Bobby Gonzalez was quiet for almost three months. It sounds like he was just thinking up ways to rip Seton Hall.

Gonzalez was fired by Seton Hall following an NIT loss to Texas Tech that was made by worse by the fact forward Herb Pope punched a Red Raiders player in the groin.

“I think it was a hasty, knee-jerk reaction to a public relations nightmare and they needed somebody to take the fall because they didn’t want to get any dirt on their hands,” Gonzalez, speaking for the first time since he was fired March 17, told NJ.com.

“Because as you know, at times — especially at Catholic schools — there can be a very hypocritical, ‘We want you to win, but if something goes wrong …’ “

Another player, Robert Mitchell, was arrested for kidnapping, robbery, burglary and possession of a weapon on the same day Gonzalez was fired. Mitchell and an accomplice allegedly duct-taped eight people and stole cash and personal items. Prior to the season, Keon Lawrence was in an auto accident driving the wrong way on the Garden State Parkway (he was charged in January).

Gonzalez, who previously coached at Manhattan, defended his players and how he was trying to rebuild the Pirates program.

“In 11 years as a head coach, I never had a player arrested, thrown out of school, failed out of school,” Gonzalez said. “Never had anything like that. Certainly I did take a chance on some risky students, some borderline kids that were transfers. Maybe a junior-college kid here and there, but you know, I talked to P.J. Carlesimo when he was (at Seton Hall) and he told me it took him six years to get the program going. And he almost got fired. He took a long time to get it going.”

Two weeks after Gonzalez was fired, he filed a lawsuit against Seton Hall seeking two years worth of salary, based on a contract extension he said he signed last September.

“They fired me and asked me to handle it with dignity and I have,” Gonzalez said in the long-ranging interview.

“Where’s their dignity? Honor the contract. Give me what you owe me and let’s move on. Months have gone by and they’re not honoring the contract. So why I’m doing the interview is because we want this to move along. We want this to emphasize that, ‘Let’s finish our business together as amicably as possible and move on.’

Gonzalez said he will coach in college again.

“Absolutely. If you look around the country — and I’m certainly not going to name any names of coaches or schools — but there’s been guys right now currently (coaching) that have had sex scandals,” Gonzalez said. “There have been guys that have had DWIs that are coaching. There have been guys that have had major NCAA violations that are coaching. …

“I’m going to coach in the future — I know it. I’ll be hired again. I’m very confident and very positive about that fact.”