Lavin, SJU prez to meet about a possible extension
LOS ANGELES — St. John’s coach Steve Lavin will meet with university president Conrado (Bobby) Gempesaw in the coming days to discuss their visions of the basketball program’s future. It’s an annual end-of-season meeting that will likely include a conversation about giving Lavin a contract extension, the Daily News has learned.
Lavin has been a part of ongoing conversations with other school administrators regarding a possible contract extension and they continued on campus Wednesday. The contract talks have been part of evaluations that are conducted at the end of every season. But two sources told The News there is no agreement, as some published reports suggested.
“Anyone using terms like ‘finalize’ or ‘closing in on’ a deal is making a guess,” one of the sources said. “Could the sides agree to one? Yes. It doesn’t mean they will. Steve hasn’t even sat down with the president yet.”
The other source said that reports that there is a three-year deal being discussed are not true and that if Lavin were to be retained it would be on a four- or five-year agreement.
After each season Lavin has held meetings with players, and an assortment of administrators have met with Lavin.
That’s been the business of the basketball program this week. One of the sources said “uniform colors were a topic.”
But given its current status, Lavin’s contract has been a topic, too. Lavin is going into the final year of the original six-year contract he signed before taking over the team for the 2010-11 season. There have been three university presidents in the past three years, and an extension with Lavin is now being addressed. First-year president Gempesaw had said through a spokesman that Lavin would be evaluated after the season.
The Red Storm’s season ended at 21-12 last Friday with an NCAA Tournament loss to San Diego State in Charlotte. It was the Johnnies’ second trip to the tournament in Lavin’s five years.
The program cannot afford to have a lame duck coach going into this active spring recruiting season, so a decision needs to be made on whether to stay with Lavin or make a change.
Lavin is 81-55 and 40-32 in Big East play during his five seasons. In 2011-12, he was able to coach only four games (2-2) following prostate cancer surgery and a setback due to a premature return from it. Interim coach Mike Dunlap and the Johnnies failed to reach a tournament that season. In the full seasons Lavin has coached, the Storm has made two NCAA Tournaments and two NITs. The 2011 NCAA Tournament berth ended a nine-year drought for SJU.
In postseason play, Lavin’s teams have not fared well. They have gone 1-5 in the Big East Tournament, 1-2 in the NIT and 0-2 in the NCAA Tournament.
But Lavin has elevated the program’s stature for recruits. He brought in Maurice Harkless and JaKarr Sampson, who are both in the NBA. Harkless was the first St. John’s draft pick since Omar Cook in 2001. And two current Johnnies, sophomore Rysheed Jordan and junior Chris Obekpa, are considered NBA talents.