You walk into Steve Lavin’s fourth-floor apartment in lower Manhattan and a red candle on the floor illuminates a gorgeous loft virtually bereft of furniture.
Lavin has been the head coach at St. John’s since March 30, 2010, but there has been no time for decorating or picture-hanging.
First there was recruiting. Then there was the first season. And then there was the cancer.
Last night, Lavin, continuing his recovery from successful prostate cancer surgery, was in his “home office,” watching the Red Storm edge DePaul 79-72 at Carnesecca Arena.
A yellow legal pad rested on the bed in the room that served as the previous owner’s media room. With his smart phone in one hand and a Sharpie in the other, he studies the game on a 6-foot projection TV that came with the apartment.
“You don’t have a life at this stage of building a program,’’ he said.
Make no mistake, even though Lavin has not been on the bench for most of this season, this is his program. From here he will share the notes he takes on each game, sometimes 10 pages worth, with the rest of his staff and his players.
There is a large white easel bearing the names of the St. John’s players, their strengths and weaknesses. It stands next to the open suitcase, the one Lavin uses on recruiting trips.
He is dressed in blue jeans, white Nike sneakers, a black St. John’s long sleeve shirt and matching hat. He is the man in his man cave, itching for the day when he can come out of coaching hibernation.
“Oh, I am back next year,’’ he declared.
Those words should comfort the St. John’s faithful who had heard a whirlwind of rumor this year. Lavin has heard them all, that he wants to coach on the West Coast, that his wife, Mary Ann Jarou, a talented actress who was on the verge of breaking out, is frustrated her career was put on hold.
The truth of the matter is Jarou spent the year caring for her husband, whose passion to coach got the Mexican/Lebanese blood in her boiling. Like the night after Lavin’s seven-hour surgery, when some of the coaches visited and were texting recruits, or the day Lavin decided three hours before game time to coach.
That premature return caused him to miss the rest of the season. But as he sits in a beige leather wingback chair, texting players’ fathers and his assistants who won’t see the messages until hours after the game, Lavin enjoys a running dialogue with the TV.
When the Red Storm, who improved to 12-16 overall, 5-10 in the Big East, jumped out an 18-10 lead, Lavin raved, ‘‘We’re cat quick.’’
The couple’s three cats — Danny, 12, Peanut Butter, 10 and Bootsie, 4, are not envious. They have more furniture — Kitty Castles — than Lavin and Jarou. This, and the St. John’s players and coaches, are the family,
Lavin only leaves the chair twice during the game, once at halftime and the other with four minutes left. When the final horn sounds he points out for the second straight game, Sir’Dominic Pointer, Phil Greene and Amir Garrett stepped up to support D’Angelo Harrison and Moe Harkless.
At game’s end he walks into the kitchen and gives Jarou, whom he refers to as “kid,” a kiss. This is one of the nights that hurts less because even though he can’t be there, St. John’s won.
“Coaches are used to being perfectionists so there’s a part of me that wants to go back and play the Texas A&M game, the Northeastern game, the Arizona game,’’ Lavin said. “I have the ability to step back and recognize we have as young a team as there is in the country, we’re shorthanded and we’re playing as tough a schedule as any and we’re playing some of our best basketball at this stage of the season.’’
The season is close to an end, but Lavin is closer to full strength. This summer he and Mary Ann will hang some of the memorabilia — especially the guitar signed by the Stones — acquired during a lifetime of coaching.
They will continue to make this their city and St. John’s his program. One of the few notes on display is from the desk of Lou Carnesecca, congratulating Lavin on his team’s success.
“The goal is to compete at a high level every year,’’ Lavin said. “That’s why we came here.’’
