The summer of 1998 seemed to last forever at St. John’s.
Less than two months after Fran Fraschilla led the Red Storm to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in five years, his employment came to a volatile and abrupt end on May 13 when the university decided his pedal-to-the-medal personality was too excessive.
Four weeks dragged on as St. John’s searched for a new coach. Finally, on June 11, Mike Jarvis blew into town and St. John’s figured it would be years before it would have to endure another coaching search. Make that two years.
While Jarvis’s attorney, Rob Ades, yesterday went about the business of negotiating a contract with Michael Jordan and the Washington Wizards, St. John’s athletic director Ed Manetta Jr. must rev up the coaching search machine.
Since Manetta can’t go to http://www.candidates.com, he can buy The Post and find his best list of choices:
JAY WRIGHT, Hofstra head coach: He’s young (38), bright (Bucknell), and the best dressed coach in the business. Seriously, Wright presents the complete package: presentation, pedigree and coaching success.
Wright took over a downtrodden Hofstra program and in five years had the the Flying Dutchmen in the NCAA Tournament. His record (96-80) includes back-to-back Holiday Festival championships.
In building the Hofstra program, Wright has established himself with the city’s high school and AAU coaches. He recruits the same city-tough kids as St. John’s, just a notch below talent-wise. Now he can go after the first-teamers. Odds: 2-1.
KEVIN CLARK, St. John’s assistant coach: Jarvis will lobby hard for Clark, 41, to move up but it may be a tough sell for two reasons. St. John’s remembers the last time it promoted a lieutenant and Brian Mahoney wasn’t able to fill Lou Carnesecca’s shoes. Also, Clark recently came in second for the head job at Hartford and Siena.
Those two factors shouldn’t be held against Clark. This is a different scenario at St. John’s then when Mahoney succeeded Carnesecca, and the Hartford and Siena jobs were never really open.
The players love Clark, who compiled a 62-43 record as the head coach at Clark College from 1987-1991. Promoting Clark would make for a seemless transition but he needs to show he has the charisma to handle the limelight that comes with the St. John’s job. Odds: 3-1.
BOB McKILLOP, Davidson head coach: The Queens native has done for Davidson what Wright did for Hofstra, where McKillop played. He’s compiled a 169-144 record and led Davidson to the NCAA Tournament in 1998.
McKillop is longtime friend of Carnesecca and was considered a strong candidate for the St. John’s job two years ago. McKillop turned down the Stony Brook job which then went to former Fordham coach Nick Macarchuk.
McKillop is a class act. He’s managed to graduate 95 percent of his players without choking any of them. Still has lots of friends and family in the New York area but will have to prove he can recruit from Riverside Church to Fort Greene. Odds: 5-1.
BOBBY CREMINS, former Georgia Tech coach: Resigned this season after 19 years in Atlanta, where he made the Yellow Jackets into an ACC force, no easy task in a conference dominated by Duke and North Carolina.
The Bronx native was one of the players who led the shift of power from the city schools to Southern schools when he left to play at South Carolina. Still has close ties to Carnesecca and to Knicks legend Dick McGwire and recruited such big-time city players as Kenny Anderson and Stephon Marbury.
Has said he wants to take a year off from coaching after compiling a 354-237 record and leading Tech to nine NCAA Tournament appearances and one Final Four. A source close to Cremins say he’s 80-percent against returning to coaching this season but a guy from Da Bronx could make an exception for St. John’s. Odds: 10-1.
JIM BARON, St. Bonaventure head coach: A candidate the last time the St. John’s job was open. The 46-year-old Brooklyn native led the Bonnies to a 21-10 record this season and their first NCAA appearance since 1978. But Baron’s overall record is 114-119 and his ability to recruit the city is a question. Odds: 20-1.
P.J. CARLESIMO, former Golden State Warriors/Seton Hall coach: Built the Pirates into a Big East power and led them to the 1989 national championship game. Flopped as an NBA coach (46-113) and the Latrell Sprewell incident lives in infamy. Recently engaged and has a restaurant on the West Coast. Odds: 35-1.
