By pretty much all accounts, St. John’s is set to hire Steve Lavin as its new head coach, a day after the former UCLA coach had dinner with athletic director Chris Monasch to discuss the position. Finalizing the contract shouldn’t be a problem — Lavin’s looking for about the same money as they’re offering — and a press conference could happen as early as tomorrow. Things are obviously serious: Lavin will have lunch today with Lou Carnesecca, the godfather of Red Storm basketball.
Lavin’s already talking like someone preparing his press-conference remarks. From the Post:
“When I think of the St. John’s program and the legendary coaches likes Coach [Joe] Lapchick and Coach [Lou] Carnesecca, it’s humbling to be considered to be a part of that tradition,” Lavin told The Post yesterday afternoon. “Tradition is the lifeblood of college basketball, and St. John’s is one of those storied programs.”
Regarding that last point, however, SMU coach Matt Doherty begs to differ. Appearing on “Mad Dog Radio” yesterday, Doherty ripped the program and its place in the college-basketball landscape. Said Doherty:
“When I think of the St. John’s program and the legendary coaches likes Coach [Joe] Lapchick and Coach [Lou] Carnesecca, it’s humbling to be considered to be a part of that tradition,” Lavin told The Post yesterday afternoon. “Tradition is the lifeblood of college basketball, and St. John’s is one of those storied programs.”
We like that he prefaces his statement by saying that his niece went there. This is no joke, people: Even a guy whose niece went to St. John’s thinks the program’s gone downhill! He makes a point that St. John’s isn’t in a position right now to steal a superstar coach away from a top program, but we don’t think you can fault them for swinging for the fences — approaching Hewitt, especially, was a perfectly reasonable move — especially since they’re a lot closer to being relevant now than they were the last time they searched for a coach.