Not popular, but Big Norm Roberts guy here

Monte post=449029 said:
NCJohnnie post=449027 said:
To be fair, Norm didn't have much to sell when he took over the program. Who's next in resurrecting stories about past coaches, Jarvis or Fran? 
Actual games can't come back fast enough lol. 
I say bring back Mahoney. Another great guy, and at  least he did really well recruiting. 
 
Ron Rutledge did all of the recruiting.
 
panther2 post=449037 said:
Monte post=449029 said:
NCJohnnie post=449027 said:
To be fair, Norm didn't have much to sell when he took over the program. Who's next in resurrecting stories about past coaches, Jarvis or Fran? 
Actual games can't come back fast enough lol. 
I say bring back Mahoney. Another great guy, and at  least he did really well recruiting. 

 
Ron Rutledge did all of the recruiting.
Bring em' both back! /media/kunena/emoticons/wink.png
 
Mahoney/Rutledge's recruiting was on fire: 

First class: 
Roshown McLeod - Top 50 
James Scott - JUCO POY 

Second class:
Felipe Lopez - No 1 recruit 
Zendon Hamilton: Top 10
Tarik Turner: Top 50 

Third class:
Lavor Postell: Top 50 
Tyrone Grant: All-City, fan favorite 
Ed Brown: ok, you got me. 
Mike Mennifield: meh 

The biggest problem was they never got a local top-flight PG like Kareem Reid, God Shammgod or Ed Cota that could've been a difference-maker over Tarik Turner and Mo Brown. 
 
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Main man great post , but you can’t knock Kareem Reid going to Arkansas they were coming off some great years under. Norman Richardson .. including 1994 championship …Tarik Turnover lived up to his nickname…he was a major disappointment… 
Mahoney looking back at the recruiting classes listed had 5 future NBA players.. James Scott I think had a cup of coffee ..
 
 
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We had locals too like Tom Bayne and Fred Lyson.

Panther - were they tied to any of the local AAU programs ? How much did our former affiliations with Riverside and even Jarvis hiring one of the Riverside guys (Dermond Player) hurt our relations with other AAU programs locally?
 
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To be fair, Norm didn't have much to sell when he took over the program.

Right. Also, he had the Terrible Mess that was hanging over the program.. A very small arena, and a  small campus in a suburban area. He took the players no one wanted. Trained them. Fed them. Worked them out constantly and measured their progress. Made sure they did their coursework. Then he got them to obliterate nationally ranked teams. Golly, its nothing short of a miracle.
 
richard A Steinfeld post=449040 said:
Another problem w Mahoney is that he wasn’t a good coach.

Maybe. He sure seemed like he lost complete control.
BUT when he had an elite PG (David Cain in 93), his team was very good. 
I mean he was playing 2Gs Derek Brown and Lee Green at PG for long stretches because Tarik Turner and Mo Brown weren't getting it done. It was the biggest glaring hole on those teams. 
 
RedStormNC post=449042 said:
We had locals too like Tom Bayne and Fred Lyson.

Panther - were they tied to any of the local AAU programs ? How much did our former affiliations with Riverside and even Jarvis hiring one of the Riverside guys hurt our relations with other AAU programs locally?

I believe Tom Bayne, Fred Lyson, Charles Minlend, Mo Brown and Rowan Barrett all signed in 91 before Louie retired. 
They were all frosh under Mahoney's first year. 
 
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Coach Roberts inexplicably sat Hardy to start the second half.

You don't know what happened. I don't know what happened. Only Hardy and Coach know. Maybe he got a stern note from a professor about his studies. These were kids with no future who he rescued from the streets. Whatever Norm did worked, because the next year Hardy was a tornado in a woodshed. 
 
19854ever post=449041 said:
Main man great post , but you can’t knock Kareem Reid going to Arkansas they were coming off some great years under. Norman Richardson .. including 1994 championship …Tarik Turnover lived up to his nickname…he was a major disappointment… 
Mahoney looking back at the recruiting classes listed had 5 future NBA players.. James Scott I think had a cup of coffee ..

 
Problem is Mahoney never really tried to recruit Kareem Reid. He had already locked up Turner the prior fall as the first member of that class and concentrated on Felipe and Zendon all winter/spring.
 
Aaron Frank post=449043 said:
To be fair, Norm didn't have much to sell when he took over the program.

Right. Also, he had the Terrible Mess that was hanging over the program.. A very small arena, and a  small campus in a suburban area. He took the players no one wanted. Trained them. Fed them. Worked them out constantly and measured their progress. Made sure they did their coursework. Then he got them to obliterate nationally ranked teams. Golly, its nothing short of a miracle.
If you pull my leg any harder it's gonna come right off! LMAO
 
MainMan post=449039 said:
Mahoney/Rutledge's recruiting was on fire: 

First class: 
Roshown McLeod - Top 50 
James Scott - JUCO POY 

Second class:
Felipe Lopez - No 1 recruit 
Zendon Hamilton: Top 10
Tarik Turner: Top 50 

Third class:
Lavor Postell: Top 50 
Tyrone Grant: All-City, fan favorite 
Ed Brown: ok, you got me. 
Mike Mennifield: meh 

The biggest problem was they never got a local top-flight PG like Kareem Reid, God Shammgod or Ed Cota that could've been a difference-maker over Tarik Turner and Mo Brown. 
After Lou retired Mahoney signed Rowan Barrett and Charles Minlend. They were the spring recruits when he first took over. 
 
redmannorth post=449051 said:
MainMan post=449039 said:
Mahoney/Rutledge's recruiting was on fire: 

First class: 
Roshown McLeod - Top 50 
James Scott - JUCO POY 

Second class:
Felipe Lopez - No 1 recruit 
Zendon Hamilton: Top 10
Tarik Turner: Top 50 

Third class:
Lavor Postell: Top 50 
Tyrone Grant: All-City, fan favorite 
Ed Brown: ok, you got me. 
Mike Mennifield: meh 

The biggest problem was they never got a local top-flight PG like Kareem Reid, God Shammgod or Ed Cota that could've been a difference-maker over Tarik Turner and Mo Brown. 
After Lou retired Mahoney signed Rowan Barrett and Charles Minlend. They were the spring recruits when he first took over. 
Pretty sure they were already committed though.
 
Here is my tale:

1.  Norm should never have been hired as rhe head men’s basketball coach at St. John’s.
2.  Coming off of scandal St. John’s should have hired a head coach with D1 head coaching experience.  
3.  Don’t blame Norm for his hire but blame St. John’s President “Suits” Harrington who earlier that year had talked about “closing down the men’s basketball program”.    Suits had fired more independent Coach Jarvis months before Norm was hired and it is believed Suits wanted a coach he could more easily control.  The less experienced Norm was believe to be more obedient.
https://nypost.com/2004/02/08/harrington-clean-up-or-shut-it-down/
4.  The St. John’s Administration paid Norm a cut rate salary and provided him with a below average budget with which to hire a staff and recruit which prevented him from hiring the experienced staff which other posters have referenced in this thread.
5.  In Norm’s first semester as head men’s basketball coach St. John’s was put on NCAA probation for offenses which did not occur during his tenure.  I am told that before he was hired Norm asked the St. John’s Administration about rumored NCAA probation and the Administrator assured Norm that there was nothing to worry about.
6. Don’t underestimate the negative effect which NCAA had on Norm’s recruiting during his early recruiting efforts.
7 .  I was a big critic of Norm on this site but in hindsight I believe that the blame for his poor performance rests solely with the lame St. John’s University Administration.  Norm was a good and decent man who lacked the head coaching experience needed, and never should have been hired.  
 
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