The St. John's coaching search is lingering in misery. They get bold and call Billy Donovan to get shot down immediately. They think they have a candidate in Paul Hewitt locked up and after a night of sleeping on it he decides its best to stay in Hotlanta. They call Seth Greenberg and all his tournament appearances at Virginia Tech and he turns them down. Etc. Etc. Etc. Essentially the Johnies are going nowhere fast and this is why I think it's time to make a very bold move and go after the coach that kicked them out of the NIT. Josh Pastner is just 32 years old, he's been a college coach for just one single year and he didn't guide his team to the NCAA tournament yet I think he's exactly what St. John's needs. St. John's needs a bold move. They need to take a chance. They don't need Al Skinner or Steve Lavin or some retread from another university, they need a guy they can consider their own, someone that just might be aggressive enough to recruit the Five Boroughs relentlessly and I think that guy is Pastner.
Pastner is a regarded as a tireless recruiter and was thought of as one of the keys to Calipari landing so many elite talents at Memphis. In 2010, he's proving his worth. He has currently commitments from 3 of the top 12 players in the country according to Rivals. He additionally has committments from the #47 and #66 players. Memphis is going to be good next year simply because he's recruiting top notch talent. Additionally, three of these players are from Memphis so he's been able to lock up the hometown kids.
Maybe Pastner will be loyal to a Memphis school that gave him a head coaching job at just 31. maybe he won't want to leave a school where he obviously can recruit top notch talent. But maybe, just maybe, Pastner a 32 year old diligent worker would be willing to take on one of the biggest challenges in country, resurrecting the St. John's program. He's the kind of bold move the Johnnies will need if they ever expect to get back to the Carnesecca days.
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