Let us not rewrite history too much here. Jarvis came here after success elsewhere. We were cheated out of a final four appearance (since vacated by Ohio State) under his watch. That gave him license to do his son a favor. I won't go over his record after that, because we were heading in the wrong direction at the end. I won't blame players in Pittsburgh getting next to something soft on him since he wasn't there and Harrington was too busy buying cheap suits and getting next to his own squeeze to pay attention to the team.
Okay, let's not rewrite history. Mike Jarvis presided over what was according to Sports Illustrated a historically corrupt program and his record in his last four years was 13-42. So to the extent that he had a license to do anything it should have been revoked. He was indeed a very successful mid major coach and turned SJU in two short years into a pretty successful mid major program. The only flaw in that brilliant plan was that SJ is not in a mid major conference.
Also, since we're not rewriting history we should note that Father Harrington for all his flaws was president of the entire university not General Manager of the basketball team. Personally I suspect he hated the emphasis boosters put on it and would have eliminated the whole thing if he were able to get away with it. Also, Harrington wore expensive suits, not cheap ones. If he had a boyfriend shame on him for violating his vows but that did not seem to inhibit his ability to run the university otherwise. Bu all of that is irrelevant.
The players aren't THAT bad.
Yeah, they are. They're that bad. That's why they were picked last in every pre season poll. Because the ones who aren't awful are young and the ones who aren't young are awful. Lavin's first class was the third rated recruiting class in the country and they won 13 games. Mullin's first class were refugees from the island of misfit toys.
We have proven recruiters...two hall of famers...three NBA players and no one who teaches defense. What's wrong with this picture?
So far I don't see anything wrong with this picture. No one can teach Mussini to get taller and run faster. If Mvouika has not learned in 15 years of playing organized BB that defense does not consist solely of complaining to the referees when you get called for a foul, no one can teach him otherwise. If at this time next year the team has seven wins and Mullin's sitting on the scorer's table chewing gum then there's something wrong and even I will begin to wonder what's up. But not now and not yet.