This was not a surprise to anyone really that St. John's has fired coach Norm Roberts. This was his make-or-break year and eeking out a single NIT appearance just was not going to cut it. The fans stopped showing for the games, there was no optimism. Simply put, the team just did not win.
To be sure, Norm Roberts came into a mess. The team had been destroyed by the Mike Jarvis era. Paying players, criminal activities, an academic disaster. The local high schools and AAU programs had been alienated. A complete mess. For the first couple of years, Roberts was struggling to have enough players for a team.
The problem for Roberts was that the program never got on track. There were key injuries. There were numerous, sudden transfers. While Roberts cleaned up the program and repaired relationships with the high schools and AAU programs, the winning never came.
The only reason to have not expected Norm Roberts being fired as coach of St. John's would be a last minute change of heart by the St. John's administration after Seton Hall fired Bobby Gonzalez.
Seton Hall didn't fire Gonzalez for his lack of winning. They fired him because he was a jerk to everyone in and out of the program. As the school's most public figure, he was an embarrassment.
That was one thing no one ever accused Norm Roberts of being. Classy, dignified and respected were common adjectives for Roberts. It would not be too hard to imagine the St. John's administration at least re-think getting rid of Roberts. In the end, though, after six years the lack of progress by the team forced the change.
Now St. John's joins the coaching carousel with likely possibilities including Robert Morris' Mike Rice, Virginia Tech's Seth Greenberg, Tom Pecora of Hofstra and Fran McCaffery at Siena.
