Hewitt to St. John’s? New York tabloids are abuzz (Updated!)
Paul Hewitt during the NCAAs. (AP photo)
Lenn Robbins of the New York Post reports that St. John’s, which fired coach Norm Roberts last week, plans to pursue Paul Hewitt. This would not constitute a shock.
This wouldn’t be the first time St. John’s has targeted Hewitt. The Red Storm had an opening six years ago, but it coincided with Hewitt’s one extended NCAA tournament run. Worried that another school — or an NBA team — would steal the coach that had just led the Jackets to the title game, then-athletics director Dave Braine awarded Hewitt the perpetual rollover contract with its $7.1 million buyout. St. John’s hired Roberts instead.
Hewitt’s contract also includes a buyout on his end: Should he leave for another college job, he would be obliged to pay Tech $3.5 million. But there have been recent indications that Tech would not hold Hewitt to that figure.
Wrote Robbins:
Sources told the Post that [St. John's AD Chris] Monasch has gotten word to Georgia Tech athletic director Dan Radakovich that he’ll be seeking official permission to talk to coach Paul Hewitt as soon as possible …
“The word is it’s his job and Georgia Tech won’t stand in the way,” said a highly placed source in college basketball circles. “Both sides are ready for a change.”
After Georgia Tech lost to Ohio State in Milwaukee on Sunday, Roger Rubin of the New York Daily News asked Hewitt about the St. John’s job. Wrote Rubin:
When he was asked whether St. John’s can return to glory, the man lit up.
“Do you remember what it was like in New York when the Yankees finally won the World Series again in 1996, the way it electrified the city? St. John’s could definitely do the same thing,” said Hewitt, who grew up in Queens and Long Island. “I remember going to the building they call Carnesecca (Arena) and seeing huge crowds embrace the team. I remember going to the Garden and seeing it full. And I remember the winning. The right coach could do all that again and it would be a sight.”
This man doesn’t belong at a poker table. His words sound like “not interested,” but his face says “intrigued.”
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216 comments Add your comment
wesleywhatwhat
March 23rd, 2010
2:35 pm
alford wouldn’t be a GREAT get but with a record of 152-106 at iowa (which is far from a basketball school) and 76-26 at new mexico, he’d be a step up from hewitt.
overall records:
alford 384-209
hewit 236-166
i’m not sold on mark price myself but i think radakovich would be silly to not sit down with him for an interview.
mark price would be a good choice imo
March 23rd, 2010
2:38 pm
first things first is to get rid of phew so we can out from underneath that albatross of a contract. the best scenerio is for st john’s to pony up a portion of the 3.5 mil buyout. what a turn around that would be eh?
personally i would look long an hard at mark price. when you compare the resume of phew 10 years ago vs the resume of mark price the only thing that phew has over mark is ’some head coaching experience’. how many years did he coach at sienna? 2-3? yet we signed an inexperienced phew as our coach. why not mark?
reasons why mark price would be a great hire…..
-he loves gt as does bobby (unlike phew)
-he played at gt (did phew even play bb ever?)
-he is a gt man
-he is a coaches son (phew stayed at the holiday inn express)
-his whole family has been involved with bb their entire lives
-he has been around the best coaching minds in the world (phew had coach raveling… lmao )
-he would come cheap and we could structure the contract to be insanely incentive laden (its a shame that phew had no incentive to win at gt)
-he is an nba all star
-he knows how to shoot field goals an free throws superbly and coaches that now.
-he wouldnt limit himself to recruiting only long tall athletic and black kids
-he would be able to recruit white blue chippers (phew couldnt recruit a white blue chipper to save his soul)
-he would be able to actually identify a good point guard prospect
-he would elevate the performance of our guard play. most would concur that the ncaa is guard driven. this is something phew could never do….. develop good guard play. this is evidenced by the pitiful numbers we have had wrt the to;ass ratio we have had for 10 years.
-he would not try to put round pegs into square holes
-he would get away from individual instruction an go more with team play.
-he has major name recognition
-his ego is no where near the size of our current coach’s ego.
-he knows more than just one offensive an one defensive strategy
-he cant be any softer than phew is now. our team’s play mimics phew to a T. unfocused, excuse laden. soft mentally. soft physically. LOW EXPECTATIONS!
-he knows what it takes to win an acc championship, to win more than one ncaa game, to play in the nba. (phew has none of that going for him)
-he would surround himself with talented assistants
-he has ever bit the reputation of being a good man that phew has an than some.
-he would help our graduation rate. it cant get any worse than it is now. we are AGAIN not in compliance with the ncaa an will probably lose more scholarships.
-he is not connected to the BCA and has no hidden agenda.
-he is not apt to want to coach anywhere else but at gt.
AND…
-he never disrespected the gt program like phew did a few years back by saying things that one would expect out of the mouth of dave “low expectations” braine. we are where we are as a program because it is phew’s vision of what gt can accomplish. to phew gt is a middle of the road program that had a hard time finding a coach until he was good enough to accept our offer even though he could have gotten more money elsewhere.
paul, you are such a nice guy for gracing us with your presence for all of these years. NOT!
reasons why mark price would NOT be a great hire…..
-no head coaching experience
i know i know, that is a biggie. i am sure there are other fine candidates out there who do have the right kind of experience but they cant match mark price wrt all the things he brings to the table. besides why NOT give mark a shot and see what happens. i can guarantee you that he will sign a contract for next to nothing to get the opportunity.
if he is successful ala paul johnson we can upgrade the contract without mortgaging the house. if he is NOT successful we can part ways a few years from now in no worse shape than if phew had stayed.
we will be losing gani, favors, bell, peacock and possibly schumpert . we will probably lose sheehan. we have recruited only ONE player this year. (sound familiar?) . we will be put on probation again for academic violations an possibly lose more scholarships. 2 of our starters in the front court will be red shirt freshmen. we have no other big men. we are NOT poised to have a great year next year imo.
imo even a mark price with NO head coaching experience is a huge upgrade over what we have now.
TomB
March 23rd, 2010
2:52 pm
Obviously that is what I meant Paul in RDU. Some of the players will transfer and Tech will allow them. Geez.
Hewitt is twittery awesomeness
March 23rd, 2010
2:54 pm
Shhhhh!
The Johnnies are reading this blog and the negative comments are causing the members of their boards to raise doubts on this.
Repeat after me…
Hewitt is GREAT! I’d hate to lose him. Let’s add another year to the perpetual rollover!
Hewitt is GREAT! I’d hate to lose him. Let’s add another year to the perpetual rollover!
Everybody!
TomB
March 23rd, 2010
2:59 pm
Hewitt is GREAT! I’d hate to lose him. Let’s add another year to the perpetual rollover! How’s that!
Buzzzed
March 23rd, 2010
3:03 pm
Hewitt is GREAT! I’d hate to lose him. Let’s add another year to the perpetual rollover!
Buzzzed
March 23rd, 2010
3:04 pm
Mark Price as head coach, Bobby Cremins as assistant head coach?Or whatever CPJ’esk hire DRad comes up with.
Charles Williams
March 23rd, 2010
3:08 pm
Let me get this straight now. A team goes from 12-19 to 23-13 without a point guard. Personally I think the arm-chair coaches who continue to villify Paul Hewitt need to open their eyes. If you really thought adding Derrick Favors was going to elicit more of an 11 game turnaround then maybe your expectations are out of whack. Tech plays outstanding defense. Not good defense, but outstanding defense. Yes, their offense is scary to look at sometimes but give Shump and Favors another year. Next year will be a better indicator of whether this team is underachieving or not. 12-19 to 23-13…..Just think about that
GTsupporter
March 23rd, 2010
3:27 pm
Perhaps seek a coach that’s an assistant coach from a strong Division 1 school. I’m sure their some young assistant coaches waiting to take GT to the next level. GT could sacrifice and steal a coach from another big school….Whoever comes to GT has to bring wins and a winning mentality.
No more being content with top notch talent with mediocre seasons!
uberVU - social comments
March 23rd, 2010
4:58 pm
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by ajc: St. John’s basketball interested in Tech’s Hewitt? That’s the word in NY. http://bit.ly/bRAQu3…
Reality World
March 23rd, 2010
5:37 pm
For getting this young team without a point guard to the second round of the NCAAs, Hewitt should be wearing a cape with a big S instead of a suit—that coaching job may be one of the best in the country! Hewitt deserves a fat raise and a huge bonus, or he will not be happy and may decide to take one of these big money jobs being offered. Tech better bump his salary up to $3 mil at least, to keep him happy.
Carl s.
March 23rd, 2010
10:08 pm
I am for keeping Hewitt. He is a class guy. Look at Calipari. His Memphis team in 2008/2009 had to erase the entire season. This is the kind of coach that the blow hards on this blog want.
The ACC is very tough and you all think that there is a Paul Johnson type out there who will play Cornell basketball. Dream on. Look at every team in the ACC. Only Duke and NC are consistent.
Tech is a very hard school to recruit for.
I am afraid that he will leave and he will turn around St. Johns and he will have the last laugh and I hope that he does.
Carl s.
March 23rd, 2010
10:13 pm
One more point. I suspect that most of the people positing to this article are white guys. Many of them want Mark P to come back and ressurect the GT glory years. jThat would be the kiss of death. But the wish will not die. And it shows their true colors.
Fred
March 23rd, 2010
10:15 pm
Hewitt is bad, but what about the Assistants. Other ACC teams have Assistants that have a track record and are credited with improving their team. The Assistants could be replaced with test dummies and we would not notice.
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