Tuesday, April 13, 2004

Everyone looking for "the next Paul Hewitt".

Well, St.John's didn't get their guy Paul Hewitt, but they did get "a young Paul Hewitt". What? Hewitt is barely 40 years old and you're getting a "young" Paul Hewitt. Wow. The new hc is Norm Roberts, an assistant at Kansas (story here). From the article - "Roberts, who withdrew his name from consideration for the SMU job, has been described as a young Paul Hewitt. Hewitt, who has spoken highly of Roberts, guided the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets to the national championship game this season."............ Here's another version chronicling the search and the candidates and the final choice............ Here's the AP Story.............. Here's the NY Post article, which seems to endorse the move. Hewitt even gets quoted. Without heading over to the St.John's boards, my bet is that most of that fickle fan-base is probably ok with this move, even though it is a risk. They all know that aversion to risk 5 years ago cost them Paul Hewitt.

In other coaching news, Miami named Frank Haith their new hoops HC, an assistant with Texas under Rick Barnes. And check out this article reference - "Two weeks ago, Dee set out searching for the next Paul Hewitt, who has taken Georgia Tech's programs to great heights in a relatively short time." So Paul Hewitt has become a catch-phrase, the next big thing......... Here's more on the hire............. Here's one more on the Haith hire.