Happy Birthday Coach Lavin

M

MarkRedman

Well-known member
Happy 56th birthday Coach Lavin
You look great - keep drinking from the fountain of youth
Keep up the great work you do on college hoops broadcasts
Enjoy your special day!!
 
Happy Birthday Lavs!
Solid representative of the program. Was wearing an SJU mask the other day.
 
[quote="Double J" post=397629]Nice birthday post from Rysheed Jordan. Clearly Lavin really connected with his players

[URL]https://www.instagram.com/p/CEvQQbIDDtr/?utm_source[/URL]=ig_web_copy_link[/quote]



This post right here says all that is necessary to know about Coach Lavin, he cared about his players as individuals. Remember, he was no longer the St Johns coach when Jordan was arrested.

He has also provided opportunities for players and managers to assist him with his broadcasts. He has donated to the Athletic Development Department. While his tenure here may not have ended well, I appreciate the fact that he brought back a semblance of respectability to the program.

I believe that he would have been successful if he did not have to deall with cancer during his second year.
 
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Didn't realize he's only 56. Wonder if he'll ever get a serious itch to coach again.
 
Dude was often maligned as a phony.
I think his career post-SJU shows how wrong that perception was.
 
[quote="Double J" post=397629]Nice birthday post from Rysheed Jordan. Clearly Lavin really connected with his players

[URL]https://www.instagram.com/p/CEvQQbIDDtr/?utm_source[/URL]=ig_web_copy_link[/quote] Lavin is very genuine with his players. He would visit Jordan in prison without seeking any publicity from it Just because he cared about him
 
Happy Birthday Lavs! Definitely more maligned than he should have been. He did a good job here and imo was always a good person to his players. Represented himself well and is now a part of our history.
 
[quote="panther2" post=397634][quote="Double J" post=397629]Nice birthday post from Rysheed Jordan. Clearly Lavin really connected with his players

[URL]https://www.instagram.com/p/CEvQQbIDDtr/?utm_source[/URL]=ig_web_copy_link[/quote]



This post right here says all that is necessary to know about Coach Lavin, he cared about his players as individuals. Remember, he was no longer the St Johns coach when Jordan was arrested.

He has also provided opportunities for players and managers to assist him with his broadcasts. He has donated to the Athletic Development Department. While his tenure here may not have ended well, I appreciate the fact that he brought back a semblance of respectability to the program.

I believe that he would have ben successful if he did not have to deall with cancer during his second year.[/quote]
Absolutely believe he would have been successful
 
During his cancer-related hiatus, I passed him and his wife at MSG. Gave him a shout out. He didn’t big time me. Stopped and said hello. Very likable guy who could recruit with the best of them.
 
[quote="MainMan" post=397642]Dude was often maligned as a phony.
I think his career post-SJU shows how wrong that perception was.[/quote]

Yes. On here.
 
[quote="Section3" post=397653]During his cancer-related hiatus, I passed him and his wife at MSG. Gave him a shout out. He didn’t big time me. Stopped and said hello. Very likable guy who could recruit with the best of them.[/quote]

I met his brother go into into msg at the BET one season. We were just chatting on the way in and I ask him he went to st. John's. He said, no, that he traveled from out if state to see us play. I asked him if he knew anyone on the team and he said. "My brother coaches." Completely unassuming and couldn't have been nicer.
I told Lavin about this once and he verified it was his brother.

Definitely a good family. As Moose said, he restored a program that many doubted could be competitive again.
 
When we played UCLA out there when he was the coach, at the post game reception he asked my wife and I if we wanted to go to breakfast the next day. Gave me his number but I felt odd taking him up on his offer. (We had met at his welcome dinner and was sincerely interested with my stories about my father seeing games at DeGray gym in the 1930s. He appreciated the history we have).

On a side note, watched a little of UConn-TX in 2011 on ESPNU today. UConn was something like 32-9, 9-9 in the BE for 9th place. We were 12-6 and tied for 3rd. Totally forgot that and that was Steve's team. The days of the bloated BE.
 
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Lavin is a good guy and and an excellent recruiter who brought us back into relevance. Certainly had his faults but more pluses than minuses imho.
Wish him all the best.
 
If there was a real AD when Lavin was here things might have been different. More accountability in terms of players and staff. Just maybe then we would have developed a longer sustaining successful program.
 
[quote="Moose" post=397672]If there was a real AD when Lavin was here things might have been different. More accountability in terms of players and staff. Just maybe then we would have developed a longer sustaining successful program.[/quote]

Without opening another wound the same has been said about Mullin, who had zero guidance from an experienced AD to provide guidance.

Your point about Lavin is valid, but as an inexperienced coach, Mullin needed an AD much much more when he came here. Guessing the Slice debacle would not have festered that long if we had an AD that year.

With Mike and Mike we have two guys who absolutely know what it takes to win, and what we need to do it. Stay tuned.
 
[quote="Moose" post=397691][quote="Beast of the East" post=397688]Same with Mullin really[/quote]

Correct[/quote]

Not to rehash the past failures, but I had a really good discussion recently with someone I respect immensely.
He said that fans give Mitch Richmond a really bad rap, but he was a very good teacher who helped the players and whom they respected immensely. I won't debate the other stuff, but wanted to put out there that Richmond had a positive role he was never given credit for.
 
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