Purnell

[Freshjive2103]

First - Shaka Smart to DePaul is about as likely as Mama June being the Sports Illlustrated Swimsuit edition cover model.

Purnell should need to have this team at .500 to get consideration for another year. The "rebuild" is 2 years behind, but it is Chicago, where the Millenium Park was opened like a year and a half late and the DePaul arena is already delayed before it even begins.

The Purnell deal, as I heard, is structured where the buyout drops significantly after year 5. That lesson was seemingly learned after the Wainwright departure.

DePaul needs to get people interested/excited for DePaul basketball before the arena opens. Purnell and these results do not do it.

[stever20]

First - Shaka Smart to DePaul is about as likely as Mama June being the Sports Illlustrated Swimsuit edition cover model.

Purnell should need to have this team at .500 to get consideration for another year. The "rebuild" is 2 years behind, but it is Chicago, where the Millenium Park was opened like a year and a half late and the DePaul arena is already delayed before it even begins.

The Purnell deal, as I heard, is structured where the buyout drops significantly after year 5. That lesson was seemingly learned after the Wainwright departure.

DePaul needs to get people interested/excited for DePaul basketball before the arena opens. Purnell and these results do not do it.

Totally agree with you about Smart... no chance there at all. Could see him a lot more likely at a St John's quite frankly....

Like I said- I think a lot about Purnell's future is the last month. If they can win 3 more games- that gets them to 9-9 in conference play. That is a HUGE improvement. Most wins since 2007. 1 fewer conference win vs the last 6 years.... COMBINED!!!!

[falcon]

I doubt DePaul has the money to buy out Purnell, but who was the genius who signed him to such a lengthy and expensive deal? It's not like he was a hot commodity. Terrible move, reminiscent of some of the SJU hires.

What does this even mean? It's like you just took a bunch of words and put them together but it in no way makes any sense.

It's a lengthy deal because Purnell and the school knew it would be a long rebuilding process and they both agreed that he would be given the time needed to fix the program. Neither one wanted to worry about contracts and knew consistency was one of the things needed to get them back. Guess what? Looks like they are right and that DePaul might actually play in a post season for the first time in years.

Okay now please name some of the SJU hires that were signed to 7 year contracts right off the bat? I know people like to take shots at SJU but this makes zero sense. Your trolling needs work.

Between Carnesecca's retirement and the hiring of Steve Lavan, SJU hired four coaches - Mahoney, Fraschilla, Jarvis and Roberts. All four were fired, the school was on probation for two years, and SJU had to pay out approximately three million for the above quartet not to coach. If those aren't bad hires, what are they? The fact remains, despite your objection, that SJU, DePaul and Seton Hall have all done a very poor job running their basketball programs.

[OldSchoolDemon]

every game this year has been a fight for your job game for Purnell from my perspective. There are two voices in my head. The voice that tells me it's year five and even these results which have shown progress are unacceptable and then there is the other voice that says he's building some continuity and deserves a 6th year to maintain some stability.

I don't think he can be judged until the end of the regular season. It will be hard for DPU to fire him with a 10-8 finish and it may be hard to fire him with a 9-9 finish even though it would leave DePaul with an overall under 500 record. The results have improved, but the concern is does he have the ability to take the program to the next step. Can he do what Norm Roberts was not given the chance to do which is lead the team to a NCAA bid next year?

With the arena delay it's not looking like they will play a game there until the 2017/18 season. Now, can it be sped up once the final construction/architectural tweaks are made...yes, but his contract runs through 2016/17. I second the comment by freshjive and other DPU fans. They have to start winning to generate interest. What they're doing right now is being respectable, but not a real threat.

[NJRedman]

I doubt DePaul has the money to buy out Purnell, but who was the genius who signed him to such a lengthy and expensive deal? It's not like he was a hot commodity. Terrible move, reminiscent of some of the SJU hires.

What does this even mean? It's like you just took a bunch of words and put them together but it in no way makes any sense.

It's a lengthy deal because Purnell and the school knew it would be a long rebuilding process and they both agreed that he would be given the time needed to fix the program. Neither one wanted to worry about contracts and knew consistency was one of the things needed to get them back. Guess what? Looks like they are right and that DePaul might actually play in a post season for the first time in years.

Okay now please name some of the SJU hires that were signed to 7 year contracts right off the bat? I know people like to take shots at SJU but this makes zero sense. Your trolling needs work.

Between Carnesecca's retirement and the hiring of Steve Lavan, SJU hired four coaches - Mahoney, Fraschilla, Jarvis and Roberts. All four were fired, the school was on probation for two years, and SJU had to pay out approximately three million for the above quartet not to coach. If those aren't bad hires, what are they? The fact remains, despite your objection, that SJU, DePaul and Seton Hall have all done a very poor job running their basketball programs.

Jarvis was there for 5 full seasons finishing in the following place in the Big East each year 3rd, 3rd, 6th, 5th, 5th and he made an elite 8 and won both the Big East tourny and NIT.

Franschilla was there for 2 years and had a 22-10 record his second and last season as the St. John's coach finishing second in the conference.

Mahoney and Roberts were the only ones without a winning record. You clearly don't know what you're talking about. Despite your hyperbole of the SJU BBall program we are not a total train wreck. If you were paying attention last year we tied for 3rd in the league.

Look at the Big East standings over the years, while we do end up on the bottom end of the list a few times we also end up on the top end a few times as well with most of the time we find ourselves in the middle. You might want to check those facts you are claiming remains.

http://www.bbstate.com/conferences/BIGE ... ndingshist

[Freshjive2103]

First - Shaka Smart to DePaul is about as likely as Mama June being the Sports Illlustrated Swimsuit edition cover model.

Purnell should need to have this team at .500 to get consideration for another year. The "rebuild" is 2 years behind, but it is Chicago, where the Millenium Park was opened like a year and a half late and the DePaul arena is already delayed before it even begins.

The Purnell deal, as I heard, is structured where the buyout drops significantly after year 5. That lesson was seemingly learned after the Wainwright departure.

DePaul needs to get people interested/excited for DePaul basketball before the arena opens. Purnell and these results do not do it.

Totally agree with you about Smart... no chance there at all. Could see him a lot more likely at a St John's quite frankly....

Like I said- I think a lot about Purnell's future is the last month. If they can win 3 more games- that gets them to 9-9 in conference play. That is a HUGE improvement. Most wins since 2007. 1 fewer conference win vs the last 6 years.... COMBINED!!!!

St. John's would stand almost no chance either. If Shaka goes to another job, it will be to a school that has been quite successful and either the current coach has struggled and was fired (ex. a UCLA under Howland type situation) or where the coach is retiring. Him not going to Marquette told me he is looking for the tier above type job.

Quite honestly, if U of Wisconsin had the money, that would be the sort of job I could see him at. He is from Wisconsin, there is solid/strong talent in the area, and has been a very successful program in recent years.

[RDinNY]

I could see Chaka taking the Depaul job. Wisconsin is a suburb of Chicago.

[falcon]

What does this even mean? It's like you just took a bunch of words and put them together but it in no way makes any sense.

It's a lengthy deal because Purnell and the school knew it would be a long rebuilding process and they both agreed that he would be given the time needed to fix the program. Neither one wanted to worry about contracts and knew consistency was one of the things needed to get them back. Guess what? Looks like they are right and that DePaul might actually play in a post season for the first time in years.

Okay now please name some of the SJU hires that were signed to 7 year contracts right off the bat? I know people like to take shots at SJU but this makes zero sense. Your trolling needs work.[/quote]

Between Carnesecca's retirement and the hiring of Steve Lavan, SJU hired four coaches - Mahoney, Fraschilla, Jarvis and Roberts. All four were fired, the school was on probation for two years, and SJU had to pay out approximately three million for the above quartet not to coach. If those aren't bad hires, what are they? The fact remains, despite your objection, that SJU, DePaul and Seton Hall have all done a very poor job running their basketball programs.[/quote]

Jarvis was there for 5 full seasons finishing in the following place in the Big East each year 3rd, 3rd, 6th, 5th, 5th and he made an elite 8 and won both the Big East tourny and NIT.

Franschilla was there for 2 years and had a 22-10 record his second and last season as the St. John's coach finishing second in the conference.

Mahoney and Roberts were the only ones without a winning record. You clearly don't know what you're talking about. Despite your hyperbole of the SJU BBall program we are not a total train wreck. If you were paying attention last year we tied for 3rd in the league.

Look at the Big East standings over the years, while we do end up on the bottom end of the list a few times we also end up on the top end a few times as well with most of the time we find ourselves in the middle. You might want to check those facts you are claiming remains.

http://www.bbstate.com/conferences/BIGE ... ndingshist[/quote]

If you believe the last twenty years of SJ basketball have been successful, you are delusional. Fran Fraschilla was the only hire who had potential. He cleaned up
Mahoney's mess, recruited some great NYC players, and had them in the NCAA in his second year. I thought he had a great future, but he started flirting with other schools and told the AD he wanted an extension. The AD, Ed Manetta, did not get on well with Fran, they had a nasty blowout, and Fran was fired. It got so bad that campus security had to be called. A lot of cross accusations were made before Fran took a $500,000 settlement not to coach. He later surfaced at New Mexico, where after some initial success, he fought with the administrators and was, again, fired and paid off. Jarvis had success with Fran's recruits, but was fired early into his sixth season. By the end of that year, the NCAA had us on probation for illegal payments to a player, we had six players involved with an escort in Pittsburg, two other of his recruits were arrested for drug possession and another thrown out of school for assaulting a female student. He left the program in complete disarray, and Jarvis left with a million dollar buyout. Roberts came next and he did a great job cleaning up the latest mess, recruited good kids, but either they weren't good enough or his coaching was lacking. Six years - zero NCAA bids, and an NIT record of 0-1. Jarvis put in for every job that opened up, but after a time had to settle for the Florida Atlantic job, from which he was dismissed after a couple of years. Lavan has a competitive team this year, but an NCAA bid will depend on the next three weeks, and his top six players probably won't be back next year. His future at SJ is unclear at present.
For a school which had coaches, such as Joe Lapchick, Frank McGuire and Louie Carnesecca, all Hall of Famers, and where post-season play was a given, the past 20 years have been an embarrassment.