Some Seats are Hot in the Big East

Speculating on the job status of men and women you do not know is always a lot of fun, and something the Internet was practically invented to do. This is especially true in college football, and the great site Coaches Hot Seat is keeping a close eye on which guys may need to contact their real estate agent at the end of the 2008 season. Our beloved Greg Robinson currently sits at number 5 on the list, which almost matches his 3 year win total at SU.

Coaches Hot Seat had so much fun with football coaches, they decided to expand to college hoops and last week published their first ever hot seat rankings for men's basketball coaches. Number one on the list is Mark Gottfried at Alabama. Based on this picture of him, and the 2004 win over SU in the NCAAs, this idiot wouldn't mind seeing Gottfried get sent down the road, but it's not something we are going to worry about. We are more interested in which Big East coaches are in trouble.


The highest ranked Big East coach is St. John's head man Norm Roberts, who checks in at number 4 on list. According to the site, Roberts earns a relatively paltry $325,000 per year, which may explain why the Johnnies are struggling to return to respectability......it may be time to go find Chris Mullin and Mark Jackson and shake them down for some donations to go hire yourself a real coach, because to date, Norm hasn't been getting it done, checking in with a .427 winning percentage and fighting every year to make the tournament.....the Big East tournament. The natives, like respected writer and hair piece aficionado Hoops Weiss aren't satisfied with the job Norm has done either.

While having Roberts at number 4 makes sense, the site misses the mark when they place Mick Cronin of Cincinnati at 7. Cronin inherited a mess, barely having enough guys to field a team last year and already has the Bearcats playing some very good, tough, basketball. They are 8-6 in conference this year, and will only get better. Cronin's not going anywhere, unless he gets a better job.


Providence coach and former SU assistant Tim Welsh checks in at number 11, and frankly this ranking could be higher. The Friars have struggled in recent years and Welsh has been at the school long enough that he can't blame anyone else for his current situation. This year the Friars are in danger of missing the conference tournament, but Welsh is putting up a good front, declaring that he's confident in his job status.


Lastly, Fred Hill of Rutgers cracks the top 25, coming at 23 and while I personally have not seen enough to believe Hill knows what he's doing, he's not going anywhere for a while. Hill was clearly the guy the Scarlet Knights wanted when they let Gary Waters go, and they've shown a lot of patience in the past, giving Greg Schiano a long time to fix the football program. Besides, it's not like St. John's, who has past glory to live up to, it's Rutgers, they can wait it out a little while longer. Hill's not going anywhere.