Mahoney - F. He was handed a kingdom, and he completely blew it. The players just stood there in place on offense and defense. He recruited some very good players, but couldn't land a point guard.
Fran - B. He needed a bad year to teach juniors who had the basketball IQ of freshman. The very next year, he brought in his own talented class, and just about every player on the team improved. He recruited NYC better than any coach post Looie - by far, and he found talented sleepers like Bootsy and Gray.
Jarvis - C+. He did great with Fran's players, but he was too much of a jerk to keep bringing in players local or national. His arrogance did him in.
Norm - F. He was terrible at everything, except being nice. He was great at that.
Lavin - B -. I think that's fair. Certainly had his issues as a game coach, and as a recruiter who took risks and got burned. But there were a lot of big wins at MSG and that can't ignored. If his staff recruited players who were eligible, he'd still be here. That's probably something that no one on the staff wanted to deal with, but it's the difference between him getting extended or fired.