"What If?" Article by Avid Redmen.Com Follower
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beast of the east
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[URL][URL]https://www.nysportsday.com/2017/02/05/st-johns-jay-wright-and-what-if/[/URL][/URL]
No, Beast or I did not write this.
But we could have written it. Jay is in the perfect place for Jay and in my conversations with him has akways said how much he and his family loved LI.
[URL][URL]https://www.nysportsday.com/2017/02/05/st-johns-jay-wright-and-what-if/[/URL][/URL]
No, Beast or I did not write this.
If Jay Wright had ended up at Saint John's he'd today be a never was has been coaching in division III.
[URL][URL]https://www.nysportsday.com/2017/02/05/st-johns-jay-wright-and-what-if/[/URL][/URL]
No, Beast or I did not write this.
But we could have written it. Jay is in the perfect place for Jay and in my conversations with him has akways said how much he and his family loved LI.
Agree that Nova is the perfect place for Wright, but think things would have worked out just fine for Wright and SJU had he come here.
[URL][URL]https://www.nysportsday.com/2017/02/05/st-johns-jay-wright-and-what-if/[/URL][/URL]
No, Beast or I did not write this.
If Jay Wright had ended up at Saint John's he'd today be a never was has been coaching in division III.
You are definitely wrong Fun. Jay had a great relationship with the local AAU coaches. He would have brought Jason Fraser and Curtis Sumpter to St Johns in 2002 and Lamont Hamilton and Daryl Hill in 2003. He would also have probably gotten Charlie Villaneuva. Jay, because of his personality would have been successful at whichever college he coached in the Northeast.
Jokes aren't right or wrong, they're funny or not funny. Or in my case annoying or not annoying. When people fact check them that's a sure sign they hit the mark.
Just those guys? I'd have thought he would have convinced Lebron to get a degree with all Jamaica has to offer. A front line of James, Frazier, Sumner, Villaneuva and Luol Deng - he was a Jersey kid IIRC - would have been something, especially with Chris Paul, Shaun Livingston and Sebastian Telfair in the back court. Add Lenny Cooke and Darius Miles to the mix you have a pretty good 10 man rotation. Maybe could have even competed for a title, especially if Wright would have had the humility and foresight to bring in an experienced X and O guy like Chuck Daly or Pat Reilly as an assistant, which no doubt he would have.
But seriously, eff Jay Wright and dewk lite. Villanova beats SJ senseless year after year and you're all oh gosh thanks for the bitchslapping Mister Wright, it was such an honor and you're so dreamy and classy and such a snazzy dresser. Whereas I hope he goes hiking and gets mauled by a bear.
Class of 72
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Jay Wright took a while to become the next coming of John Wooden. He had two good years at Hofstra and five forgettable ones. He began his career there going 10-18, 9-18 and 12-15. His season losses were 13, 16 and 17 in his first three years at Nova and fans and alums were calling for his head on a platter. Then he started to get players.
It would have taken him longer at St. John's because everything we do is a day late and a Vincention dollar short.
If Mullin ever gets half the 5 star players NBA farm team Kentucky gets, Mullin, with his NBA style, would have scalpers lining up outside of Madison Square Garden again instead of redmen.com ticket holders offering free tickets and free delivery because it looks like rain is in the weather forecast.
Think Wright would have done a good job here for obvious reasons. Notable boost for him or any coach around that time period was that we'd had a few middling/down years, but hadn't had so much drama, volatility, and sustained periods of underperformance as a program. Missed the NCAA 4 straight years from Mahoney's 2nd year through Fran's 1st, but then made it 4 out of 5 so wasn't like it was an extended stretch of losing.
At that juncture those 4 years could have been a hiccup. If we had made a great hire in that late 90s/early 00s the trajectory could have been much different. Instead we hired Jarvis who turned it into much more than a hiccup and for the most part we've been in various stages of rebuilding ever since for over a decade now.
Think Wright would have been one of those great hires, even if maybe Nova is a better fit for him or if he wouldn't have been at SJU as long as he's been at Nova. Realistically, don't think the timing ever worked out where he was a legitimate option did it? He really took off at Hofstra in Jarvis' first 3 years with us, and by the time Jarvis had really messed things up Nova had already hired Wright. We would have had to move on from Jarvis after his losing season in Year 3, which while that looks like an excellent idea in retrospect doubt it was realistic at time and he made NCAA the following year.
In any event Wright and a whole host of other coaches in that time period probably would have had a lot easier time getting/keeping things on solid footing than coaches do for us now. With that in mind worthwhile to look at Wright's first 3 years at Nova - 52-46 overall, 21-27 Big East, 0 NCAAs - when evaluating how long it might take Mullin or any other coach to get SJU going with some consistency.
At that juncture those 4 years could have been a hiccup. If we had made a great hire in that late 90s/early 00s the trajectory could have been much different. Instead we hired Jarvis who turned it into much more than a hiccup and for the most part we've been in various stages of rebuilding ever since for over a decade now.
Think Wright would have been one of those great hires, even if maybe Nova is a better fit for him or if he wouldn't have been at SJU as long as he's been at Nova. Realistically, don't think the timing ever worked out where he was a legitimate option did it? He really took off at Hofstra in Jarvis' first 3 years with us, and by the time Jarvis had really messed things up Nova had already hired Wright. We would have had to move on from Jarvis after his losing season in Year 3, which while that looks like an excellent idea in retrospect doubt it was realistic at time and he made NCAA the following year.
In any event Wright and a whole host of other coaches in that time period probably would have had a lot easier time getting/keeping things on solid footing than coaches do for us now. With that in mind worthwhile to look at Wright's first 3 years at Nova - 52-46 overall, 21-27 Big East, 0 NCAAs - when evaluating how long it might take Mullin or any other coach to get SJU going with some consistency.
we are sju
Active member
McKillop over Norm and we are winning 20 games a year and losing in first round of NCAA every year or 2 out of every 3. Just like the good old days
That is my legit what if.
That is my legit what if.
beast of the east
Active member
I don't know how Wright's contract negotiations with Nova go, but it's fair to say he is very well compensated for a school with 7000 students. My guess is that even if Wright came here and had success, he'd be gone by now for more $$, and we'd all be talking about how his replacement Pecora was another in a long line of failures.
beast of the east
Active member
Given a choice, Harrington still would have gone for Norm.
I don't know what sort of expectations people had for Mulllin, but Mullin's expectations were that it would take a period of years before things were put right. Right now they're ahead of where I thought they'd be and they're also ahead of where the rest of the BE coaches thought they'd be. They have three winnable games left, if they win two that's seven BE wins, any rational fan would have signed up for that gladly. Assuming roster continuity and assuming next year that they're not going to lose the LIUs of the world, three years in he's a solid B plus.Wright in three years at Nova was generously a B minus. Whether he takes it to the next level is an open question, but he's never failed at basketball before.