Reviving the thread topic about a firing is just an exercise in futility. It's not going to happen, and even the mot ardent proponent of firing should be aware of that. But post away if it makes you feel better. That;s not to goad the fire Lavin crowd - although in some nefarious way, a let's grab the pitchfork and torches mentality seems the fuel the tone here. There's almost a blood lust in the tone of "Fire Lavin" intonations. It comes from a bad place within. There's almost a revelry about it, a joy in the failure that is insidiously attached to the sincere letdown of losing a shot at the bid. it's also self serving, as in, "We know better, and firing the coach is better."
For the most part it went away during the 10 game run that produced 8 wins in 9 conference games. Some of you even justified the earlier calls for firing by "blaming" the improvement on Whitesell's more active role on the sidelines. Others were largely silent during the winning streak, only to return now.
Don't mistake the opinion of "keep Lavin" as a lack of passion, or misplaced loyalty. In big games, the only reason I'm in my seat and not standing through the games' critical moments is because I sit down when I realize I'm probably blocking the view of fans behind me who chose to actually sit in their seats. I took an afternoon off from work despite some pretty important issues on my desk.
Losing is never fun. I get it. UCLA has spent the past 39 years firing coaches simply because they couldn't approach the success of John Wooden. Joe B. Hall followed Adolph Rupp at Kentucky, and despite finishing ranked in 10 of 13 seasons and winning one NCAA title, he was criticized throughout his tenure before being released. This program has spent the last 22 seasons trying to repeat the consistent winning that Coach Carnesecca had. Well, now we say that. Back then, many of us hoped his replacement could finally elevate the program to compete with a two mentioned in this paragraph. In 2012 Kentucky unveiled a statue hailing Joe B. Hall. We named our court after Lou C.
We had the previous two BE ROY's and nearly a third this season. Our other guard is a first team Big East player. The center we are questioning in another thread right now has game altering shot blocking skills. Glass half full? Probably. But before you fill the glass, it has to reach the half full mark.
I don't know if any of the "Fire Lavin" crowd have ever been fired, at least fired from a job that was supporting your family. I'm not talking about getting fired from CVS in your teens or 20s - I mean getting fired when your salary is getting eaten up by diapers, rent or mortgage, and car lease payments. I'm not saying that people that coach for a profession shouldn't be subject to firing, but also that if you considered that you may or even should be fired tomorrow morning because someone above you thought you weren't smart enough, hard working enough, or simply competent enough, you wouldn't be so casual in your assertions.
For most of us, sports is an escape - a chance for a few hours a week to not think about tuition payments or dentist bills, and to make our favorite team's winning or losing the most important thing in the world. However, when it starts to really become the most important thing in the world, it's time to work harder on other parts of our lives.
Makes you wonder what guys would be feeling had Sampson made that layup, and we pulled out this game. Probably an out-of-kilter elation.
Yesterday's SNY Daily News and Loud Mouths show both discussed St.John's elimination as well as Lavin's lackluster performance. Really sounded as if they got their information from our elite Redmen.com. They talked about our team being the most talented in the B.E., however underachieving all season. Didn't think much of Lavin as a coach, in fact claimed he was more of a salesman and a recruiter then a X & O tactician. "How successful a coach has he been overall during his career", one commented. They felt his analyst job with ESPN established his popularity.
