Norm Roberts retiring

[mjmaherjr]

I'll reshare this funny story too. There was an event at the New York Athletic Club when were deep in the middle of his struggles. I lived extremely close at the time -- like I could hit the building with a baseball from where I lived close. I finished reading this site and walked over to the event.

It look like 2 minutes. I get in the elevator at the NYAC alone. The doors closed 95% of the way and then a hand reaches in and the doors open. It was Norm Roberts. The ENTIRE staff gets on the elevator with me. This is literally 180 seconds after I probably just posted about him.

They start joking around about who would be attending. They starting rattling off names of posters and Marillac is like in the first 5 of who they say. They knew like 15-20 posters in detail. They were joking "hope ____ doesn't attack me" and "we need to find _____ because they love us" etc.
Norm was great all night. Spoke with everyone at length...never felt rushed. Very good assistant and even better guy, but He just couldn't make it work as a head coach.

Speaking of posters who loved Norm anyone hear from Oldfan or Oldfan61 ? I forget his handle. He loved Norm till the end.

 

[redken1]

Not sure why some feel the need to still say negative stuff about Norm at this point, especially now as he announces his retirement.

Thanks for yours efforts here coach, you were/are always a class act. Best wishes for a long and healthy retirement.

Beautifully put.

 

[paultzman]

Not sure why some feel the need to still say negative stuff about Norm at this point, especially now as he announces his retirement.

Thanks for yours efforts here coach, you were/are always a class act. Best wishes for a long and healthy retirement.

Classy

 

[paultzman]

 

[Marillac2]

Oh, I was in shock. It would be like walking to your mailbox and seeing Pitino right after posting. They were all good guys though and had clearly pre-gamed.

 

[19854ever]

Announced by Kansas this morning. Spent the last 14 years there after his run at SJU.

Say what you want about his record, and I know some people will and have, but a first-class gentleman every step of the way from taking over at the lowest of the low after the Pittsburgh incident and restoring the image of the program. He was the first coach I ever covered in my own career when I was the sports director at WSJU, and always made sure all of us in the media got whatever we needed to do our jobs without making things difficult or anyone getting in the way.

Wishing him all the best in a well-deserved retirement.

Daily Dose, i wish him well, he made a lot of money at SJU but IMHO he personally did more to put sju hoops into complete irrevelance than Mike Jarvis ever did. 2/22/09 Syracuse blow out loss was the worst moment in the history of SJU basketball history at MSG, a total embarrasment of an effort by a horrible head coach. Norm was an unmitigated disaster and did more harm than any good for the program. As the great Bill Parcells says you are what your record says you are.

 

[Beasts of the East]

As mentioned, first class human being. But, also.....thank you for recruiting Steve Lavin's first team. That was a great group of players.

But.. had he stayed Sean Evans would have started over Brownlee and Malik Boothe over Dwight Hardy. Considering he had Anthony Mason Jr plus everyone Lavin inherited in his final season here, that could have been a better team.

I wonder how much Kansas' lack of recent success played into an early retirement.

 

[19854ever]

But.. had he stayed Sean Evans would have started over Brownlee and Malik Boothe over Dwight Hardy. Considering he had Anthony Mason Jr plus everyone Lavin inherited in his final season here, that could have been a better team.

I wonder how much Kansas' lack of recent success played into an early retirement.

Was he pushed out ?

 

[Andrew]

I didn’t follow the team much during the Norm Roberts era. My kids were born in the summer of 2003 and the next season was a disaster. I woke up when Lavin was hired. I know it’s. Tough job cleaning up a mess and that was what Norm did. Happy Retirement Norm!

 

[otis]

Don’t blame Coach Roberts for the doldrums of his years; blame President “Suits” Harrington for his hire and the less relevancy of the University as a whole that occurred during the last half of Harrington’s presidency.

Young Norm Roberts, with no prior D1 head coaching experience should never been hired to do battle with Boeheim, Thompson, and others in the old Big East. I am told that Harrington, alone, made the decision to hire Roberts without committee approval.

Making matters worse for Roberts success was that StJ’s was placed on probation for 2 seasons before his first recruiting cycle ended. A short time before his hire StJ’s brand was tarnished by national headlines about players involved with strippers in Pittsburgh. Roberts budget for staff and program had been reportedly cut from Jarvis’ budgets and Roberts was forced to work with one of the smallest budgets in the Big East. UConn hijacked his star recruits Doug Wiggins, etc. During the turmoil Harrington seemly trivialized the StJ’s national image in basketball and Harrington threatened to “shut down” the StJ’s mens basketball program.

See

HARRINGTON: CLEAN UP OR SHUT IT DOWN

Breathe this in: St. John’s is the fifth-winningest program in college basketball history. Great players Bob Zawoluk, Chris Mullin and Mark Jackson have worn the St. John’s jersey. The …

nypost.com

 

[L J S A]

Speaking of posters who loved Norm anyone hear from Oldfan or Oldfan61 ? I forget his handle. He loved Norm till the end.

Tom in Simsbury literally said he should get a lifetime contract after one win.

 

[room112]

Don’t blame Coach Roberts for the doldrums of his years; blame President “Suits” Harrington for his hire and the less relevancy of the University as a whole that occurred during the last half of Harrington’s presidency.

Young Norm Roberts, with no prior D1 head coaching experience should never been hired to do battle with Boeheim, Thompson, and others in the old Big East. I am told that Harrington, alone, made the decision to hire Roberts without committee approval.

Making matters worse for Roberts success was that StJ’s was placed on probation for 2 seasons before his first recruiting cycle ended. A short time before his hire StJ’s brand was tarnished by national headlines about players involved with strippers in Pittsburgh. Roberts budget for staff and program had been reportedly cut from Jarvis’ budgets and Roberts was forced to work with one of the smallest budgets in the Big East. UConn hijacked his star recruits Doug Wiggins, etc. During the turmoil Harrington seemly trivialized the StJ’s national image in basketball and Harrington threatened to “shut down” the StJ’s mens basketball program.

See

HARRINGTON: CLEAN UP OR SHUT IT DOWN

Breathe this in: St. John’s is the fifth-winningest program in college basketball history. Great players Bob Zawoluk, Chris Mullin and Mark Jackson have worn the St. John’s jersey. The …

nypost.com

Not to derail this thread, but we're there any other serious contenders during the coaching search when Norm was chosen?

I wish him well in retirement. Clearly a decent man, and did the best he could here. I more so blame the administration.

 

[SJU85]

I see some have taken the “I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him” approach to Norm on this thread.

I choose to wish him well and move on.

 

[19854ever]

Built for recruiting at Kansas? lol Some of the shit you guys come up with here, hilarious. Going to a blue blood like Kansas as an Asst coach is like being the backup QB to Brady during his 20+ year run in New England. You basically hit the lottery. Just shut your mouth and smile and you'll be part of an all-time great legacy. The end.

All of the other stuff is just fluff and hot air.

Great post!!!!

 

[SJU61982]

Not to derail this thread, but we're there any other serious contenders during the coaching search when Norm was chosen?

I wish him well in retirement. Clearly a decent man, and did the best he could here. I more so blame the administration.

John Calipari was a candidate.

Matt Doherty (his non-hire is what made Mr. Reily withhold his funding for what became Taffner Fieldhouse).

Paul Heweitt (until he took GA. Tech to the national title game).

Bob McKillop was speculated to be a candidate, and a reason we didn't go after him has been mentioned on here in the past.

Bobby Gonzalez, because he was hot with Manhattan at the time, but I don't we were going in that direction, again.

There was a lot of politics within that search committee. I don't think anyone had a problem with Norm, because nobody really knew who he was. Anybody else being hired might have resulted in some influential people (Repole wasn't that rich yet) severing ties with the university (Reily did, but that was more because he was pro-Doherty, then he was anti-Norm).

 

[19854ever]

Don’t blame Coach Roberts for the doldrums of his years; blame President “Suits” Harrington for his hire and the less relevancy of the University as a whole that occurred during the last half of Harrington’s presidency.

Young Norm Roberts, with no prior D1 head coaching experience should never been hired to do battle with Boeheim, Thompson, and others in the old Big East. I am told that Harrington, alone, made the decision to hire Roberts without committee approval.

Making matters worse for Roberts success was that StJ’s was placed on probation for 2 seasons before his first recruiting cycle ended. A short time before his hire StJ’s brand was tarnished by national headlines about players involved with strippers in Pittsburgh. Roberts budget for staff and program had been reportedly cut from Jarvis’ budgets and Roberts was forced to work with one of the smallest budgets in the Big East. UConn hijacked his star recruits Doug Wiggins, etc. During the turmoil Harrington seemly trivialized the StJ’s national image in basketball and Harrington threatened to “shut down” the StJ’s mens basketball program.

See

HARRINGTON: CLEAN UP OR SHUT IT DOWN

Breathe this in: St. John’s is the fifth-winningest program in college basketball history. Great players Bob Zawoluk, Chris Mullin and Mark Jackson have worn the St. John’s jersey. The …

nypost.com

Don’t blame Coach Roberts for the doldrums of his years; blame President “Suits” Harrington for his hire and the less relevancy of the University as a whole that occurred during the last half of Harrington’s presidency.

Young Norm Roberts, with no prior D1 head coaching experience should never been hired to do battle with Boeheim, Thompson, and others in the old Big East. I am told that Harrington, alone, made the decision to hire Roberts without committee approval.

Making matters worse for Roberts success was that StJ’s was placed on probation for 2 seasons before his first recruiting cycle ended. A short time before his hire StJ’s brand was tarnished by national headlines about players involved with strippers in Pittsburgh. Roberts budget for staff and program had been reportedly cut from Jarvis’ budgets and Roberts was forced to work with one of the smallest budgets in the Big East. UConn hijacked his star recruits Doug Wiggins, etc. During the turmoil Harrington seemly trivialized the StJ’s national image in basketball and Harrington threatened to “shut down” the StJ’s mens basketball program.

See

HARRINGTON: CLEAN UP OR SHUT IT DOWN

Breathe this in: St. John’s is the fifth-winningest program in college basketball history. Great players Bob Zawoluk, Chris Mullin and Mark Jackson have worn the St. John’s jersey. The …

nypost.com

Agreed Fr Harrington was awful and he made a bad hire, but Norm got 6 freaking years !!!! He should have been fired in 2008 and definetely in 2009, he stayed on till 2010!!! The argument always was the talent not the coach, we had bad talent and Norm could not win with them. Well in 2011 Steve Lavin proved it was the coach not the talent!!!

Norm IMHO did more damage to the irrelevance of SJU hoops than anyone else. The fact that he is revered by people on here is a joke, i met Mike Anderson i thought he was a great guy, great SJU coach No, but he is portrayed much more as a villian than Norm ever was. Mike Andersons team never routinely got blown out like Norms teams did, Mike’s teams played defense, Norms teams were an umorganized mess, anthony mason jt had awful handle and couldnt pass , but according to Norm he was a great player. He was a a coach killer instead. Outside of maybe the Loisville win at MSG year 6 (against our current coach) I can not recall any signature Norm moment. Now it appears he is being pushed out of a high 6 fugure lead asst gig under the guise of retirement.

 

[19854ever]

John Calipari was a candidate.

Matt Doherty (his non-hire is what made Mr. Reily withhold his funding for what became Taffner Fieldhouse).

Paul Heweitt (until he took GA. Tech to the national title game).

Bob McKillop was speculated to be a candidate, and a reason we didn't go after him has been mentioned on here in the past.

Bobby Gonzalez, because he was hot with Manhattan at the time, but I don't we were going in that direction, again.

There was a lot of politics within that search committee. I don't think anyone had a problem with Norm, because nobody really knew who he was. Anybody else being hired might have resulted in some influential people (Repole wasn't that rich yet) severing ties with the university (Reily did, but that was more because he was pro-Doherty, then he was anti-Norm).

Disaster move at the time, McKillop was ****blocked by RoN Rutledge at the time, Doherty much better candidate at the time with a donor that would have helped the immediate infrastructure of sju program at the time, instead we were stuck with the compromise of the great recruiter Norm Roberts!!!

 

[19854ever]

!

 

[SJU61982]

Agreed Fr Harrington was awful and he made a bad hire, but Norm got 6 freaking years !!!! He should have been fired in 2008 and definetely in 2009, he stayed on till 2010!!! The argument always was the talent not the coach, we had bad talent and Norm could not win with them. Well in 2011 Steve Lavin proved it was the coach not the talent!!!

Norm IMHO did more damage to the irrelevance of SJU hoops than anyone else. The fact that he is revered by people on here is a joke, i met Mike Anderson i thought he was a great guy, great SJU coach No, but he is portrayed much more as a villian than Norm ever was. Mike Andersons team never routinely got blown out like Norms teams did, Mike’s teams played defense, Norms teams were an umorganized mess, anthony mason jt had awful handle and couldnt pass , but according to Norm he was a great player. He was a a coach killer instead. Outside of maybe the Loisville win at MSG year 6 (against our current coach) I can not recall any signature Norm moment. Now it appears he is being pushed out of a high 6 fugure lead asst gig under the guise of retirement.

I was harder on Anderson then I was on Norm, and I think a big reason for that was timing.

When Norm was hired, we were only 1 year removed from am NIT title, 2 years removed from an NCAA appearance, 4 years removed from a tournament win, and 5 years removed from an Elite Eight appearance.There was at least some recent track record of program success.

By the time Anderson got here, my patience was gone. He was also the Devin Williams of basketball coaches. If the other team was within say, 7 points, with 5 minutes left, they usually beat us.

Norm's teams blew games late too, but mote often than not, they just got blown out. Those losses were easier to get over, although they were tougher to endure.

Maybe that wasn't fair to Anderson, but that's the way I felt. I couldn't stand losing any longer.

 

[MainMan]

Not to derail this thread, but we're there any other serious contenders during the coaching search when Norm was chosen?

I wish him well in retirement. Clearly a decent man, and did the best he could here. I more so blame the administration.

Doherty was brought so far along in the hiring process and had the backing of a pre-Repole major donor that he thought the job was his and began making plans.