The man hit the nail on the head here although there are some SJU fans that don't want to read and/or hear this..
Hoop Weiss.. in todays NY Daily News
Any SJU fan that was shamed and embarassed on Wednesday nite vs. Georgetown knows this is the reality of the situation.
Keeping him one more year just to honor a contract will just set us back many more.
Norm Roberts
St. John's beleaguered coach Norm Roberts can only hope this city has been consumed all week with the Giants' Super Bowl preparations.
Maybe that way, it didn't notice the public embarrassment that occured earlier this week at the Garden. Georgetown smacked the Johnnies, 74-42, Wednesday, giving the Storm its worst loss ever at that historic shrine. Afterwards, Roberts attempted to be noble, suggesting it was all his fault.
No need to state the obvious, coach.
There has to be some accountability here when only two players - forward Anthony Mason Jr., who looked like he was playing for a pro contract, and backup point guard Malik Boothe, who was trying to save face in his neighborhood and Christ the King alumni games - were still competing at the end, which couldn't come fast enough.
St. John's, which once viewed itself as an elite program, is continuing its downward spiral into the abyss in this, its 100th year of basketball. The Red Storm, which may not win 10 games or qualify for the Big East Tournament, has become an easy mark for any team in the Big East willing to defend because of its pronounced inability to score.
Many local sports fans have become apathetic about the Johnnies and would rather spend money for Duke's annual visit or the Ice Capades.
It is becoming painfully obvious Roberts, a decent man who has worked diligently to clean up a mess he inherited, has been unable to manage one of the school's greatest resources in the fourth year of his five-year contract. Roberts may have grown up in Queens, played in the PSAL, coached the freshmen at Molloy and been a head coach at Queens College, but that does not ensure recruits will come running to Union Turnpike. Neither he nor his staff appears to connect with the city, and they have been unable to articulate the benefits of staying home and attending college in the world's greatest city, which was once a mecca for college basketball. They have failed to sign one impact player from either the PSAL, the CHSAA, Mt. Vernon, St. Anthony's, St. Benedict's or St. Patrick's. It was Roberts' risky business to start over again this year, filling his current roster with eight freshmen and attempting to compete in a strong 16-team league that has always valued experience.
Page 2 of 6)
Roberts is asking for more time until his kids mature. But how much time can he expect frustrated St. John's fans to give him, especially when second-year coaches Bobby Gonzalez of Seton Hall and Mick Cronin of Cincinnati, who also inherited bottom feeders, have already started to make progress toward postseason play.
It's not all Roberts' fault. He was put in this position by school president Father Donald Harrington and his advisers, who have yet to take responsbility for what may eventually be known as the nadir of this storied program, and haven't been able to set aside biases and agendas to identify, select and recruit an individual capable and interested in creating a renaissance.
The administration opted to hire Roberts, a Kansas assistant, as a compromise choice when they couldn't pull the trigger on John Calipari of now top-ranked Memphis; and did it on a recommendation from Kansas AD Lew Perkins. No one had met Roberts or seen him coach before he arrived.
Father Harrington does not have a track record on his side. He already has fired three previous coaches - Brian Mahoney, Fran Fraschilla and Mike Jarvis - with time left on their contracts. Harrington, who has been conspicuous by his absence at home games, and his administration, can't run far enough from the reality of the situation.