Why Steve Lavin Returned to Coaching

I liked Lavin, wish him the best at his new job and am rooting for him. Firing him for Mullin was a huge mistake. He was a good guy and I think would have rebounded from that last season. He certainly had his seasons where I thought the cancer wore on him and he might have mailed it in, but he was solid and has real love for SJU and his players.
 
I liked Lavin, wish him the best at his new job and am rooting for him. Firing him for Mullin was a huge mistake. He was a good guy and I think would have rebounded from that last season. He certainly had his seasons where I thought the cancer wore on him and he might have mailed it in, but he was solid and has real love for SJU and his
 
Amaseinyourface said:
He had lost steam and not landing Briscoe hurt the idea of momentum carrying over post Dlo. But he did have Sampson signed who was a top 100 guy. And Samir Doughty who ended up being a serious piece on a final four team. I personally felt like the job was wearing him down but what do I know. I’m sure he would have been able to find some solid pieces but I never felt he would get back to the high he had us on year 1. Could grab the studs but never seemed to fill out a roster with the right bench pieces. Conversely CMA hasn’t gotten the same top end guys (HS recruit wise) but his roster has been filled out well. Damn cancer. What could have been.
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Sampson was a bust and Dougherty was not eligible. Both Lovett and Mussini were Lavin’s guys.
 
panther2 said:
MJ is definitely correct. I was in LA in January of Lavin's final season and heard talk that he was going to be let go if we did not make the NCAA tourney. When we beat Georgetown at the Garden during Samir Doughty's visit, Monasch was the only person looking unhappy. The Administration wanted him to fail, which is really f'd up.

As for Obeka and Jordan, it would have taken some work, but I believe that both would have returned if Lavin had been retained.
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Jordan failed out of school. He wasn’t playing first semester regardless of who the coach was. Doubt he would have had the patience and work ethic at the time to stick around
 
Moose said:
Bobby doesn't get blamed as much as he should. I know the President is responsible for much more than just athletics but he torpedoed the program with him and Joe's infatuation with Mullin.

We were in it for a lot of top level recruits that last year. Problem was by January it was internally known that Mullin was lingering so then kids popped elsewhere and Lavin checked out.
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Not sure Lavin knew that. My understanding is that there were initial discussions of a contract extension but they wanted Lav to take a pay cut
 
Boo Harvey said:
Sampson was a bust and Dougherty was not eligible. Both Lovett and Mussini were Lavin’s guys.
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Sampson averaged 12 and 3 as a sophomore in the sec and for what ever it’s worth played 14 games in the NBA. We sure could have used him.

Lovett wasn’t eligible either. I would have liked for Mussini to stay 4 years.
 
Hope he puts a nice bow on his career there.

And I am just as happy that he is dating again as I am that he's coaching again.
 
Moose said:
Bobby doesn't get blamed as much as he should. I know the President is responsible for much more than just athletics but he torpedoed the program with him and Joe's infatuation with Mullin.

We were in it for a lot of top level recruits that last year. Problem was by January it was internally known that Mullin was lingering so then kids popped elsewhere and Lavin checked out.
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True that. From afar, I thought Lavs was less motivated than the first few years, but a 3/4 motivated Lavin is going to be in it for some talented kids, and law of averages says he lands a few. The Jordan/Obekpa stuff became tiresome, and while I’m not sure what else he could have done with Jordan to keep him playing, it seems his eligibility was toast if as reported he ceased going to classes. Still if folks knew Lavs was going to be here I think you would have seen some more talent influx beyond Sampson and Doughty.
 
Boo Harvey said:
Sampson was a bust and Dougherty was not eligible. Both Lovett and Mussini were Lavin’s guys.
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Sampson had a good sophomore year and his junior year was plagued by a bad ankle injury (while there was no doubt of the initial injury, their was some debate on the time it took to get back on the court and it’s lingering effects between the basketball staff and Sampson and his family similar to the Lovett and his knee situation here).
 
Yeah the infatuation with bringing in Chris was in retrospect a huge mistake.

Again as I stated if I had to do over again and they wanted to move on from Lavin the route to go was Danny Hurley. If not him then absolutely bring back Lavin with an extension.

But even then Lavin would have needed to make some staff changes. I would have conditioned the extension on staff changes, I think he would have done it.
 
In retrospect, letting Lavin go was a mistake. (Although I have to admit I was all for it at the time.) We are still trying to get back to the level he established - 20ish wins and on the bubble most years. My guess is that the Lavin ceiling wasn't much higher than that - which is why I supported the seemingly bold move of hiring Mullin at the time. But Lavin would have had us in the conversation, and we would have been near the top of the Big East most years.
 
Letting Lavin go was debatable. But hiring Mullin, w no coaching exp, cost us Hurley. And to compound things he put Mitch as his associate head coach, also no prior coaching exp.
Maybe things would have been different if he didn’t have pro star cancer.
 
fordham96 said:
Yeah the infatuation with bringing in Chris was in retrospect a huge mistake.

Again as I stated if I had to do over again and they wanted to move on from Lavin the route to go was Danny Hurley. If not him then absolutely bring back Lavin with an extension.

But even then Lavin would have needed to make some staff changes. I would have conditioned the extension on staff changes, I think he would have done it.
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lavin did make changes that last year. and brought in Jim whitesell a respected X’s and O’s Coach
 
fordham96 said:
Yes but that would was not enough. Rico Hines needed to go. Also needed stronger Administrative staff.
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My thought too. I think Tony Chiles was fine for his role. Whitesell based on track record and what's happened since seemed like a good add. But they could have upgraded the Rico spot, from afar.
 
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