Mike Repole

[MJDinkins]

I've long chalked it up to some of 'em being miserable beings.

 

[Red.Fans]

Bash Lavin all you want, but please understand desco that just because we don't bash Lavin all the time, doesn't make us "blind followers" of him. That's a misconception that you need to realize.

Just because many voice their opinions that they are tired of threads being derailed by Lavin bashing, doesn't mean they are blind followers or have their head in the sand.

Take me for instance, I'm disappointed in Lavin right now, no doubt, but I don't bring it all up the time because pretty much anything you can say bad about Lavin (recruiting, in game coaching, wardrobe, way he answers to media, etc.) has been said on this site over and over. Just because many don't bring it up constantly doesn't mean they like Lavin or support him blindly, they just post content that is relevant to the topic at hand.

you're in high school right? very well stated.

 

[L J S A]

recruited a rapist?

I take it you aren't a defense lawyer?

Whether it's alleged or convicted makes little difference to the image of a Catholic school. Life isn't fair. A scholarship is a privilege, not an entitlement.
A coach recruiting a player like Artis better know he's got the ok to proceed from his administration.

His name will be popping up again if we whiff on other targets.

 

[1and1sju]

Bash Lavin all you want, but please understand desco that just because we don't bash Lavin all the time, doesn't make us "blind followers" of him. That's a misconception that you need to realize.

Just because many voice their opinions that they are tired of threads being derailed by Lavin bashing, doesn't mean they are blind followers or have their head in the sand.

Take me for instance, I'm disappointed in Lavin right now, no doubt, but I don't bring it all up the time because pretty much anything you can say bad about Lavin (recruiting, in game coaching, wardrobe, way he answers to media, etc.) has been said on this site over and over. Just because many don't bring it up constantly doesn't mean they like Lavin or support him blindly, they just post content that is relevant to the topic at hand.

you're in high school right? very well stated.

Fair enough Jack. And I'm not accusing you specifically of being a blind follower. But I do think some posters (yourself included) are sensitive to the hijacked thread situation.
This was an instance where a poster asked what would would make a prominent donor dissatisfied or what the coach could have done to turn him off. I'm not stirring the pot when I respond with the reasons some in our fan base dislike this coach. I've also heard from third parties that many of these critiques have been made by the person in question. That's as relevant as it gets.

One last thing, Mike you're entitled to your opinion but i don't think it's fair to say some of us want the program to fail, or not sign a recruit so the coach will look bad. I can't speak for monte or Otis or anyone else, but I presume they feel the same way I do. I've been an sju fan my whole life, what have I ever said that would make you think I'd rather be proven right on a msg board than see my favorite team succeed?

You support the coach and think he's the best option. That's fine. I respect that opinion. But I think some supporters get frustrated that they have nothing to point to (or very little) to prove their point. Don't take that out on us by saying we want to see the program fail or that were inherently mean people.

 

[beast of the east]

recruited a rapist?

I take it you aren't a defense lawyer?

Whether it's alleged or convicted makes little difference to the image of a Catholic school. Life isn't fair. A scholarship is a privilege, not an entitlement.
A coach recruiting a player like Artis better know he's got the ok to proceed from his administration.

It amazes me that mostly every thread has to have some bashing of our coach. Don't you get sick of consistently bashing?

Honestly, no. I think the program will be better off when he leaves. I'm sorry if that bothers you. But I also don't live with my head in the sand. If circumstances changed, my opinion of SL would as well. I would like nothing more than to say he's proving me wrong and the team is playing better than anyone expected.
But my tune won't change until he gives me a reason to. I don't have blind faith in this coach.

Honestly I believe that you and a few others are hoping IB and others don't sign here with the hope that coach will leave or get terminated. The fact that we are this far into his recruitment with a coach that doesn't have an extension speaks volume. If he signs here you better get used to coach being here a lot longer. Sorry if that bothers you.

I understand and completely agree with your sentiment. To be fair to Desco, he did say that he hopes he is wrong and that the team wins. That's radically different from the end days of NR's regime, when some people on here vociferously rooted for use to lose in order to be the catalyst for his removal. I was outspoken in that I didn't like Roberts, but would root for him to win against any odds, because for me, that's what any fan of a team does. As long as Lavin is with this program, I ultimately want to see him cut down nets, whether they be Big East Championships, or the elusive, well-beyond-our-dreams NCAA championship. I don't drink "Kool-Aid" as some of the flamers on here contend, but I don't come here to be reminded by self-identified smarter people that Lavin hasn't brought the program where we all want it to be, at least not be reminded on a daily basis.

 

[beast of the east]

On the topic of Repole, I do think that any wealthy alumnus who has focused their philanthropic attention on restoring and elevating the basketball program is a big plus for SJU. There are others like him who have donated as much or more and been not publicly identified. Among the biggest donors though, I don't know if any of them were long term season ticket holder gym rats, who suffered in person with us for decades. (Well, maybe JSJ). I'd love to hear if any of you know of anyone who has contributed mightily to SJU and also sat with us in former good times, and also sat through the demise and fall of the program. Extreme wealth and philanthropy is fantastic, but I also hold to an extent, a higher value to those of us who stood on frozen, slushy railroad platforms or bumper to bumper traffic in horrid conditions to trudge into the Garden for what was sure to be a whipping at the hands of a better foe. By all accounts, Mike Repole is a sports fanatic, a Mets fan (+++) and loves SJU bball. I just don't know if his love was more form a distance as he built a phenomenal career.

 

[Avon Barksdale]

recruited a rapist?

I take it you aren't a defense lawyer?

Whether it's alleged or convicted makes little difference to the image of a Catholic school. Life isn't fair. A scholarship is a privilege, not an entitlement.
A coach recruiting a player like Artis better know he's got the ok to proceed from his administration.

It amazes me that mostly every thread has to have some bashing of our coach. Don't you get sick of consistently bashing?

Honestly, no. I think the program will be better off when he leaves. I'm sorry if that bothers you. But I also don't live with my head in the sand. If circumstances changed, my opinion of SL would as well. I would like nothing more than to say he's proving me wrong and the team is playing better than anyone expected.
But my tune won't change until he gives me a reason to. I don't have blind faith in this coach.

I would also think that St. John's would be less tolerant of this because of what happened in Pittsburgh ten years ago. That was really what sent the program into a complete tailspin after Jarvis was fired. Lavin should have used some common sense with the Artis situation and known beforehand that he was off limits. bForgiveness is one thing, but bringing in someone with this baggage after what transpired here in 2004 is not acceptable.

 

[beast of the east]

recruited a rapist?

I take it you aren't a defense lawyer?

Whether it's alleged or convicted makes little difference to the image of a Catholic school. Life isn't fair. A scholarship is a privilege, not an entitlement.
A coach recruiting a player like Artis better know he's got the ok to proceed from his administration.

It amazes me that mostly every thread has to have some bashing of our coach. Don't you get sick of consistently bashing?

Honestly, no. I think the program will be better off when he leaves. I'm sorry if that bothers you. But I also don't live with my head in the sand. If circumstances changed, my opinion of SL would as well. I would like nothing more than to say he's proving me wrong and the team is playing better than anyone expected.
But my tune won't change until he gives me a reason to. I don't have blind faith in this coach.

I would also think that St. John's would be less tolerant of this because of what happened in Pittsburgh ten years ago. That was really what sent the program into a complete tailspin after Jarvis was fired. Lavin should have used some common sense with the Artis situation and known beforehand that he was off limits. bForgiveness is one thing, but bringing in someone with this baggage after what transpired here in 2004 is not acceptable.

To my knowledge, Lavin did not blindly go all out after this kid, and instead met with him, and tried to assess the kid and the situation. All of us at one time or another have been in a situation where we knew we shouldn't have been there and maybe even did a few things we weren't proud of when things got out of hand. Perhaps not rising to the level of sexual assault, but you get the point. I think Lavin was doing his due diligence on the kid, and then passed. I can't fault him for that.

 

[panther2]

recruited a rapist?

I take it you aren't a defense lawyer?

Whether it's alleged or convicted makes little difference to the image of a Catholic school. Life isn't fair. A scholarship is a privilege, not an entitlement.
A coach recruiting a player like Artis better know he's got the ok to proceed from his administration.

It amazes me that mostly every thread has to have some bashing of our coach. Don't you get sick of consistently bashing?

Honestly, no. I think the program will be better off when he leaves. I'm sorry if that bothers you. But I also don't live with my head in the sand. If circumstances changed, my opinion of SL would as well. I would like nothing more than to say he's proving me wrong and the team is playing better than anyone expected.
But my tune won't change until he gives me a reason to. I don't have blind faith in this coach.

I would also think that St. John's would be less tolerant of this because of what happened in Pittsburgh ten years ago. That was really what sent the program into a complete tailspin after Jarvis was fired. Lavin should have used some common sense with the Artis situation and known beforehand that he was off limits. bForgiveness is one thing, but bringing in someone with this baggage after what transpired here in 2004 is not acceptable.

What happened in Pittsburgh? Some kids went to a strip club and decided to have sex with a prostitute. If every fraternity member or plain college students who went to a strip club or picked up a prostitute were thrown out of school, there would be a lot of room in some colleges. What about the Wall Street types who have bachelor parties in strip clubs and hire strippers, should they all be fired. I am not condoning what happened, just want people to stop being so hypocritical in holding athletes to a higher moral standard.
Willie Shaw's college career ended when he was arrested for smoking marijuana. Thank God he is doing well now. If they said whoever toked could no longer post on Redmen.com, I wonder how many of us would be left. I know I wouldn't.
I have no idea what happened with Domonic Artis, but there are many different versions and he was never charged with a crime.
I met Mike Repole once, however I do not know him and have no idea how he feels about St Johns basketball and Coach Lavin.I would welcome anyone who has spoken to Mr. Repole about his feelings regarding Coach Lavin to post Mr. Repole's remarks using quotations, anything else is speculation or just plain fabrication!!!!!

 

[jumbo_peanuts]

recruited a rapist?

I take it you aren't a defense lawyer?

Whether it's alleged or convicted makes little difference to the image of a Catholic school. Life isn't fair. A scholarship is a privilege, not an entitlement.
A coach recruiting a player like Artis better know he's got the ok to proceed from his administration.

It amazes me that mostly every thread has to have some bashing of our coach. Don't you get sick of consistently bashing?

Honestly, no. I think the program will be better off when he leaves. I'm sorry if that bothers you. But I also don't live with my head in the sand. If circumstances changed, my opinion of SL would as well. I would like nothing more than to say he's proving me wrong and the team is playing better than anyone expected.
But my tune won't change until he gives me a reason to. I don't have blind faith in this coach.

I would also think that St. John's would be less tolerant of this because of what happened in Pittsburgh ten years ago. That was really what sent the program into a complete tailspin after Jarvis was fired. Lavin should have used some common sense with the Artis situation and known beforehand that he was off limits. bForgiveness is one thing, but bringing in someone with this baggage after what transpired here in 2004 is not acceptable.

So you want Lavin and the university to judge this kid based on what other individuals did 10 years ago in Pittsburgh?

 

[Avon Barksdale]

recruited a rapist?

I take it you aren't a defense lawyer?

Whether it's alleged or convicted makes little difference to the image of a Catholic school. Life isn't fair. A scholarship is a privilege, not an entitlement.
A coach recruiting a player like Artis better know he's got the ok to proceed from his administration.

It amazes me that mostly every thread has to have some bashing of our coach. Don't you get sick of consistently bashing?

Honestly, no. I think the program will be better off when he leaves. I'm sorry if that bothers you. But I also don't live with my head in the sand. If circumstances changed, my opinion of SL would as well. I would like nothing more than to say he's proving me wrong and the team is playing better than anyone expected.
But my tune won't change until he gives me a reason to. I don't have blind faith in this coach.

I would also think that St. John's would be less tolerant of this because of what happened in Pittsburgh ten years ago. That was really what sent the program into a complete tailspin after Jarvis was fired. Lavin should have used some common sense with the Artis situation and known beforehand that he was off limits. bForgiveness is one thing, but bringing in someone with this baggage after what transpired here in 2004 is not acceptable.

To my knowledge, Lavin did not blindly go all out after this kid, and instead met with him, and tried to assess the kid and the situation. All of us at one time or another have been in a situation where we knew we shouldn't have been there and maybe even did a few things we weren't proud of when things got out of hand. Perhaps not rising to the level of sexual assault, but you get the point. I think Lavin was doing his due diligence on the kid, and then passed. I can't fault him for that.

its just funny that Lavin was really the only coach from a major program who met with this kid to assess the situation.

To my knowledge the administration was irate that we were even being mentioned with Artis after what happened at Oregon, what happened at St Johns 10 years ago and what the mission of SJU is supposed to be (FYI the mission isnt to recruit alleged sex offenders to the school's marquee sports team).

Even if Lavin was just "doing his homework" its a horrible job by him because he did have knowledge vaguely about what happened at Orgeon; and lets be honest - if he did his job in the first place and recruited players to fill the roster he wouldnt have even been asking about the Artis kid...so any way you slice it its on Lavin.

 

[jumbo_peanuts]

recruited a rapist?

I take it you aren't a defense lawyer?

Whether it's alleged or convicted makes little difference to the image of a Catholic school. Life isn't fair. A scholarship is a privilege, not an entitlement.
A coach recruiting a player like Artis better know he's got the ok to proceed from his administration.

It amazes me that mostly every thread has to have some bashing of our coach. Don't you get sick of consistently bashing?

Honestly, no. I think the program will be better off when he leaves. I'm sorry if that bothers you. But I also don't live with my head in the sand. If circumstances changed, my opinion of SL would as well. I would like nothing more than to say he's proving me wrong and the team is playing better than anyone expected.
But my tune won't change until he gives me a reason to. I don't have blind faith in this coach.

I would also think that St. John's would be less tolerant of this because of what happened in Pittsburgh ten years ago. That was really what sent the program into a complete tailspin after Jarvis was fired. Lavin should have used some common sense with the Artis situation and known beforehand that he was off limits. bForgiveness is one thing, but bringing in someone with this baggage after what transpired here in 2004 is not acceptable.

To my knowledge, Lavin did not blindly go all out after this kid, and instead met with him, and tried to assess the kid and the situation. All of us at one time or another have been in a situation where we knew we shouldn't have been there and maybe even did a few things we weren't proud of when things got out of hand. Perhaps not rising to the level of sexual assault, but you get the point. I think Lavin was doing his due diligence on the kid, and then passed. I can't fault him for that.

To my knowledge the administration was irate that we were even being mentioned with Artis after what happened at Oregon, what happened at St Johns 10 years ago and what the mission of SJU is supposed to be (FYI the mission isnt to recruit alleged sex offenders to the school's marquee sports team).

Even if Lavin was just "doing his homework" its a horrible job by him because he did have knowledge vaguely about what happened at Orgeon; and lets be honest - if he did his job in the first place and recruited players to fill the roster he wouldnt have even been asking about the Artis kid...so any way you slice it its on Lavin.

What is the exact mission of the University?

If you want to turn this into a religious debate regarding the mission of the university, is there not part of the mission that includes forgiving people and giving people second chances? And isn't there part of the mission that follows the phrase, "let he who has not sinned cast the first stone."?

And obviously the mission of the university is not to recruit sex offenders. By the way, I find it interesting that you described him as 'alleged'. In other words, you described him as a suspected sex offender, not a convicted sex offender.....big difference.

If they truly want to follow the mission of the university, people like Artis should be the ones they are recruiting. Individuals who need help and need a second chance, especially when everyone else is turning their backs on them.

 

[simplyred]

K

recruited a rapist?

I take it you aren't a defense lawyer?

Whether it's alleged or convicted makes little difference to the image of a Catholic school. Life isn't fair. A scholarship is a privilege, not an entitlement.
A coach recruiting a player like Artis better know he's got the ok to proceed from his administration.

It amazes me that mostly every thread has to have some bashing of our coach. Don't you get sick of consistently bashing?

Honestly, no. I think the program will be better off when he leaves. I'm sorry if that bothers you. But I also don't live with my head in the sand. If circumstances changed, my opinion of SL would as well. I would like nothing more than to say he's proving me wrong and the team is playing better than anyone expected.
But my tune won't change until he gives me a reason to. I don't have blind faith in this coach.

I would also think that St. John's would be less tolerant of this because of what happened in Pittsburgh ten years ago. That was really what sent the program into a complete tailspin after Jarvis was fired. Lavin should have used some common sense with the Artis situation and known beforehand that he was off limits. bForgiveness is one thing, but bringing in someone with this baggage after what transpired here in 2004 is not acceptable.

To my knowledge, Lavin did not blindly go all out after this kid, and instead met with him, and tried to assess the kid and the situation. All of us at one time or another have been in a situation where we knew we shouldn't have been there and maybe even did a few things we weren't proud of when things got out of hand. Perhaps not rising to the level of sexual assault, but you get the point. I think Lavin was doing his due diligence on the kid, and then passed. I can't fault him for that.

To my knowledge the administration was irate that we were even being mentioned with Artis after what happened at Oregon, what happened at St Johns 10 years ago and what the mission of SJU is supposed to be (FYI the mission isnt to recruit alleged sex offenders to the school's marquee sports team).

Even if Lavin was just "doing his homework" its a horrible job by him because he did have knowledge vaguely about what happened at Orgeon; and lets be honest - if he did his job in the first place and recruited players to fill the roster he wouldnt have even been asking about the Artis kid...so any way you slice it its on Lavin.

What is the exact mission of the University?

If you want to turn this into a religious debate regarding the mission of the university, is there not part of the mission that includes forgiving people and giving people second chances? And isn't there part of the mission that follows the phrase, "let he who has not sinned cast the first stone."?

And obviously the mission of the university is not to recruit sex offenders. By the way, I find it interesting that you described him as 'alleged'. In other words, you described him as a suspected sex offender, not a convicted sex offender.....big difference.

If they truly want to follow the mission of the university, people like Artis should be the ones they are recruiting. Individuals who need help and need a second chance, especially when everyone else is turning their backs on them.

You mean like Jesus did?

 

[redfazed]

I fault Lavin for a lot of things, but recruiting Artis isn't one of them. He wasn't charged with anything. If Artis qualifies again, plenty of schools will be after him.

 

[L J S A]

Lavin was trying to do Mark Olivier a huge favor with the Artis recruitment, and then I assume get a favor back. But he was definitely doing more than just kicking the tires.

It really will be a lot easier on Lavin's reputation if we land Briscoe and Mussini/another PG, and Artis goes to St. Mary's or San Francisco.

 

[OLV72]

Providence College has an active player on their roster that was brought before their disciplinary board, which found evidence to support a finding of “sexual misconduct." The BCS Football schools are loaded with these guys.

I'm glad to hear that people at St John's questioned the staff about reaching out to this other kid. However, these situations are not uncommon and this is clearly a line that coaches of teams such as PC and SJU need to be careful about when they go up against the Dukes and Kentucky's. Catholic schools are held to a higher standard as compared to UK and given the other disadvantages ($, fan bases, esteem) these coaches are more likely to feel the need to go after this type of player.

Bringing this into this topic into this thread is example of how a few posters can't get past their hate for the coach.

Repole has not been to the track as much this year as last year. Do we think this is a sign that he is down on all five of his trainers?

http://www.providencejournal.com/br...sexual-assault-case-at-providence-college.ece