of what he said he basically admits that. The fact that he apologized to so many players after the fact when he looked back on how he treated them insinuated so. He references the statute of limitations early on and I think in a humorous way time has allowed him to see his tenure in such a different light - as naturally it would as you get older and wiser and mature. (which directly opposes a lot of the articles that came out about his firing the few months and years after) I spoke to a lot of former players and people around the program about Fran before I spoke to Fran to get insight on that time. The stuff I was told is in the same vein as you're talking about. Ultimately it's great to hear how people grow and look back on the pivotal moments in their lives and how it shapes them and the people they touched in that time.

Mainly I was just really appreciative of the stories and open dialogue Fran and I had on air and off. He was incredibly generous with his time and information. I hope everyone listening was able to get that impression.
 
Fantastic interview by Dave and we are fortunate to hear Fran’s side of the story. That being said, thought it was kind of lazy for him to indirectly blame Cal and Vitale for taking other interviews. It may be true he was never going to take the ASU job, but why play with fire. Never let others count your own money.
 
SJUDave said:
I think so much of Fran's "shortcomings" or "mistakes" were due to ego and lack of big time experience and I think if you read between the lines of what he said he basically admits that. The fact that he apologized to so many players after the fact when he looked back on how he treated them insinuated so. He references the statute of limitations early on and I think in a humorous way time has allowed him to see his tenure in such a different light - as naturally it would as you get older and wiser and mature. (which directly opposes a lot of the articles that came out about his firing the few months and years after) I spoke to a lot of former players and people around the program about Fran before I spoke to Fran to get insight on that time. The stuff I was told is in the same vein as you're talking about. Ultimately it's great to hear how people grow and look back on the pivotal moments in their lives and how it shapes them and the people they touched in that time.

Mainly I was just really appreciative of the stories and open dialogue Fran and I had on air and off. He was incredibly generous with his time and information. I hope everyone listening was able to get that impression.
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Had he taken the long view and re-established sustainable winning, perhaps the money would have been there for him here.

In terms of his salary at slightly more than Mahoney's, that makes sense. Even him seeking a bump was not crazy, given that I think sju put together a package for Jarvis including tv show, sneaker/apparel, and coaching north of 700k, but they also thought they were going deep for a well established coach.

Fran's version lends a lot of credence to ASU never offering. Had they he offered he'd have taken it

Harrington had little interest in sports and for many reasons liked the presence and track record of Jarvis.

For lots of reason Fran plus Jarvis led to Norm, a nice guy who wouldn't cause problems as opposed to Doherty who left a meltdown at UNC. Harrington was sick of prima donas

School still thought the brand made success and not the coach and to look at itbwith what we know now is a different prism
 
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espken said:
Fantastic interview by Dave and we are fortunate to hear Fran’s side of the story. That being said, thought it was kind of lazy for him to indirectly blame Cal and Vitale for taking other interviews. It may be true he was never going to take the ASU job, but why play with fire. Never let others count your own money.
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To be fair, he has always said this part in articles and interviews. Makes me think he really leaned on them for advice
 
SJUDave said:
To be fair, he has always said this part in articles and interviews. Makes me think he really leaned on them for advice
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I joined this board when Fran was still coach. I got feedback from people connected to NYC basketball that Fran's toughness on players was perceived by some as racist. May not be true at all but that is a tough rap when trying to recruit in NYC.
 
fuchsia said:
I joined this board when Fran was still coach. I got feedback from people connected to NYC basketball that Fran's toughness on players was perceived by some as racist. May not be true at all but that is a tough rap when trying to recruit in NYC.
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The aforementioned allegation is unproven and should not be repeated without first-hand knowledge of an incident.

Please do not make anyone "guilty by allegation".
 
Be mindful that when Fran was here, Alumni Hall was still viewed as a multi purpose facility. We had the track team pole vaulting on the main court area before we came out, sprinters running the upstairs hallways as were the hurdlers, banging over hurdles on a concrete floor during basketball practice. Baseball and softball also used the main arena for winter fielding practice. Add into that the many times the hoops teams, both men and women, had to vacate Alumni Hall and become vagabonds multiple times a week and find a local gym to practice at because of scheduling conflicts with University open houses, winter commencement, Christmas shows, and whatever else Calendar Clearance could squeeze in there. Heck we could not even give visiting hoops teams a locker room to change or privacy when they arrived for their shoot around as our athletes still worked out upstairs, much to the anger of visiting team coaches who stuck it to us when we tried to practice at their campus.
We even had to clear out of our own locker room on several occasions as they needed our room for visiting teams when we went on the road. Not to mention the constant flooding of the facilities on the ground floor of Alumni after storms.
This drove our coaches nuts! Of course the grass was greener. No other Coaching staffs in the Big East had to put up with the malarkey placed on us!

This time period also corresponded with the times many other schools started planning on practice gyms. Fran always stated it was easier to recruit and hold practice with better player development at a major D1 football type school that did not have the facility problems that we encountered for years, and did not end till Jarvis made it clear to the administration how far we were falling behind our Big East brothers in that area. Then in Jarvis's final season did the 3rd Floor agree to building Taffner.
 
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This interview was terrific. Fran was very transparent - it seemed like you got the real guy, warts and all. I have always thought that had he stayed the Johnnies would have been good for a long time. Fran was a hot-head, but he was young and hungry. He wouldn't have gotten lazy like Jarvis did. Fran would have left for a bigger gig eventually, but we would have had a run of success as long as he was at St. John's.
 
Alumni Hall said:
Be mindful that when Fran was here, Alumni Hall was still viewed as a multi purpose facility. We had the track team pole vaulting on the main court area before we came out, sprinters running the upstairs hallways as were the hurdlers, banging over hurdles on a concrete floor during basketball practice. Baseball and softball also used the main arena for winter fielding practice. Add into that the many times the hoops teams, both men and women, had to vacate Alumni Hall and become vagabonds multiple times a week and find a local gym to practice at because of scheduling conflicts with University open houses, winter commencement, Christmas shows, and whatever else Calendar Clearance could squeeze in there. Heck we could not even give visiting hoops teams a locker room to change or privacy when they arrived for their shoot around as our athletes still worked out upstairs, much to the anger of visiting team coaches who stuck it to us when we tried to practice at their campus.
We even had to clear out of our own locker room on several occasions as they needed our room for visiting teams when we went on the road. Not to mention the constant flooding of the facilities on the ground floor of Alumni after storms.
This drove our coaches nuts! Of course the grass was greener. No other Coaching staffs in the Big East had to put up with the malarkey placed on us!

This time period also corresponded with the times many other schools started planning on practice gyms. Fran always stated it was easier to recruit and hold practice with better player development at a major D1 football type school that did not have the facility problems that we encountered for years, and did not end till Jarvis made it clear to the administration how far we were falling behind our Big East brothers in that area. Then in Jarvis's final season did the 3rd Floor agree to building Taffner.
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Great stuff. I love reading about your experiences and perspective. Thank you. Pretty sure everyone else does too
 
RedmanMike said:
This interview was terrific. Fran was very transparent - it seemed like you got the real guy, warts and all. I have always thought that had he stayed the Johnnies would have been good for a long time. Fran was a hot-head, but he was young and hungry. He wouldn't have gotten lazy like Jarvis did. Fran would have left for a bigger gig eventually, but we would have had a run of success as long as he was at St. John's.
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Two different coaches who handled thing differently. Fran, knowing better recruiting and player development meant better facilities, looked to Az State. Jarvis, knowing that Harrington was not backing hoops financially as other programs in the Big East (no player laptops and academic support, poor weight room and sports med facilities, no charter flights and long ass bus trips and other Big East schools told recruits that) and his request for improved practice and support facilities was going on deaf ears, went into a if your not gonna help the hoops program, then I’m going to taper down my commitment to your hoop program. And it just spiraled downwards in his relationship with Harrington .Just like in the old days, they gave Louie a roll of Subway tokens and told him to go recruit, SJU had a history of telling people to do with what we have. And that continued until Taffner was built in the early years of Norms tenure. Real financial support didn’t occur until Coach Lav got there. We were not even allowed to step into the Knicks facilities at the Garden until Lav came!
 
Alumni Hall said:
Two different coaches who handled thing differently. Fran, knowing better recruiting and player development meant better facilities, looked to Az State. Jarvis, knowing that Harrington was not backing hoops financially as other programs in the Big East (no player laptops and academic support, poor weight room and sports med facilities, and other Big East schools told recruits that) and his request for improved practice and support facilities was going on deaf ears, went into a if your not gonna help the hoops program, then I’m going to taper down my commitment to your hoop program. And it just spiraled downwards in his relationship with Harrington .Just like in the old days, they gave Louie a roll of Subway tokens and told him to go recruit, SJU had a history of telling people to do with what we have. And that continued until Taffner was built in the early years of Norms tenure. Real financial support didn’t occur until Coach Lav got there.
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If I am not mistaken, the sports information department received an award for the photo cover of the 1999 (I think) basketball media guide with the team posing in hard hats to show the school had plans to construct a new practice facility.

I do not know if the delays in what became Taffner, caused greater friction between Fr. Harrington and Jarvis.

Good times. Good times. Yikes.
 
kranmars said:
If I am not mistaken, the sports information department received an award for the photo cover of the 1999 (I think) basketball media guide with the team posing in hard hats to show the school had plans to construct a new practice facility.

I do not know if the delays in what became Taffner, caused greater friction between Fr. Harrington and Jarvis.

Good times. Good times. Yikes.
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That was for a team motto of lunch pail hard hat players….the idea of a practice facility was nota though or discussed until Jarvis’ last year after he got canned in December. Kevin Clark took over as coach at the time.
 
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