Lavin Taken To Task by the New York Post Tonight

[collegehoopsdigest]

He doesn't recruit, his team is the only team without a conference victory. NY Post speculates that he's out the door. (School Denies FWIW)

http://nypost.com/2014/01/21/coach-star ... struggles/

[TheDon]

SJU has got to be the most disappointing team in the league. Who would've guessed Lavin could get fired before Purnell!

[ivet]

SJU has got to be the most disappointing team in the league. Who would've guessed Lavin could get fired before Purnell!

I did, as well as anyone who followed the West Coast scene 10 years ago especially the Bruin Nation. They even warned the Johnnies about him. If Purnell doesnt turn the corner quick, he wont be far behind.

[dmac80]

SJU has got to be the most disappointing team in the league. Who would've guessed Lavin could get fired before Purnell!

I did, as well as anyone who followed the West Coast scene 10 years ago especially the Bruin Nation. They even warned the Johnnies about him. If Purnell doesnt turn the corner quick, he wont be far behind.

Can you provide some insight? I know Lavin had some issues with recruiting or something near the end right? I only know that he had some success with UCLA then suddenly he was gone. Fill us in please.

[ivet]

Can you provide some insight? I know Lavin had some issues with recruiting or something near the end right? I only know that he had some success with UCLA then suddenly he was gone. Fill us in please.

This was in 2010 when St Johns announced they hired Lavin.

"Dear St. John's: Enjoy Steve Lavin. Love, UCLA" - Ari Shapiro (ncaa bball blogger)

Steve Lavin is not a good basketball coach. No seriously, he sucks.

So just in case you're still skeptical, just in case you've bought into Lavin's interpretation, let's plan to talk again in five years. Come find me after Lavin has recruited the best talent in the country, still managed to flame out in the Sweet 16, and St. John's is again looking for a new coach. (Eerie right? this guy is a living Nostradamus!)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ari-shapi ... 21280.html

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" Steve Lavin to St. John’s: Well, he won’t be boring" - Tim Kawakami 2010

Summary: A good guy as an assistant; a holy terror (if you ask me and many others, including several of his former players) as head coach; right back into solid good-guy territory as a TV guy.


http://blogs.mercurynews.com/kawakami/2 ... be-boring/

"As expected ...UCLA's Lavin fired after worst Bruins' season in 55 years" - SI 2003

At times, the Bruins were booed off their home floor, and fans wore T-shirts that said "Lose Lavin" and "Fire Lavin Immediately."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basket ... _fired_ap/

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"Why We Hate Steve Lavin" - Bruinsnation.com 2011

"As reported by Bay Area blogger Geoff Lepper of the Contra Costa Times, former UCLA point guard Baron Davis looked into the rafters at Pauley Pavilion last Friday during the Golden State Warriors' morning shoot-around and said, "We should have a banner up there: the only team to make the tournament without a coach."

http://www.bruinsnation.com/2011/2/4/19 ... teve-lavin

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I could probably dig back to the UCLA message boards back then but its basically like reading Redmen.com right now.

Going off my memory (I grew up in California), when Harrick got fired from UCLA, there were 3 viable candidates who happened to be assistants under Harrick at the time; Steve Lavin, Lorenzo Romar, and Mark Gottfried. Romar ended up being a HC at Washington and Mark Gottfried is currently the HC at NC State. Neither seemed like the "unpolished diamond" Lavin seemed to be.



To be honest, there was a lot of excitement built up and Lavin seemed poised to be the potential coach. He was young, flashy, great with the media, and could out-recruit anyone in the country, he seemed like the perfect fit for Hollywood (UCLA). He inherited a great squad his first year (ditto @ St. Johns) and also recruited with the best of them. I think one year he had the best recruiting class in the country. Fast forward a few years and people started noticing the same issues he has at St. Johns right now. Great talent but unable to win, lack of player development, horrible in-game-coaching, and players quickly losing respect for him (cant confirm this at St. Johns). Critics, including Lavin, always made the excuse that UCLA expected too much from him and rightfully so, but when you factor in all the hype and talent around Lavin, they should have never finish in the bottom half of the Pac-10 and which they did. I've said it before, Lavin is best suited as an Asst Coach that can convince top talent to sign, leave the coaching part to someone who knows what they're doing.

[Jet915]

Lavin seems like a great guy and very good ambassador for the Big East. He's a great recruiter, maybe he needs to be an assistant coach.

[Hall2012]

Lavin's reputation is well earned, he did the exact same thing at UCLA. I believe he had the #1 ranked recruiting class twice while he was there and sent a handful of guys to the NBA, yet the only thing he won was the conference title his first year with Jim Harrick's guys.

Interestingly enough, his best season so far with St. John's was also his 1st season with his predecessor's players.

[BlueGuy]

He seems to be a great recruiter, but perhaps he's a bad evaluator of talent. He gets the players he wants, but they are not the players he needs.... If that makes sense. Then again, maybe he's just a lousy coach.

[cujaysfan]

what's odd to me - is that gene keady hasn't been able to help

knows the X and Os

knows how to build a program

knows how to coach kids up

he and lavin should be an unbeatable pair as they seem the perfect yin and yang

[collegehoopsdigest]

Our podcast tonight had the author of the column about St. John's (Zach Braziller) as our guest to discuss it...

http://www.collegehoopsdigest.com/2014/ ... uDGz9Uo7C0