I'm glad posters have brought up Jarvis as maybe that name will help us reflect on where we are as a basketball program and more broadly as an institution with Steve Lavin as our coach. He is the highest profile person associated with St. John's University. He is always enthusiastic and positive. Likeable and witty. Always grateful to the institution. Treats the players with respect and isn't afraid to make tough decisions in their best interests. I've always felt proud, even in losses, that he cares about his players and the reputation of the institution. He isn't winning at the level we'd/he'd hoped but I feel like we are moving in the right direction and we're doing things the right way. I care about winning and expect that we will win (and make the NCAAs), but laterally I think having the enigmatic Steve Lavin as our coach provides security to our institution's most valuable brand (basketball) in an uncertain world (think Buzz Williams), and enhances the value of a SJU degree.
The Jarvis era was just a blight to our program. Scandals with the NCAA: first the Barclay thing and later the Keita and other stuff. Probably worst of all from my perspective as a SJU guy I never got the sense that he respected our institution. Always rumors about him leaving for a better job. When he lost his excuse was that we didn't have the facilities to compete. On the flip side, Lavin acts like SJU is possibly the best job in the world, he embraces our history (even the NIT history, making the most out of a disappointing season). Jarvis just radiated negativity in my book.
I understand the shortcomings of Lavin and concede just about all the points made against him as an Xs and Os guy. But I think his style can win with the right assistant coaches around him. I think he is a great recruiter. I won't be disappointed if he continues to take "hammer to rock" at SJU well into the future as think we'll continue to compete and at least be interesting.
I'm just really back and forth on him. On one hand, I agree with everything you just said. He brings such a positive light to the St. John's brand. He's always speaking to the press and is generally regarded as a good guy in basketball circles. And even though I have no proof to back this up, he seems to do things the right way.
On the other hand, it's really hard to ignore the coaching deficiencies that he does have. In a weak Big East this year, the team flat out underperformed. From the first game of the season on, this team look extremely shaky. Bad lineups, misuse of players, no sense of organized basketball plays, the same mistakes over and over and over, awful use of timeouts. The list goes on. And the fact that over the course of an entire season these issues were not fixed really speaks for itself. But on the other hand, is the grass always greener? I mean, yes there are some good young coaches out there. Masiello and Hurley to name a couple. But despite people's arguments, we've gone down this road before. I remember reading article after article about how Norm Roberts was the right choice for St. John's. Dick Vitale listed him as one of the hot names out there and he was a flat out home run for SJU. And then we all quickly realized that Norm was never meant to be a HC at this level.
Either way, I just want some stability at the HC position. Bring in somebody (or keep somebody) who wants to be here and build around them. If that is Lavin, fine. But make sure he has the proper assistant coaches to take this team to the next level.