As the new head man at St. John’s, Steve Lavin is doing everything right in his attempt to put the once proud Johnnies basketball program back on the map. After once being an accomplished head coach on the West Coast at UCLA, then as an insightful ESPN college basketball analyst, Lavin took the reigns to the fallen from grace Red Storm program that has made the 7th most NCAA Tournament appearances, yet still hasn’t won an NCAA Championship.
In fact, the program hasn’t made the “Big Dance” since the 2002 season under then coach Mike Jarvis, and has an embarrassing 83-118 mark over the past 7 seasons, including a horrific 33-85 record against fellow Big East competition over the same span. Being a resident of the New York tri-state area, this is just plain unacceptable for a college team which plays their home games at Madison Square Garden, known as “The Mecca of Basketball.”
But things are about to change as disappointing coach for the past 5 seasons Norm Roberts was fired in favor of the flashy and accomplished Steve Lavin, who immediately hit the ground running and made a splash on the recruiting front by bringing in 3 Top 100 players, as ranked by ESPN.
Lavin’s coaching record is stellar. After gaining 3 years experience under Gene Keady at Purdue, he was hired as an assistant to at UCLA, and helped lead the Bruins to the ’95 National Championship. When given a chance as head coach with UCLA, his resume got even better by compiling a 145-78 record and participated in five Sweet 16’s in six years from ’96-’03. Lavin was especially prolific on the recruiting front, bringing in the #1 rated recruiting class twice, and has signed 7 McDonald’s All Americans during his tenure, which bodes well for the St John’s program.
Lavin has always pointed to legendary Purdue coach Gene Keady as his mentor and the one who gave him his chance to coach in the NCAA. Now as the newly appointed head man for NYC’s resident collegiate team, he is returning the favor by offering the former 6 time NCAA Coach of the Year a spot next to him on the bench for next season. But the winner of 550 NCAA games will not make it easy for the new Johnnies head man as he has a laundry list of demands before joining Lavin as a “Special Assistant.”
“The now 74 year old Keady requested a personal chauffer, a free room at a posh New York hotel, a “certain amount of money”, and most importantly someone to take care of his beloved toy poodle. Queenie. When it comes to his poodle, Keady won’t budge as his loyal canine is the last link to his late wife Pat, and treats her like a little queen.”
The official announcement of Keady’s hiring should come soon even though in the new position, Keady can sit on the Red Storm bench but cannot officially coach, recruit, or run practices and only serves as a voice of reason and help in daily preparations for running a successful Division I program. Keady is also a long-time friend of legendary St John’s coach Lou Carnesseca, known around campus as the godfather of coaching at the school, as he brought the program to national prominence in the 80’s.
It’s a good move for Lavin since not many head coaches did it better than Keady.
Check out the legendary coach Keady going ballistic over a blown call circa 1990:
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen also provides content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
