The Steve Lavin era with the St. John’s Red Storm has not been as nearly as horrible as some make it sound. It has certainly been far better than the Norm Roberts tenure and won’t end in remotely the same type of fashion when Mike Jarvis came close to destroying the program himself. Still, Lavin came to the university with high expectations after leaving ESPN to come back to coaching Expectations, mind you, need to be met with results.
The expectations were not set because he was a talking-head in Bristol. Instead, they were set because he once had an incredible run with the UCLA Bruins, with the ability to recruit the best players in the country and taking the program to multiple Sweet Sixteens. All things that St. John’s fans were
hoping
expecting him to bring to their university.
That seems like ancient history now, though. Fair or not, the Johnnies fanbase has really started to turn on Lavin. Gone are the days of praising him for bringing the program back to the NCAA Tournament — albeit, with Norm Roberts’ players — and in its place are questions about Lavin’s abilities.
It isn’t just about his ability as an on the court coach, either. I mean, those questions have always been looming over any Lavin led team. However, with the team struggling to do much on the court the last few seasons that issue has only been highlighted even more by disgruntled fans. Between wondering why he refuses to play with a smaller lineup with a fastened pace, all the way to pondering the idea that the Red Storm don’t run actual offensive sets, no one has ever confused Lavin with Dr. James Naismith.
Now are the grumblings about Lavin’s inabilities to recruit. Even just a little over a year from landing — then — hyped Rysheed Jordan, many feel like he has lost it on the recruiting trail. These feelings are coming about after St. John’s lost out on Isaiah Briscoe to the Kentucky Wildcats and the fact that the program currently has zero commitments for the 2015 class — which is bad considering they lose D’Angelo Harrison, Phil Greene, Sir’Dominic Pointer and others to graduation after the year.
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All of that is just some of the foundation of the Red Storm fanbase angst. There is plenty more of pent-up frustration, but non-Red Storm fans probably get the gist.
As all of this is going on so too is another thing. As fans of St. John’s start turning a blind eye to Steve Lavin they are now making puppy eyes at Bobby Hurley. Yes, that Bobby Hurley.
Hurley is a Duke Blue Devils legend, the seventh overall pick in the 1993 NBA Draft and is currently the head basketball coach of the overachieving Buffalo Bulls. The highlights of his Buffalo tenure being an upset over Kentucky last season and the ability to lure in recruits normally out of the league of the program. All of which make him a very appealing looking coach to any program in the country.
For those unaware of the Bobby Hurley love/hate fest that spawns decades (and other family members), Hurley played on one of the more polarizing Duke teams in the history of a polarizing Duke program. Basically, he played in the same era as the Fab Five where he and his teammates were considered the arch-nemesis of Michigan via the rules of differing backgrounds, cultures, and just about everything else that separated a Michigan program that represented as much of that university as it did Detroit and the urban culture at the time vs the upscale, rich kids at Duke.
Bobby Hurley was not just a really good basketball player who is now having success at a lower-level program. His father has been a high school coaching legend in the New Jersey area for what seems like forever and Bobby has long been considered a future solid head coach in waiting. Essentially, Hurley eventually becoming a good basketball coach was predetermined by the laws of genetics, nature and nurture. Between his father, playing days at Duke and quick climbing up the coaching ladder it all makes sense that St. John’s fans want some of a guy they once hated during his playing days.
Don’t kid yourself either, though. Other names have also been whispered within the Johnnies fanbase. Guys like the much maligned Steve Masiello from Manhattan have also gotten some run. Name another coach who has had some success in the Northeast and he has probably been pegged as a replacement by someone as well. Pretty much everyone other than Steve Lavin.
Does any of the whispers, assumptions and hopes mean Lavin is gone? Nope. But not even two games into the season and Steve Lavin is on the outs with the program’s most passionate fans. It only seems like an NCAA Tournament birth — and possibly a win in it — can save his job now.
Is Bobby Hurley the answer to the question that St. John’s fans have wanted Lavin to answer for so long? We may never know or at least not for some time. Although he sure seems to be the most popular figure in the middle of the Steve Lavin fanbase confidence debacle since it started and it won’t end until Lavin is fired or he leads them to a string of success.
What do you say, St. John’s fans? Are you sticking by Lavin, eyeing Bobby Hurley or hoping for some other miracle outside of the usual coaching target prospects?