The Steve Lavin era at St. John’s has been one filled with tough times, glimmers of hope, and just about everything in between. Because of such things — even though the Johnnies are a lock to make the NCAA Tournament — the athletic department is waiting until after the season to talk about possibly extending the head coach.
The idea that the athletic department is doing that, though, probably signals it wants the Lavin era to continue, but hopes the coach and his team offer a clear and convincing reason to force an extension after a run in the Big Dance.
It also means, however, that the athletic department doesn’t want to extend just for the sake of extending. Maybe, the department is worried that his run with the program hasn’t worked out the way it envisioned and would prefer to get out of the relationship instead of continuing down the same path — kind of like a marriage that seems doomed, but the partners stay together because they don’t want to hurt the other’s feelings. Except in this case, St. John’s feels that way, but would prefer to get divorced for the betterment of the kids. Hooray, bad analogies.
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Regardless, Lavin’s time at St. John’s has been rather hard to talk about without wanting to back him in some form or another. He took the Johnnies to the NCAA Tournament in his first year, except it was with Norm Roberts’ players. Then he signed some big-time recruits, but had to miss time while battling cancer. Then came some somewhat disappointing years when compared to expectations. Finally, though, this season — his fifth — Lavin has the Red Storm back dancing in March.
That’s basically one NCAA Tournament appearance every four years. The St. John’s fan base, which is divided on the issue, has took one of two stances concerning Lavin:
First Stance: This isn’t 1985. Everyone should be happy with how things are going and Lavin’s tenure has been solid. Factoring in everything Lavin had to endure personally (cancer and loss of his father), he hasn’t gotten a fair run yet. Give him more time and everything will work out.
Second Stance: No one is asking for 1985. Fans would settle for 1999. Lavin, who has still lured in some pretty solid recruits, has trotted out a depthless team at the end of his first recruiting cycle. The team could potentially send out one of the worst power program rosters in the nation next year with the loss of seniors, possible departures by two other top players, and only one top-recruit coming in — with three-star prospects filling out the rest of the class.
I fall more towards the second stance. That doesn’t mean Lavin’s job is beyond saving or that I’m not rooting for him to succeed. I mean, one of Lavin’s best attributes is being a guy you like and want to do well. No one, not even the most jaded Johnnies fan, is saying that. However, some do believe that this year’s Tourney appearance is masking the modest success Lavin has had with the program. More importantly, a critical appraisal of the program holds that Lavin is not above reproach even though he is taking the team dancing.
None of that actually matters — neither stance. Everyone’s opinion is swayed by how they expect St. John’s to fare as a program. What their (your) expectations are for the team, Lavin and the athletic department will ultimately help you feel one way or another about Lavin being given an extension (or not). Ultimately it is up to the athletic department, not the fans who are as divided by expectations as they are by generational gaps.
That’s not why we are here, though. We’re here to talk about Steve Lavin doing a lot of damage during Thursday’s press conference after the Red Storm fell to Providence. I mostly wanted to provide some form of context leading into this fiasco of either a tongue-in-cheek presser or possibly the most abominable presser this side of the Mississippi.
Let’s give a blow-by-blow of this (All quotes are from Lavin, obviously):
“I don’t think it’s them. I’m just a poor conference tournament coach. I think I’m winless in conference tournaments, even back at UCLA. I don’t think it has anything to do with our players.”
Well, okay then. It has been speculated that this is tongue-in-cheek, which I certainly hope it is for his sake. For the record, Lavin does have two wins in a conference tournament setting from his UCLA days. That being said, acknowledging that you are a poor conference tournament coach is like your mechanic telling you he doesn’t know how to fix car engines.
Still, that just seems like a way for Lavin more or less trying to bite the bullet for his players. Weird and strange? Yes, but his motives seemed good — except he then did this:
MT @CBarcaSTJ: Lavin says SJU’s one of the poorest transition teams he’s ever coached: “We really struggle in transition to convert.” #SJUBB
— East Coast Bias (@ECoastBias) March 12, 2015
We should also note that St. John’s guard Jamal Branch was also quoted after the game saying, “We had no points in transition, and that’s pretty much our game.” So, um, I guess they aren’t on the same page.
Nevertheless, that type of talk from Lavin does seem like a guy hurling his own players under the bus — just moments after taking the bullet from them when saying it wasn’t the players, but his inabilities as a conference tournament coach, which were at the root of this team’s problems. So, I guess, that makes this presser a murder-suicide?
In the grand scheme of things the presser doesn’t really matter. Having a strange one like that, though, with all the weird “no extension talks until after the postseason” stuff going on, isn’t helping the perception of what Lavin is and could be.
There has been speculation all year that an NCAA Tournament appearance alone will not help Lavin’s chances of getting an extension and that the Red Storm needs to win at least a game to secure his job going forward. After losing two straight games in embarrassing fashion heading into the NCAA Tournament, coupled with the timing of this strange press conference, it is easy to see why the athletic department would prefer to wait to see if Lavin has carried his abilities as an NCAA Tournament coach from UCLA over to St. John’s.
Honestly — ignoring the fact that a conference tournament should be used as a dress rehearsal for the Big Dance, who knew that coaches could be solid regular season coaches, bad conference tournament coaches, and good NCAA Tournament coaches anyway?
What a strange, strange presser.
