beast of the east
Active member
No. But once they couldnt work that out, Lavin was a lame duck with no other option but to fire him and let him collect his buyout.
Lavin parting ways with St.John's
- Thread starter REDMEN8091
- Start date
No. But once they couldnt work that out, Lavin was a lame duck with no other option but to fire him and let him collect his buyout.
A very fair and respectful post Johnnyfan however I do not believe we have to spend more than we spent on our prior staff to obtain a better staff. As a matter of fact I believe the exact opposite is true. For all we paid the recruiting the last few years should have been much much better. A bench of Branch , Belamou, Jones , Amar is an absolute joke in the big east after 5 years especially when half the team is graduating.
I think one thing that excites me about this is the administration stepped up and made a tough decision, and chose the riskier side.
Look, to the outsider looking in, it seemed like Lavin did a great job. Even many die hard fans wanted him back. But you really had to take a deep look into everything that has gone on during his tenure, and prospects for the future, to get a real view
Look, to the outsider looking in, it seemed like Lavin did a great job. Even many die hard fans wanted him back. But you really had to take a deep look into everything that has gone on during his tenure, and prospects for the future, to get a real view
See and the one thing that worries me most is they did it to save money. They decided Lavin wasn't achieving to the level of his pay. OK, fine.
Now they are looking for a cheaper option, well what does that say about their expectations for the program? It says they'd be fine with the results of the last five years. It says they want to take the $10 mill per year from Fox and pocket it. That's what it says to me. What's going to happen when the next TV contract reduces the annual payment by half? Go DIII?
Um. Yes.
Depends on how much but I think if he did better recruiting they would've worked it out. At the end of the day I think the effort ran out from lavin. He wants to be on the west coast not here. IMO Arizona state would be smart to hire him
beast of the east
Active member
o
That's not how a contract works. Lavin couldn't elect to leave and collect the buyout. When they failed to come to terms on the extension, Lavin is only due the buyout is SJU elects to buy him out of his last year. If they wanted him back as a lame duck it was in their sole discretion, not his. If he walked out on the last year he'd be entitled to nothing.
I'm not getting why many of you are assuming the school low-balled Lavin, as opposed to Lavin high-balling the school? Has that been reported anywhere? IMO the school made him an offer(money and terms) commensurate to what he accomplished. He felt he was worth a fair amount more. Based on his sound bites, that's not a reach. The sides weren't close. End of negotiation.
beast of the east
Active member
My opinion: Without a doubt. They didn't begrudge the money. They didn't want to pay this kind of money to not have a single outstanding season. Both NCAA bid seasons were accentuated by mid BE season runs, and losses in the BET and NCAA without a single good performance. Had he gone to an Elite 8, a sweet sixteen, and had a plus .500 ncaa record, he'd still be here.
It would be interesting seeing how he would do at ASU. I hope he goes somewhere because he has the players best interest at heart. I don't think it was lack of effort from him. I think his personality or style did not fit well with a segment of fans. He is not exactly a win at all cost coach and he has his much discussed limitations as a coach. I also think if he did win more here he would have asked for much more money and would have been hard to keep here.
Now, we see what the next chapter brings.
beast of the east
Active member
Of course nothing has been made public yet, but it stands to reason that unless Lavin is delusional, he did not have a basis to ask for a big raise, but the school had a basis to restructure his salary with performance incentives. It wouldn't have dragged on a few days if they were headed in opposite directions (Lavin high and SJU low). A contract is a meeting of the minds. If Lavin truly wanted to stay and SJU truly wanted him, they would have made a deal. Apparently what SJU wanted to pay and what Lavin wanted were two different things.
I'm completely comfortable if that's the way it played out. Our ceiling at this point was quite low with LAvin at the helm, if the past 5 years are an indication.
Agreed. I really think they were torn about this. IMO they would have given him a few more years at the salary in the range of what his was making with a fair buy out clause for them. Maybe because I've been an employer for the past 30 years, I tend to give the benefit of the doubt to the employer in determining the value of an employee. None of us know what actually went on behind the scenes(IE how hard, or not, the staff worked, whether the administration liked Lavin, etc.)
Was it his fault that dj Kennedy was hurt in the be game against syracuse? That cost us that game plus a run I the big dance. Remember they changed our seeding due yo his injury.
was it his fault that obekpa smoked pot? They can't watch these idiots 24 hr a day.
is he to blame because jordan was a head case, not to mention harrison's first two hot head years?
was it his fault that Harkness and Sampson jumped to the nba?
I can go on. I don't think the school president has a clue as to what has happened. Now everyone wants mullin? mullin won't be passing or shooting. Living in the past won't bring st johns back. this program is dying fast, if it isn't already dead
beast of the east
Active member
Dee, for an entire season, I've been a main target of the anti-Lavin gang, being called an apologist. Then on the day of the BIG game, there was Lavin, answering a question I posed about Harrison and Branch's health, and launching into a diatribe of how things may have been if he had Sampson, Amir, Harkless on this roster (he forgot at Thomas). The reason those things you mentioned hurt is that Lavin's roster was not deep enough with talent. Every top program deals with defections to the NBA and reloads. Stop being a Lavin, uh, uh, uh apologist.