Steve Lavin Takes New York by Storm
« on: August 02, 2010, 08:17:37 PM »
Brett McMurphy, Senior NCAA Writer
SARASOTA, Fla. -- Even before Steve Lavin is one sentence into answering my first question, a realization quickly settles in: The fully-charged batteries in my digital recorder will not be able to outlast St. John's new basketball coach.
Lavin is extraordinarily accommodating and gracious with his time. And, boy can he talk. He manages to reference plate tectonics, continental drift speed, the Bible, poetry, John Wooden, Rome, Don Coryell, Don Zimmer, Paris, Sid Gillman, Joe Torre, Noah's Ark, Gene Keady and the Karate Kid's Mr. Miyagi. And that's just in the first 10 minutes.
There has never been a question about Lavin's gift of gab. But the former UCLA coach did have doubts if he would ever return to the sideline. That all changed on March 30.
"St. John's was the first school that presented three kind of key elements that I looked for in deciding to make a return to coaching: a great opportunity, the timing had to be right and it had to be a good fit," Lavin told FanHouse earlier this summer at the Jimmy V/Dick Vitale gala for cancer research. This is the first one where all of those lined up.
Obviously what was attractive is the tradition and heritage of St. John's, the Big East Conference, playing your home games in Madison Square Garden and the New York, New Jersey greater metro area recruiting base. There wasn't a school that offered a better opportunity to return to the sideline than this."
Despite not having coached in seven years since a one-point loss to Oregon in the second round of the 2003 Pac-10 tournament, Lavin's hiring created an instant buzz for St. John's. The video from his initial press conference on the school's official website was viewed 51,000 times -- or about 49,000 more than the previous most watched video at redstormsports.com. The school also has sold 200 more season tickets than last season with the first game still more than three months away.
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