We like Steve Lavin
- Thread starter Redmen1992
- Start date
beast of the east
Active member
This guy REALLY dislikes Lavin, huh?
Factually, is probably more accurate than inaccurate.
We have our own ex-coaches to beat up with frequency.
While it may be low-life to cancel your wedding reception for questionable reasons (too many accepted invitations, really?), I would imagine if Lavin won a couple of championships, everyone there would be happy, maybe even his invited guests. As far as asking Wooden to be his best man, hmm, yea that's a little suspect too.
Who do you know anywhere that doesn't wither when compared to John Wooden the person. Even Wooden has been criticized on this site, but IMO, it's unfair to compare Lavin to Wooden, the most successful NCAA coach of all time. Even Wooden sold his program and record to recruits, whether or not they sold themselves.
Is Lavin a bad game coach? A bad teacher of fundamentals? Inability to get the team to play defense as a unit? Almost no evidence of an offensive schema? Well, yes. But we knew that already. As far as not making his players better as people, hard to say, but we know he doesn't tolerate infractions to rules or bad conduct.
But the author goes over the top in his disdain. Who cares if Lavin attended the MLB all-star game during recruiting season, or if he watched some games while on an exercise bike. I mean, REALLY?
If I had to bet, I'd say Lavin won't be here in 5 years, but only if he has enough success to jump somewhere else. Right now he has a job to do, and until we start winning (or abysmally losing) he isn't going anywhere. But there's no question the program is in better shape than it was 4 years ago. Isn't that what Presidential candidates hang their campaigns on, whether or not we are better off today than 4 years ago. Thinking of the last election, maybe not.
Factually, is probably more accurate than inaccurate.
We have our own ex-coaches to beat up with frequency.
While it may be low-life to cancel your wedding reception for questionable reasons (too many accepted invitations, really?), I would imagine if Lavin won a couple of championships, everyone there would be happy, maybe even his invited guests. As far as asking Wooden to be his best man, hmm, yea that's a little suspect too.
Who do you know anywhere that doesn't wither when compared to John Wooden the person. Even Wooden has been criticized on this site, but IMO, it's unfair to compare Lavin to Wooden, the most successful NCAA coach of all time. Even Wooden sold his program and record to recruits, whether or not they sold themselves.
Is Lavin a bad game coach? A bad teacher of fundamentals? Inability to get the team to play defense as a unit? Almost no evidence of an offensive schema? Well, yes. But we knew that already. As far as not making his players better as people, hard to say, but we know he doesn't tolerate infractions to rules or bad conduct.
But the author goes over the top in his disdain. Who cares if Lavin attended the MLB all-star game during recruiting season, or if he watched some games while on an exercise bike. I mean, REALLY?
If I had to bet, I'd say Lavin won't be here in 5 years, but only if he has enough success to jump somewhere else. Right now he has a job to do, and until we start winning (or abysmally losing) he isn't going anywhere. But there's no question the program is in better shape than it was 4 years ago. Isn't that what Presidential candidates hang their campaigns on, whether or not we are better off today than 4 years ago. Thinking of the last election, maybe not.
L J S A
Well-known member
CRGreen explained that the exercise bike thing was a recruiting ploy. He told a PG (I can't remember which one) that he was the only one he was recruiting. Lavin then made a big show of not paying attention to every other PG at that AAU tournament, hence the exercise bike.
I'm still lovin' Lavin, we are 4-1 and have the highest talent lever we have had since Artest. The program is regarded well, people know who SJU is and we are in conversation with top level talent. Again we are 4-1, we have Whitesell and Keady for X's & O's. If we keep winning idc if they cant hit a 3 for their life at the end of the day that W is all that matters.
If they beat cuse' I will start a petition to give Lavin the key to the city.
If they beat cuse' I will start a petition to give Lavin the key to the city.
The biggest argument agaist Lavin is his teams underachieve relative to their talent level. He had Kentucky type classes at UCLA. Based on watching Lavin this year that argument seems to be supported. Lavin overachieved in 2010, but I don't know how much credit goes to Dunlap. Its still too early to really judge Lavin. By the end of the year we will able to make a better analysis.
The link is a fair summary of the Lavin UCLA tenure. Lots of talent, not much coaching, some big wins, a number of losses to inferior teams, and tournament runs that often seemed to be despite the lack of a plan, driven by mainly by talent and motivation.
The hope here was that spending 7 years broadcasting would plug some of the holes. It looks like some progress has been made. At least the suspensions show some form of discipline, and there are glimmers of offensive and defensive strategy starting to show up.
Unfortunately some of the UCLA themes are still too evident.
The comments below the article add some more detail.
The hope here was that spending 7 years broadcasting would plug some of the holes. It looks like some progress has been made. At least the suspensions show some form of discipline, and there are glimmers of offensive and defensive strategy starting to show up.
Unfortunately some of the UCLA themes are still too evident.
The comments below the article add some more detail.
TRabinowitz
Member
"Frank in Astoria" just called into Francesa and said he hoped that Jason Giambi could help our outside shooting.
Class of 72
Active member
What is past, is prologue:
I never read the comments until you mentioned them. What I have been seeing since last Spring to the present has disappointed me and many others. Being vocal about it here only leads to personal attacks by the blind that lead the blind but the following comment struck home like a hammer to a rock and I thank God I had nothing to do with it. Please take note about the "free form offense" that is obviously still in place.
"Lizard’s players NEVER got better — because he could not teach them. Reportedly, his practices were totally unorganized and undisciplined. He had great players who carried him. He could not pay them back by improving their skills.
At one point, Lizard had the team playing a “free form” offense — which basically meant that we played street ball, no plans, no structure, no purpose.
The lizard consistently refused to hire knowledgeable, high quality bench coaches — feeling threatened, he surrounded himself with people at his own level of “knowledge and ability”.
I had season tickets during his reign of error. I got so tired of hearing “work in progress” when there was none, and “we are turning the corner” when it was clear we were going in circles that I could vomit at the sound of his voice. (I don’t always follow Fox’s advice, but when the lizard was on the television broadcast team, I turned off the sound.)
But, by far the worst thing he did has already been mentioned. He took a very kind and generous man and used him as a shield. He exploited Coach for his own purposes and, for that, I will never forgive him."
beast of the east
Active member
Keep in mind that perhaps the only 3 places in the country where fans expectations are at the level of UCLA are Kentucky, North Carolina, and Kansas - maybe. UCLA fans, likely as old but much more spoiled than ours, can only be satisfied with championships. So, while the criticisms of Lavin's ability to coach have validity, the personal stuff probably true but irrelevant, these are a bunch of fans that would likely have run Dean Smith out of town for not reaching Woodenesque success levels.
Class of 72
Active member
Much of what UCLA fans remember are Lavs last 2 years. They were 21-12 and 10-19. That was with top 50 talent. His first four years were remarkable. Especially since he was so young.
Lavin had one bad year as a lame duck in his final season at UCLA. That's what they hate him for? It's absurd if you ask me. Frankly, the malcontent SJU fans are even more perplexing. SJU's most celebrated team has one Final 4. We are a competitive team here at SJU now, with a talented roster overall and it's only Lavin's 4th season. Not really sure what is destroying people? I'd love to be a shoe-in for the Final 4 every year, but I don't think we are in a terrible place now. Imagine how good we'd be if we still had Harkless? We are certainly missing some offensive firepower, but I venture to guess if our scoring/shooting were a tad better, nobody would be even talking this stuff set free-form offense, which it is not.
Class of 72
Active member
I know. We would be thrilled.