There are gonna be some questions about Lavin. I can see the beef about his UCLA teams (if not UCLA fans' vehemence about how much they hate him. They need hobbies. Or more sun). But man, if Willard was hired (which I would have approved of), people would talk about how cheap St. John's is.
And if Cluess was hired... I honestly think the school would be sunk. Maybe as much as if Mark Jackson was hired. Cluess can coach, they say, but is he the media frenzy that is Lavin? Can he be chummy with recruits and their handlers? Does he have deep contacts? I am a big fan of a guy who can really get a lot out of his players, but you have GOT to get the players. And coming from a D-II school, with no national rep, that would not have worked. It's great for Iona. Not for St. John's.