A Departure From The Norm

After a heartbreaking loss to Marquette in yesterday's second round Big East tournament matchup, Norm Roberts may be addressing the media one last time as the head coach at St. John's, as he is widely expected to be replaced in the offseason. (Photo courtesy of redstormsports.com)

Nice guys really do finish last, and in this instance, it is extremely unfortunate when you consider the story of a man who returned to his home area to restore a program that had been decimated by a scandal from which many believe it has yet to emerge. For six years, Norm Roberts had taken St. John's from what he personally described as "rock bottom playing in the best league in America," and rebuilt a scarred program that was once among the nation's elite.

Now, seven may not be lucky for Roberts, who is reported by the New York Post's Lenn Robbins as being out at St. John's, effectively ending a six-year tenure that saw Roberts guide the Johnnies to an 81-100 record, but simultaneously restoring dignity and a positive image to the once-mighty basketball power in Queens. Robbins also wrote that Roberts is expected to take a buyout of at least $700,000, as the 44-year-old coach still has three years left on his revolving five-year deal. Although the Red Storm (17-15) are eligible for the NIT, sources close to the program are not expecting the Johnnies to be part of that field, as there are four Big East teams that finished ahead of them, namely NCAA bubble teams South Florida and Seton Hall, as well as Cincinnati, who plays West Virginia tonight at Madison Square Garden in a Big East tournament quarterfinal game. Connecticut, who was soundly defeated by St. John's in the conference tournament on Tuesday, is also in the running for an NIT bid, but coach Jim Calhoun has said that the decision to accept would be made by athletic director Jeff Hathaway.

After St. John's came back from down 20 to beat DePaul on the road in triple overtime, followed by a dominating win over UConn, the Johnnies nearly stole one from Marquette after being down 14 in the first half. St. John's had one last chance to win at the buzzer yesterday, but were double-teamed in the backcourt. Once they recovered, Malik Boothe could only manage an air ball from half court, enabling Marquette to hold on by the final of 57-55. These last three games should be enough for Roberts to return, but St. John's president Rev. Donald Harrington and athletic director Chris Monasch may have other ideas, considering that St. John's will have nine seniors (barring any transfers) next season; and should Roberts return and not be successful, the case to dismiss him will only be exponentially magnified, and a new coach would have to fill nine scholarships just weeks after being introduced as the head man.

Roberts does not deserve this fate. As the play-by-play announcer for St. John's basketball from 2007-2009 on WSJU Radio, the student radio station at St. John's, I had gotten to know Roberts quite well, and can tell you from personal experience that he is truly one of the nice guys of the industry, a class act that knows how to conduct himself on and off the court. Roberts also never hid from the truth during his time in Queens, and always put the other team over in postgame press conferences regardless of the end result. Many a time I would be at the St. John's media room waiting for Roberts to walk in, and his first words would usually be "Give (insert team name here) a lot of credit."

One would no doubt expect Roberts to say the same regarding his successor, who could be Virginia Tech's Seth Greenberg, a native of Long Island and two-time ACC coach of the year that is atop the Johnnies' hypothetical wish list. Hofstra's Tom Pecora is also an intriguing possibility, as is Siena's Fran McCaffery. Ask the St. John's players, however, and almost all will tell you unequivocally that they want none other than Roberts leading them out of the locker room in the 2010-11 season. "Once you've got a family going like this, it would be kind of dumb to break the family up," said junior forward D.J. Kennedy, the Johnnies' leading scorer, who feels that Roberts should return, "especially with all these veterans coming back."

No matter what happens, or who is at the helm of the Red Storm next season, only one thing can be said for what has transpired in Queens over the last six years, and how far the program has come since that infamous night in Pittsburgh during the 2003-04 season that cost then-coach Mike Jarvis his job.

Give Norm Roberts a lot of credit.