No I am not going to list possible replacements for Chris Mullin. I hope he figures this out next year and stays around awhile. However a really good post by Celtics11 in another thread got me to thinking. Instead of just throwing names out there, lets create the hypothetical perfect coach for the program as it stands currently. Who knows maybe this Frankenstein ST John's coach actually exists somewhere and might one day solve all of our college basketball related problems.
Lets start with AGE: Celtics thought a young hungry coach would be our best bet. I guess a Hurley qualifies. The problem with young and hungry of course is will they with success outgrow ST John's like Fran had aspirations to do. Personally I thought that instead of Norm the school should have hired Bob McKillop. The fear there besides him being white(if those Ron Rutledge rumors are to be believed) I guess was that he would be to old to be hungry enough for recruiting. So I guess we would need a coach that is not too young and not too old.
Location of origin: Ideally you would want a NYC / NJ candidate for recruiting. I for one like the idea of at least some local kids. Problem is NYC is not the hotbed it once was and others don't seem to married to the idea. Certainly the current and former coach weren't. Though Mullin has said in the past it was important to him. Another issue is that Mullin, Fran, Mahoney and the God awful Norm Roberts were all born in NY and none of them worked out. Of course a guy from Boston worked out pretty well...until it didn't. Also a guy from California also worked out ok but everyone seemed to hold the Hollywood thing against him. I am at a loss with this one. Everyone seems to love the Hurley's and we haven't had a Jersey guy yet so maybe that is a nice compromise. Lets go with NJ.
Coaching experience: Really goes hand in hand with age I guess. So we want someone that doesn't have a lot of experience and definitely do not want someone with no experience. So we can settle in on medium experience.
Recruiting: Based off thousands pf posts on the subject I gather we want someone hungry enough to do some of the recruiting on his own but also someone that will hire two not one assistants that can recruit. Again personally I think we should go the mid major route and really encourage the three and recruit shooters.
Staff:Another layup. Two recruiting assistants one of which is preferably Matt Abelicantspelltherestish . The other assistant should be George Blaney.
X & O's- We would like someone that is good here or at the very least has George Blaney type guy as his assistant.
Intangibles- Must have dry board skills, be able to recruit, hire a good staff, not be lazy, not be from Hollywood or have a Boston accent, doesn't give out corny nicknames, can't be named Norm, pay players at least bad ones and for the love of God do not sit on tables. Oh and almost forget Desco's request. Must be a snazzy dresser.
Anyone out there fit our descriptions?