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I would hold off making a decision about an extension for Lavin until the dust clears and we see what the roster looks like for next year.

If, indeed, he pulls rabbits out of his hat and delivers a stellar class and is able to coax CO and Rysheed into staying another year, I would give him a short extension (3-4 years maximum).

If the recruiting class tanks and CO and/or Rysheed leaves, it will be several years before we even have a shot at an NCAA bid again. Lavin has to be held accountable for that. In that case, I would not grant an extension.
 
I'm officially off the Lavin bandwagon...but what MCNPA says makes sense. We need stability at a program that has a lower ceiling than most of us want.
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No offense but that ceiling collapsed when Brian Mahoney was hired even though he had a 4 year disastrous record at his Alma Mater of 16-62 (0.205). With all due respect to our legendary coach he forever changed the fortunes and future of redmen basketball with that mindless decision. His influence in selecting Norm Roberts after a similar record at Queens College shows how gullible our athletic administration has been over the last quarter century.
 
I would hold off making a decision about an extension for Lavin until the dust clears and we see what the roster looks like for next year.

If, indeed, he pulls rabbits out of his hat and delivers a stellar class and is able to coax CO and Rysheed into staying another year, I would give him a short extension (3-4 years maximum).

If the recruiting class tanks and CO and/or Rysheed leaves, it will be several years before we even have a shot at an NCAA bid again. Lavin has to be held accountable for that. In that case, I would not grant an extension.
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Your assessment is fair enough as I was not initially a Lavin supporter when he was hired but I have tried to put his tenure in perspective. He did a great job his first year even though all those players had no loyalty to him and a couple were rebellious. His second year battle with cancer and his leave from the team of young freshmen playing without their coach was difficult for everyone. His record improved every since with 17, 20 and 21 wins in spite of defections. Last year was a big disappointment recruiting wise and seems to be the main focus of our negativity. Until we see the final roster for next year it is difficult to assess the future success our our teams in the NCAA. This is a 10 team league and after a possible down year next year there is no reason to suspect we would not be in the NCAA Tournament the following years. That said, there are 4 or 5 coaches in the $2 million range worthy of pursuit but I don't see Chris Monasch as being capable to lead that search which puts St. John's in a quandary.
Personally, I believe the hold up on a contract extension has been about money and conditions and the parties don't seem close as yet but Lavin and his team need to prove they can win a game in the Big East tourney and one in the NCAA to justify the length of any extension. I think the dust will settle in the next 3 weeks. If St. John's agrees to an extension one thing is certain and that is a few fans that have a profound hatred for Lavin need to take a hiatus from redmen.com, Twitter and unsuscribe to Facebook or forever be relegated to Troll status. It will also be good for their mental health as they would not have to resort to blocking followers from Twitter or Facebook because their thin skin prevents reading counter viewpoints.
 
I'm officially off the Lavin bandwagon...but what MCNPA says makes sense. We need stability at a program that has a lower ceiling than most of us want.
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I do understand that Lavin is not everyone's cup of tea, but fans have to come to grips with the fact that this program has sucked for 15 years. It hasn't won an NCAA Tournament game since 2000 and has only been back to the dance twice since then (2002 and 2011). So yes, the ceiling is a lot lower than most of us want.

He's not perfect, but in 5 years he's brought us to the tournament twice (you could argue 4 years considering he didn't coach one of them). That's great success compared to his predecessors. Do I want to see even better results going forward? Of course I do. But FWIW, I think Lavin has earned a contract extension at this point in time.
 
I would hold off making a decision about an extension for Lavin until the dust clears and we see what the roster looks like for next year.

If, indeed, he pulls rabbits out of his hat and delivers a stellar class and is able to coax CO and Rysheed into staying another year, I would give him a short extension (3-4 years maximum).

If the recruiting class tanks and CO and/or Rysheed leaves, it will be several years before we even have a shot at an NCAA bid again. Lavin has to be held accountable for that. In that case, I would not grant an extension.
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if CO and Sheed leave and we miss out on Diallo, we clearly will have a rough year in 2015, which means he needs to lock up an amazing 2016 class now!! I still have faith that CO and sheed will return along with the chance of landing Diallo. Kentucky will be 3 deep at every postiion, guys will get lost there. Here they can star in the limelight of NYC. Say what you want, but if you play good here, your stock rises like nowhere else. Plus the team goes to Hawaii next year, gotta be on the team for that!! B)
 
I
Clearly written by a personal friend of Lavin.
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Perhaps true, but his performance gave the writer good material. Willard or Donahue, two coaches hired around the time of Lavin, could not have the same pieces written about them
 
Success breeds success. Getting to the tournament, in 4 years of his own recruits, has gotten two to the NBA, and both CO and Rysheed have a decent shot. Recruiting should yield better results going forward. Extend him with reasonable buyout
 
I would hold off making a decision about an extension for Lavin until the dust clears and we see what the roster looks like for next year.

If, indeed, he pulls rabbits out of his hat and delivers a stellar class and is able to coax CO and Rysheed into staying another year, I would give him a short extension (3-4 years maximum).

If the recruiting class tanks and CO and/or Rysheed leaves, it will be several years before we even have a shot at an NCAA bid again. Lavin has to be held accountable for that. In that case, I would not grant an extension.
Click to expand...
if CO and Sheed leave and we miss out on Diallo, we clearly will have a rough year in 2015, which means he needs to lock up an amazing 2016 class now!! I still have faith that CO and sheed will return along with the chance of landing Diallo. Kentucky will be 3 deep at every postiion, guys will get lost there. Here they can star in the limelight of NYC. Say what you want, but if you play good here, your stock rises like nowhere else. Plus the team goes to Hawaii next year, gotta be on the team for that!! B)
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If Diallo does pass on Kentucky, I worry that Iowa State would be next in line.
 
Success breeds success. Getting to the tournament, in 4 years of his own recruits, has gotten two to the NBA, and both CO and Rysheed have a decent shot. Recruiting should yield better results going forward. Extend him with reasonable buyout
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Hard to argue with this

But, if the worst case scenario plays itself out (ie: CO and Rysheed leave and we no not have a strong recruiting class for next year), no extension should be given.

I am a two time alum and have been a St John's fan for nearly 50 years. Making the NCAA twice in six years is certainly nothing to brag. If the cupboard is indeed pretty bare next year, it will take several years of rebuilding before we get another whiff of the NCAA. This is not acceptable to me.

I will enjoy this year's tourney ride for as long as it lasts and pray that Lavin has a few tricks up his sleeve for next year. If things don't play out well this spring, it's time to think about saying sayonara to Lavin.
 
-Year after year we have recruits that cannot get on the court.

-We have an inordinate amount of in-season player defections/suspensions/walkabouts that defy logic.

-Our recruiting has been haphazard at best to the point where we are facing almost the same challenge as four years ago - a complete turnover in roster.

And shit, I'd probably still extend him.
 
We are not yet a top program. I think many of us over-estimate the attraction of playing for a school with such limited recent success.
 
Lavin should not be extended until he gets a commitment for next year from a player taller than 6'4.
 
-Year after year we have recruits that cannot get on the court.

-We have an inordinate amount of in-season player defections/suspensions/walkabouts that defy logic.

-Our recruiting has been haphazard at best to the point where we are facing almost the same challenge as four years ago - a complete turnover in roster.

And shit, I'd probably still extend him.
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We have 4 rotation players graduating. Three are a by-product of the large class he had to bring in, and Branch was a welcomed transfer who, by having to sit, ended up in the same graduating class. If we lose more than that, it is because one or two kids were good enough to go pro. Not a bad thing.
 
IMO Lavin brings immediate expectations to a program that cannot be maintained so disappointment sets in and then his personality turns off a good number of the fan base. After raising Norm's players to a very good year and bringing in what appeared to be a spectacular recruiting class hope was at an all time high.
At UCLA his first 6 yrs , 5 sweet 16's, 1 elite 8, ten and 1 in the first two rounds followed by a real bad year and he gets fired.
Looie loses in the first week 15 out of 18 times and gets an arena named after him. Personality.
 
IMO Lavin brings immediate expectations to a program that cannot be maintained so disappointment sets in and then his personality turns off a good number of the fan base. After raising Norm's players to a very good year and bringing in what appeared to be a spectacular recruiting class hope was at an all time high.
At UCLA his first 6 yrs , 5 sweet 16's, 1 elite 8, ten and 1 in the first two rounds followed by a real bad year and he gets fired.
Looie loses in the first week 15 out of 18 times and gets an arena named after him. Personality.
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Six guys on redmen.com translates to a good number? We don't even have a good number of fans.

Coach Lou is fortunate to have coached before message boards were born
 
tongue and cheek answer is an NCAA tourney bid every year. Leave the NIT up to the Ionas and Manhattan College's of the world.
 
With opinions running strong, both for and against extending, I thought it might be useful to add a standard for what a fan might hope to see in St. John's basketball program:

A top 25 schedule
An balanced offense run with purpose
Tough defense and rebounding
Excellent player development
1 top 30 recruit nearly every year with the rest of a balanced roster filled in by top 100 players
At least in the hunt and challenging for the conference championship every year
In the NCAA tournament most years without having to sweat out a barely 20 win season
Most, if not all, seniors actually graduating (kudos to the staff on this point this year)
Run a clean program with no academic or recruiting violations

We used to be there. Will we get there again? I just don't think so with this staff.
 
Who knows if Lapchick was able to stay as coach, rather than being forced out cause of his age we might have an NCAA championship or two in Alumni Hall( even if Alcindor never came to St. Johns).
Separate from those first round losses in the tournament which were too many I still think we should have beaten Georgetown. We played them the same way from the first game in the Garden , to the Big East tournament and in the Final four matchup. No adjustments were made and we lost all three by double didgits
 
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