So they lowballed Lavin, was that because of Lavin or how they intend to run the program moving forward?
My guess, and it's just a guess, is that the administration was fine with keeping him at a lower salary or just letting him walk if he declined the pay cut. He declined and they decided to move on. They didn't like him enough to meet his demands or dislike him enough to fire him or not offer him some sort of extension
Does that make sense though? Either you feel he's the right person for the job or he's not, regardless of what your paying him. The expectations for the program should be the same.
Does St. John's ever do anything that makes sense? That's why I think that scenario is possible. It's also possible that they had no intention of keeping him, didnt want to exactly "fire" him, and lowballed him because they knew he would reject it and leave
If that's the case then administration has no balls. Again, either you're happy with direction or you change, you don't go looking for a discount. I have no hope that they will make good decision on hire.
My prediction is they will go cheap and hire Masiello or someone of the like, which means they don't give a shit about ever being a top-tier program. Shame
A) Hiring Masiello doesn't necessarily mean going cheap, it could mean that SJU is no longer a highly sought after job and he's the only one that would take it.
B) Hiring Masiello doesn't necessarily mean that this program won't reach the next level. 33% chance the program gets to the next level under Masiello, 33% chance the program goes down a level under Masiello, 33% chance the program stays the same under Masiello.
Masiello and these other guys are hungry. If they come here and fail they are back to square 1 of their coaching career. They do not have the cushy fall back opportunities as our previous coach should they fail. That would lead them to make sure they don't take a recruiting year off