SJU Fan Tradition Continues-Blame The Coach

[postell25]

What a crazy thread.

There is no shame in losing to Wisconsin. It would still take me a few years before calling for Lavin's head.

Lavin came in to a messed up roster situation. When everyone left after his first year I don't think he was in a position to recruit based on need. He just needed to add high level athletes and he's done that and has continued to do that since he's gotten here. I still have high hopes for this season and a loss to a perennially good team at a gym in South Dakota in our first game of the season isn't going to deter me from that yet. Last year we were 9-7 with losses to San Francisco and UNC Asheville at one point before winning 6 of 7 and we were a D'Angelo Harrison suspension away from maybe getting on the bubble. Wagner is probably winning the NEC this year. Most of their minutes go to 3 seniors and 2 juniors recruited by Danny Hurley. It's going to be a closer game than people are comfortable with because their jerseys say "Wagner" on the front.

I do get tired of Lavin's CYA tactics of tempering fans expectations but I'm fine not panicking for a few games as he figures out the best way to divide up the minutes.

 

[Ray Morgan]

What a crazy thread.

There is no shame in losing to Wisconsin. It would still take me a few years before calling for Lavin's head.

Lavin came in to a messed up roster situation. When everyone left after his first year I don't think he was in a position to recruit based on need. He just needed to add high level athletes and he's done that and has continued to do that since he's gotten here. I still have high hopes for this season and a loss to a perennially good team at a gym in South Dakota in our first game of the season isn't going to deter me from that yet. Last year we were 9-7 with losses to San Francisco and UNC Asheville at one point before winning 6 of 7 and we were a D'Angelo Harrison suspension away from maybe getting on the bubble. Wagner is probably winning the NEC this year. Most of their minutes go to 3 seniors and 2 juniors recruited by Danny Hurley. It's going to be a closer game than people are comfortable with because their jerseys say "Wagner" on the front.

I do get tired of Lavin's CYA tactics of tempering fans expectations but I'm fine not panicking for a few games as he figures out the best way to divide up the minutes.

This isn't crazy. A loss to Wisconsin isn't a big deal. I don't see anyone calling for Lavin's head. Most recognize that he immediately got St. John's back in the game for big time recruits. My point is simple. There is a tendency to think that the lack of coaching skill is what took the program from being consistently OK to consistently mediocre to poor. We are all guilty of it-me too. Why doesn't Lavin press full court? Where do his sub patterns come from? Why is Branch allowed on the court? Lavin knows how to coach. At least good enough to get talented teams to the NCAA tournament. We have to look at the players. SJU has been getting players, for many years, with too many holes in their games. When you get a 50% bump up in points for a three, it would be nice to have several threats from 3. If you have athletes that are not great shooters but good finishers, you need a few good rebounders that can throw the outlet pass. We have some amazing athletes here. We have future NBA players. We are just still a little lacking in certain elements that are required to get into the tournament with a high seed. I don't blame Lavin's coaching one bit. I just find it funny that many of us think things would be better if he only pressed full court or ran more. He doesn't have all of the elements yet. I also find it interesting that so many fans confuse athletic prowess with basketball talent.

 

[Marillac]

Another favorite is blame the point guard.

Seriously, what is the problem with losing to Wisconsin? Some of you guys are nuts. Wisconsin has made the tournament like 13-14 straight years, and this is one of their most talented teams. I see Wisconsin as a legitimate Elite Eight team. Wisconsin also did a foreign tour, so our advantage was lost there. I really like that team if they can stay healthy. For the record, Brust, Gasser, and Dekker are all more athletic than Harrison.

This team needs to gel. The hardest part is getting Sanchez going. When a guy can do a little bit of everything, it can make finding a definitive role harder. The backcourt roles need to be defined as well--which they will.

We just need to press. Please press! We can be blowing teams out by 20+ if we do it right. Get every board and go.

 

[jr49]

I'm not looking to place blame on players or the staff. I do wonder why so many on the board make light of what we saw. After being out of the game when the ball went up, we came out for the second half and gave up 50. That was not the reaction to stinking it up I was lookin for. Oh well, let the season begin.

 

[usguard]

What a crazy thread.

There is no shame in losing to Wisconsin. It would still take me a few years before calling for Lavin's head.

Lavin came in to a messed up roster situation. When everyone left after his first year I don't think he was in a position to recruit based on need. He just needed to add high level athletes and he's done that and has continued to do that since he's gotten here. I still have high hopes for this season and a loss to a perennially good team at a gym in South Dakota in our first game of the season isn't going to deter me from that yet. Last year we were 9-7 with losses to San Francisco and UNC Asheville at one point before winning 6 of 7 and we were a D'Angelo Harrison suspension away from maybe getting on the bubble. Wagner is probably winning the NEC this year. Most of their minutes go to 3 seniors and 2 juniors recruited by Danny Hurley. It's going to be a closer game than people are comfortable with because their jerseys say "Wagner" on the front.

I do get tired of Lavin's CYA tactics of tempering fans expectations but I'm fine not panicking for a few games as he figures out the best way to divide up the minutes.

Agree I want Lavin to stay. But disagree that he should have a few more yrs before showing ncaa bids ,!st or 2nb position in the league His rope is shorter presently unless this yr shines

 

[mullin20]

Realistically, anything short of a NCAA bid and a victory or two in the tournament and the seat gets hot....

I'm a Lavin fan, but this is the year that we need to see results on the court. It's his 3rd real, full season on the bench and had ample opportunity to get his players in here.. FTR- I think he has brought in a level of talent, no one could have predicted 4 years ago... Now we need to see this translate on the court..

It's all on the defensive end after watching the Wisco game.. rebounding and defense. I think the offense will be fine once Jordan gets his act together...which should be very soon.

 

[monte]

Realistically, anything short of a NCAA bid and a victory or two in the tournament and the seat gets hot....

I'm a Lavin fan, but this is the year that we need to see results on the court. It's his 3rd real, full season on the bench and had ample opportunity to get his players in here.. FTR- I think he has brought in a level of talent, no one could have predicted 4 years ago... Now we need to see this translate on the court..

It's all on the defensive end after watching the Wisco game.. rebounding and defense. I think the offense will be fine once Jordan gets his act together...which should be very soon.

I was not a fan of Lavin as a game coach while he was at UCLA(please spare me his record and NCAA appearances) and am still not a fan of him as a game coach. Having said that if we lose every game from now to the end of the year I don't think see the seat getting more than lukewarm. Unless he decides to leave, or unless there's another scandel, he aint going anywhere IMO.

 

[L J S A]

Let me say this. When Lavin was hired, he was the most qualified reasonable candidate avaliable. If he is fired/leaves (which I'm not pushing for), I'd be very scared about the direction of this program going forward. Other then Dan Hurley or Tim Cluess, I don't know of any good, REASONABLE, candidates out there.

Cluess was reasonable before we noticed how bad Iona's defense has been. I love the guy's accomplishments, but I think Hurley and Masiello receive the first reasonable phone calls.

But I do think if Repole is still involved we would first take one or two shots at seemingly unreasonable names if for some strange reason we parted ways with Lavin.

 

[L J S A]

Realistically, anything short of a NCAA bid and a victory or two in the tournament and the seat gets hot....

I'm a Lavin fan, but this is the year that we need to see results on the court. It's his 3rd real, full season on the bench and had ample opportunity to get his players in here.. FTR- I think he has brought in a level of talent, no one could have predicted 4 years ago... Now we need to see this translate on the court..

It's all on the defensive end after watching the Wisco game.. rebounding and defense. I think the offense will be fine once Jordan gets his act together...which should be very soon.

I was not a fan of Lavin as a game coach while he was at UCLA(please spare me his record and NCAA appearances) and am still not a fan of him as a game coach. Having said that if we lose every game from now to the end of the year I don't think see the seat getting more than lukewarm. Unless he decides to leave, or unless there's another scandel, he aint going anywhere IMO.

He gets six full years before any worry about job security. That was the length of his deal. And I'm pretty sure the cancer year gets a pass, so he'd get seven years of association with St. John's before anything happens.

 

[dee]

So we are heading in the same direction again. Ever since Looie left, we apparently have had a string of amateurs and stumblebums coaching the team. It's been a merry go round of underachievers or "in over their headers". Mahoney-not up to the task-Jarvis, Norm and now Lavin. For recruiting failures, coaches need to be held accountable. But when Jarvis had 3 NBA first round picks, we are a bucket from the final four. It's the players-it always is.

If Lavin got hit in the head by a boomerang, he would still know more about basketball and coaching than every one on this site combined, times one thousand. And he is no coaching genius. It's a players game. Ask Bobby Knight, ask Looie. Coaching may be 10-15%. This year, we have depth and experience. A lot of top 100 and even top 50 recruits. No excuses. If the team doesn't start playing what looks like organized basketball, then it's the players. Lavin was hedging his bets early on, saying the team will take time to gel. He has been working with them for years. He knows what they are, and aren't. It just may be that he recruited mega athletes that came with awful habits that are hard to break. Let's add that they are apparently slow learners. Maybe they don't guard the three well in any defense we use because they don't follow what they are taught. Maybe they don't rebound very well because they don't box out. A lot of poor fundamentals here. If we see it, so does the staff. And they work on it every practice. And still no one gets it. Wagner should be no contest, as should most of the schedule until Big East play. If we don't blow out a lot of teams, maybe we need to look at the player's deficiencies, and inability or unwillingness to buy in to playing defense and playing unselfish, sound basketball. It looks like 2 guys, Jordan and Sanchez, understand the game. D Lo does when he's in the mood. Lavin probably figured it will take until February for Jordan to feel confident and comfortable. Without him and Sanchez on the floor for 30 minutes each, it will be the same old, same old. A lot of blocked shots and youtube worthy dunks, coupled with a lot of bricklaying and defensive lapses. It's up to the players to figure out how much they want it.

I dont think it is fair to blame st john fans for blaming or criticizing a coach. First let's set the record straight. Looie was criticized too for things that he did in running the team. Probably most notably was the year we went to the final four and blame was thrown on Looie for not changing his game plan against Georgetown, not running and gunning his team, playing and starting Moses over Jackson etc... And there were many times critics complained about him although we all love him. Second this is New York, the big city. If you coach here even in college there is heat, maybe not as much as Kentucky basketball fans but still plenty of heat. If a coach cant take the heat he has to get out of the kitchen. I am very happy with Lavin especially when you think of all the others that came before him, like Jarvis and Roberts and to a degree even Fraschilla who wanted to use st johns as a stepping stone to his next job. Lavin could do better in coaching the team. I really dont think there is any doubt about it. But he is what we have, we should support him but no coach can be immune from criticism. In fact sometimes some criticism can be good instead of wearing rose colored glasses.

 

[NYCRedmen]

Realistically, anything short of a NCAA bid and a victory or two in the tournament and the seat gets hot....

I'm a Lavin fan, but this is the year that we need to see results on the court. It's his 3rd real, full season on the bench and had ample opportunity to get his players in here.. FTR- I think he has brought in a level of talent, no one could have predicted 4 years ago... Now we need to see this translate on the court..

It's all on the defensive end after watching the Wisco game.. rebounding and defense. I think the offense will be fine once Jordan gets his act together...which should be very soon.

I was not a fan of Lavin as a game coach while he was at UCLA(please spare me his record and NCAA appearances) and am still not a fan of him as a game coach. Having said that if we lose every game from now to the end of the year I don't think see the seat getting more than lukewarm. Unless he decides to leave, or unless there's another scandel, he aint going anywhere IMO.

Just curious Monte but why do you say "spare me his record & NCAA appearances"? Other than victories and NCAA appearances, what else is a head coach to be judged by? Are you saying he shouldn't get credit for the wins and tourney appearances but he should get credit for the losses? Just trying to figure out why you want to dismiss the one thing that coaches are paid to do, which is to win games.

 

[Class of 72]

Let me say this. When Lavin was hired, he was the most qualified reasonable candidate avaliable. If he is fired/leaves (which I'm not pushing for), I'd be very scared about the direction of this program going forward. Other then Dan Hurley or Tim Cluess, I don't know of any good, REASONABLE, candidates out there.

Cluess was reasonable before we noticed how bad Iona's defense has been. I love the guy's accomplishments, but I think Hurley and Masiello receive the first reasonable phone calls.

But I do think if Repole is still involved we would first take one or two shots at seemingly unreasonable names if should for some strange reason we parted ways with Lavin.

If Repole is still involved my first call is to an old coach like Tubby Smith, even at 62. BTW, Jimmy B is 69 this weekend.

 

[L J S A]

Let me say this. When Lavin was hired, he was the most qualified reasonable candidate avaliable. If he is fired/leaves (which I'm not pushing for), I'd be very scared about the direction of this program going forward. Other then Dan Hurley or Tim Cluess, I don't know of any good, REASONABLE, candidates out there.

Cluess was reasonable before we noticed how bad Iona's defense has been. I love the guy's accomplishments, but I think Hurley and Masiello receive the first reasonable phone calls.

But I do think if Repole is still involved we would first take one or two shots at seemingly unreasonable names if should for some strange reason we parted ways with Lavin.

If Repole is still involved my first call is to an old coach like Tubby Smith, even at 62. BTW, Jimmy B is 69 this weekend.

Tubby doesn't like recruiting.

 

[Class of 72]

Let me say this. When Lavin was hired, he was the most qualified reasonable candidate avaliable. If he is fired/leaves (which I'm not pushing for), I'd be very scared about the direction of this program going forward. Other then Dan Hurley or Tim Cluess, I don't know of any good, REASONABLE, candidates out there.

Cluess was reasonable before we noticed how bad Iona's defense has been. I love the guy's accomplishments, but I think Hurley and Masiello receive the first reasonable phone calls.

But I do think if Repole is still involved we would first take one or two shots at seemingly unreasonable names if should for some strange reason we parted ways with Lavin.

If Repole is still involved my first call is to an old coach like Tubby Smith, even at 62. BTW, Jimmy B is 69 this weekend.

Tubby doesn't like recruiting.

Neither does Boeheim.

 

[MarkRedman]

So we are heading in the same direction again. Ever since Looie left, we apparently have had a string of amateurs and stumblebums coaching the team. It's been a merry go round of underachievers or "in over their headers". Mahoney-not up to the task-Jarvis, Norm and now Lavin. For recruiting failures, coaches need to be held accountable. But when Jarvis had 3 NBA first round picks, we are a bucket from the final four. It's the players-it always is.

If Lavin got hit in the head by a boomerang, he would still know more about basketball and coaching than every one on this site combined, times one thousand. And he is no coaching genius. It's a players game. Ask Bobby Knight, ask Looie. Coaching may be 10-15%. This year, we have depth and experience. A lot of top 100 and even top 50 recruits. No excuses. If the team doesn't start playing what looks like organized basketball, then it's the players. Lavin was hedging his bets early on, saying the team will take time to gel. He has been working with them for years. He knows what they are, and aren't. It just may be that he recruited mega athletes that came with awful habits that are hard to break. Let's add that they are apparently slow learners. Maybe they don't guard the three well in any defense we use because they don't follow what they are taught. Maybe they don't rebound very well because they don't box out. A lot of poor fundamentals here. If we see it, so does the staff. And they work on it every practice. And still no one gets it. Wagner should be no contest, as should most of the schedule until Big East play. If we don't blow out a lot of teams, maybe we need to look at the player's deficiencies, and inability or unwillingness to buy in to playing defense and playing unselfish, sound basketball. It looks like 2 guys, Jordan and Sanchez, understand the game. D Lo does when he's in the mood. Lavin probably figured it will take until February for Jordan to feel confident and comfortable. Without him and Sanchez on the floor for 30 minutes each, it will be the same old, same old. A lot of blocked shots and youtube worthy dunks, coupled with a lot of bricklaying and defensive lapses. It's up to the players to figure out how much they want it.

I dont think it is fair to blame st john fans for blaming or criticizing a coach. First let's set the record straight. Looie was criticized too for things that he did in running the team. Probably most notably was the year we went to the final four and blame was thrown on Looie for not changing his game plan against Georgetown, not running and gunning his team, playing and starting Moses over Jackson etc... And there were many times critics complained about him although we all love him. Second this is New York, the big city. If you coach here even in college there is heat, maybe not as much as Kentucky basketball fans but still plenty of heat. If a coach cant take the heat he has to get out of the kitchen. I am very happy with Lavin especially when you think of all the others that came before him, like Jarvis and Roberts and to a degree even Fraschilla who wanted to use st johns as a stepping stone to his next job. Lavin could do better in coaching the team. I really dont think there is any doubt about it. But he is what we have, we should support him but no coach can be immune from criticism. In fact sometimes some criticism can be good instead of wearing rose colored glasses.

I agree with almost everything you said, particularly about Looie and Lavin
But, I disagree about Frannie
I truly believe that he wanted to be here for the long haul and, had he not screwed up, probably would have done an excellent job here for many, many years

 

[L J S A]

Let me say this. When Lavin was hired, he was the most qualified reasonable candidate avaliable. If he is fired/leaves (which I'm not pushing for), I'd be very scared about the direction of this program going forward. Other then Dan Hurley or Tim Cluess, I don't know of any good, REASONABLE, candidates out there.

Cluess was reasonable before we noticed how bad Iona's defense has been. I love the guy's accomplishments, but I think Hurley and Masiello receive the first reasonable phone calls.

But I do think if Repole is still involved we would first take one or two shots at seemingly unreasonable names if should for some strange reason we parted ways with Lavin.

If Repole is still involved my first call is to an old coach like Tubby Smith, even at 62. BTW, Jimmy B is 69 this weekend.

Tubby doesn't like recruiting.

Neither does Boeheim.

Lucky for me that I don't want either of them here then.

 

[monte]

Realistically, anything short of a NCAA bid and a victory or two in the tournament and the seat gets hot....

I'm a Lavin fan, but this is the year that we need to see results on the court. It's his 3rd real, full season on the bench and had ample opportunity to get his players in here.. FTR- I think he has brought in a level of talent, no one could have predicted 4 years ago... Now we need to see this translate on the court..

It's all on the defensive end after watching the Wisco game.. rebounding and defense. I think the offense will be fine once Jordan gets his act together...which should be very soon.

I was not a fan of Lavin as a game coach while he was at UCLA(please spare me his record and NCAA appearances) and am still not a fan of him as a game coach. Having said that if we lose every game from now to the end of the year I don't think see the seat getting more than lukewarm. Unless he decides to leave, or unless there's another scandel, he aint going anywhere IMO.

Just curious Monte but why do you say "spare me his record & NCAA appearances"? Other than victories and NCAA appearances, what else is a head coach to be judged by? Are you saying he shouldn't get credit for the wins and tourney appearances but he should get credit for the losses? Just trying to figure out why you want to dismiss the one thing that coaches are paid to do, which is to win games.

I only say "spare me...." since many are quick to state his record and sweet sixteen appearance without mentioning the fact that he had a well known and well deserved reputation as a poor game coach. His highly talented UCLA teams were known for being extremely undisciplined and inconsistent. As now, he was an excellent recruiter who's teams oftentimes performed below their talent level. His first season here, Lavin had a senior laden team lead by Buckets that jelled. Similar to Mahoney's first year when David Cain stepped up big time and basically won Mahoney COY honors. After that, Mahoney proved to be a less than stellar coach. I like Lavin the personality, and I really like Lavin the recruiter, I still don't like Lavin the game coach. And that includes game plan and preparation. Interesting article from 2010 that I found spot on:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ari-shapiro/dear-st-johns-enjoy-steve_b_521280.html

 

[MCNPA]

Realistically, anything short of a NCAA bid and a victory or two in the tournament and the seat gets hot....

I'm a Lavin fan, but this is the year that we need to see results on the court. It's his 3rd real, full season on the bench and had ample opportunity to get his players in here.. FTR- I think he has brought in a level of talent, no one could have predicted 4 years ago... Now we need to see this translate on the court..

It's all on the defensive end after watching the Wisco game.. rebounding and defense. I think the offense will be fine once Jordan gets his act together...which should be very soon.

I was not a fan of Lavin as a game coach while he was at UCLA(please spare me his record and NCAA appearances) and am still not a fan of him as a game coach. Having said that if we lose every game from now to the end of the year I don't think see the seat getting more than lukewarm. Unless he decides to leave, or unless there's another scandel, he aint going anywhere IMO.

Just curious Monte but why do you say "spare me his record & NCAA appearances"? Other than victories and NCAA appearances, what else is a head coach to be judged by? Are you saying he shouldn't get credit for the wins and tourney appearances but he should get credit for the losses? Just trying to figure out why you want to dismiss the one thing that coaches are paid to do, which is to win games.

I only say "spare me...." since many are quick to state his record and sweet sixteen appearance without mentioning the fact that he had a well known and well deserved reputation as a poor game coach. His highly talented UCLA teams were known for being extremely undisciplined and inconsistent. As now, he was an excellent recruiter who's teams oftentimes performed below their talent level. His first season here, Lavin had a senior laden team lead by Buckets that jelled. Similar to Mahoney's first year when David Cain stepped up big time and basically won Mahoney COY honors. After that, Mahoney proved to be a less than stellar coach. I like Lavin the personality, and I really like Lavin the recruiter, I still don't like Lavin the game coach. And that includes game plan and preparation. Interesting article from 2010 that I found spot on:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ari-shapiro/dear-st-johns-enjoy-steve_b_521280.html

Monte, Crgreen gave some insight into the author of that article Shapiro and his hatred of Lavin since his ucla days. You find it "spot on" but the article is clearly not written from an unbiased journalist. In addition, yu cite a "well deserved reputation as a poor game coach", yet I bet you can't support the with any sort of numbers. In fact his numbers point to the contrary ie. deep tourney advances and wins over teams higher ranked and more talented than ucla. You're hanging your hat on a lot of hearsay from ucla fans back I the day and throwing it out as proof. Lavin's record doesn't agree with it. I personally don't think Lavin is the best game coach in the world either. I do think this will still be his second tourney team in 4 years, we have plenty of talent to make a run and he'll keep being successful for us as his record indicates he has been for almost all of it.

 

[NYCRedmen]

Realistically, anything short of a NCAA bid and a victory or two in the tournament and the seat gets hot....

I'm a Lavin fan, but this is the year that we need to see results on the court. It's his 3rd real, full season on the bench and had ample opportunity to get his players in here.. FTR- I think he has brought in a level of talent, no one could have predicted 4 years ago... Now we need to see this translate on the court..

It's all on the defensive end after watching the Wisco game.. rebounding and defense. I think the offense will be fine once Jordan gets his act together...which should be very soon.

I was not a fan of Lavin as a game coach while he was at UCLA(please spare me his record and NCAA appearances) and am still not a fan of him as a game coach. Having said that if we lose every game from now to the end of the year I don't think see the seat getting more than lukewarm. Unless he decides to leave, or unless there's another scandel, he aint going anywhere IMO.

Just curious Monte but why do you say "spare me his record & NCAA appearances"? Other than victories and NCAA appearances, what else is a head coach to be judged by? Are you saying he shouldn't get credit for the wins and tourney appearances but he should get credit for the losses? Just trying to figure out why you want to dismiss the one thing that coaches are paid to do, which is to win games.

I only say "spare me...." since many are quick to state his record and sweet sixteen appearance without mentioning the fact that he had a well known and well deserved reputation as a poor game coach. His highly talented UCLA teams were known for being extremely undisciplined and inconsistent. As now, he was an excellent recruiter who's teams oftentimes performed below their talent level. His first season here, Lavin had a senior laden team lead by Buckets that jelled. Similar to Mahoney's first year when David Cain stepped up big time and basically won Mahoney COY honors. After that, Mahoney proved to be a less than stellar coach. I like Lavin the personality, and I really like Lavin the recruiter, I still don't like Lavin the game coach. And that includes game plan and preparation. Interesting article from 2010 that I found spot on:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ari-shapiro/dear-st-johns-enjoy-steve_b_521280.html

Poor game coach or not, if his teams are winning and advancing in the tournament as they were his first six years, who cares if the team plays undisciplined? I'm sure most would agree that senior laden team or not, Norm Roberts doesn't have the 2011 season that Lavin had with that group. For that matter, he probably doesn't make the NIT with last year's group (even if Harrison isn't suspended). I can't say what the next 4 years hold for us but if they look like his first 6 at UCLA, I am sure many people here will be very happy.

 

[Ray Morgan]

Realistically, anything short of a NCAA bid and a victory or two in the tournament and the seat gets hot....

I'm a Lavin fan, but this is the year that we need to see results on the court. It's his 3rd real, full season on the bench and had ample opportunity to get his players in here.. FTR- I think he has brought in a level of talent, no one could have predicted 4 years ago... Now we need to see this translate on the court..

It's all on the defensive end after watching the Wisco game.. rebounding and defense. I think the offense will be fine once Jordan gets his act together...which should be very soon.

I was not a fan of Lavin as a game coach while he was at UCLA(please spare me his record and NCAA appearances) and am still not a fan of him as a game coach. Having said that if we lose every game from now to the end of the year I don't think see the seat getting more than lukewarm. Unless he decides to leave, or unless there's another scandel, he aint going anywhere IMO.

Just curious Monte but why do you say "spare me his record & NCAA appearances"? Other than victories and NCAA appearances, what else is a head coach to be judged by? Are you saying he shouldn't get credit for the wins and tourney appearances but he should get credit for the losses? Just trying to figure out why you want to dismiss the one thing that coaches are paid to do, which is to win games.

I only say "spare me...." since many are quick to state his record and sweet sixteen appearance without mentioning the fact that he had a well known and well deserved reputation as a poor game coach. His highly talented UCLA teams were known for being extremely undisciplined and inconsistent. As now, he was an excellent recruiter who's teams oftentimes performed below their talent level. His first season here, Lavin had a senior laden team lead by Buckets that jelled. Similar to Mahoney's first year when David Cain stepped up big time and basically won Mahoney COY honors. After that, Mahoney proved to be a less than stellar coach. I like Lavin the personality, and I really like Lavin the recruiter, I still don't like Lavin the game coach. And that includes game plan and preparation. Interesting article from 2010 that I found spot on:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ari-shapiro/dear-st-johns-enjoy-steve_b_521280.html

If Lavin does here what he did at UCLA, a street near the SJU campus will be renamed after him. UCLA has a higher set of standards than we do.