St. John’s athletic director Chris Monasch and former UCLA coach Steve Lavin left a dinner meeting at a downtown bistro last night with the understanding Lavin would become the Red Storm’s new basketball coach, several sources told The Post.
The devil is in the details as reps for both sides will work out the contract and Lavin will try to fly his family and some former colleagues in for a press conference possibly as early as tomorrow.
After turning to Lavin on Saturday, as reported exclusively in The Post, the two sides came together like a Bruin to honey. Lavin, an ESPN basketball analyst, has been out of coaching since 2003 when he was fired at UCLA after his only losing season.
“Steve is ready to put the armor on again,†said a source close to Lavin. “He has a wonderful job at ESPN, but the fires are burning.â€
Prior to that, Lavin posted six straight 20-plus win seasons, going to the NCAA Tournament every year, with one Elite 8 and four Sweet 16 appearances.
He has been wooed by Arizona, California, DePaul, Memphis and South Florida and turned down N.C. State.
But when St. John’s reached out, Lavin expressed immediate serious interest. The more Monasch, who had Lavin as his ace-up-his-sleeve candidate, spoke to Lavin and people around him, the hotter things got.
By the time they had dinner last night there was a good sense that a meeting of the minds would occur.
It capped a frenzied day of activity.
With his cell phone ringing, or vibrating with incoming text messages, Lavin yesterday made the 21⁄2-hour trip from ESPN’s studios in Bristol, Conn., to midtown a working one.
Lavin reached out to friends and colleagues in the Northeast to gather as much information about St. John’s, the Big East, the prep talent level in the met area and ascertain ballpark contract parameters before sitting down with Monasch.
Monasch also was doing his due diligence, briefing university president Father Donald J. Harrington, who ultimately has to approve this hire on Lavin, and Jim Pellow, the university’s chief operating officer, who today will likely work out the fine print on a contract.
Last night’s meeting wasn’t as much “wine and dine†as it was “cocktails and conviction.â€
Monasch, who did not land Paul Hewitt, Seth Greenberg or Tom Pecora, needed to look his last toptier candidate in the eye and see commitment.
“The administration understands that this a crucial hire because St. John’s needs to be relevant again,†said a source close to the university. “The Big East isn’t getting any easier.â€
This would not be the first or last courtship to derail on the aisle, but all indications late last night strongly pointed to an exchange of hoops vows.
Monasch, said a St. John’s source, was working behind the scenes to assuage
Lavin’s concerns that he would be able to afford a top-notch staff and that the university would address team-travel concerns, summer jobs for players, academic support and other support services.
Lavin, said a confidant, already was gathering information on the prep and AAU coaches in the met area that he was eager to reach out to, identifying the elite underclassmen both locally and nationally and analyzing Big East teams.
Several local prep and AAU coaches have expressed concerns about Lavin’s unfamiliarity with met-area grass-roots terrain. But a fellow Big East coach said he knew of Lavin’s recruiting acumen in Southern California and believed he would be successful in the Northeast.
“I know some people in the city don’t want to believe this, but recruiting the L.A. area might be crazier than recruiting New York,†said the coach.
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