Vaccaro nails it. For a guy with a .388 winning percentage he probably has more job security than any coach in the country. And that's fine, FOR NOW. But it needs to start changing next year. Again 2 year plan. First become relevant next year and then be right there with X and Nova in year 5.
Absolutely no reason for SJU not to be in that position a year from now. And I think Chris Mullin would agree.
https://nypost.com/2018/03/08/its-desperately-time-for-st-johns-to-be-great-again/
You keep saying that . Why do you think improvement is coming?
Let's be clear I am repeating what I was told, that is the expectation. I didn't say I personally was that optimistic or pessimistic.
There is no excuse to be in the 4th year at SJU and still be a country mile behind Villanova. Not when you fired the previous guy because he could not get you over the hump with regards to that. That is why the expectations are getting JACKED up next year. And they should. You want to make excuses about Lovett fine. But that is gone now. He wouldn't have been here past this year anyway.
That is what Vaccaro is saying, this 4th year is pivotal for a program that even Vac agrees should not be a second tier program in its own conference. No way. Again you fired the last guy because you thought he was not going to get you there (and that is absolutely reasonable). There is no need to keep making excuses for the next guy because his name is Chris Mullin.
If you are asking me personally do I think they have enough talent to make a sizable leap next year, I have my own questions about that. I definitely think they should improve but he needs to make SERIOUS improvement.
I agree with your outlook entirely. The team has to make the tournament next year, and I don't see a roster loaded with superior talent. Perhaps very good, but definitely not exceptional.
But to dismiss the Lovett departure as a footnote on the season, and therefore the perception of the program's trajectory, seems unfair to Mullin (who should rightly shoulder the blame in other departments). If Kyron Cartwright missed the whole season, Providence wouldn't make the tournament, for example. Same with, say, Carrington/Seton Hall and Foster/Creighton. Lovett was an absolutely critical piece of the puzzle for this season. We built the team around having two dynamic guards and, like most other teams would, struggled to adjust on the fly. Mullin is responsible for the backup plan for key players, and he clearly whiffed. Winning programs have either depth, a system that does not rely on spectacular talents, or both. I doubt we'll be in that position next year even if everybody returns. So lots of wood left to chop, and the pressure is on.
I did not dismiss the Lovett injury. And if Mullin were getting fired based on this year then you can make it more of an excuse. The fact that he is not getting fired should tell you that he is already getting the benefit of the doubt on that issue. What else do you want? Do you think he deserves a 10 year extension? And if you think I am kidding Pitt just fired an established coach who inherited a program sliding, a roster about to implode and this year lost several key players including his best player Ryan Luther. That coach got exactly 2 years and had a $9.4 million buyout...And he was canned.
Again regardless of what excuse you want to give for the 4-14 league record everyone agrees that he needs to take a BIG step up next year. Year 4 was always going to be a huge year the difference is many of us thought the improvement would come from say a 9-9 type THIRD season with at least an NIT bid.
Even if Lovett played this season, there was no way Mullin was getting fired with 16 wins. The financial commitment made by the university, and the optics around canning the most famous individual to ever attend the university, rendered that an impossibility unless the program regressed to the extreme that Pitt did under Kevin Stallings.
Stallings won zero conference games in his second year. They finished with a KenPom rank of 227 after finishing 79th in his first year. By comparison, Mullin has improved markedly each year: 211 in 2016, 99 in 2017, 79 in 2018.