Boston College Fires Al Skinner, Lavin to St. John’s [Updated 3 pm]

Boston College basketball coach Al Skinner has been fired, according to sources at Boston College. A press conference is scheduled for noon today.

We will have much more later. For the moment, Eagle in Atlanta has put together his initial list of potential candidates (faster than Lee Fowler was able to find a single telephone number four years ago). Some interesting thoughts & names there.

The rising mid-major stars: This group seems to be where Gene is headed. I don’t love the idea. Plenty of mid-major coaches have not transitioned to the next level. But, who knows, we may find the next super star.

In other coaching search news, it appears ESPN’s Steve Lavin will take the job at St. John’s. According to multiple news outlets, including Lavin’s own ESPN, the talks between St. John’s and Lavin’s folks heated up last night and into the early part of today. Here’s a report from FanHouse.

UTEP made a coaching move today, hiring former USC head coach Tim Floyd. Floyd left USC after the OJ Mayo allegations last year. Here’s a story.

Lastly, in what could potentially be the biggest offseason move of them all, Tom Izzo and Tubby Smith have both been rumored to be in the sights of the University of Oregon. Either coach would be a splash and would get people in Eugene excited. Izzo told ESPN he hasn’t been contacted about the job and is happy in East Lansing, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened. Same goes with Smith. Pittsburgh’s Jamie Dixon is also in the mix to lead the Ducks. Phil Knight’s checkbook must be burning a hole in his pocket. Read more about Oregon’s coaching search here.

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64 Responses to Boston College Fires Al Skinner, Lavin to St. John’s [Updated 3 pm]

  1. Wolfy__79 03/30/2010 at 8:58 PM #

    scott wood’s main problem this year was going against college level athletes as opposed to high school cones. another part was he wasn’t playing with the most supportive of casts… but that was the smaller of the two. over time, scott wood will become a NC STATE great. he’s a very talented shooter, has a good bball iq and certainly some desire to be successful.. the problem was this year.. he was a kid… most evident to me in those silly fouls he would commit after a bad/disappointing play.

    what we lacked this year was a slashing scorer, i don’t think would will have that until midseason next year at the earliest.. could be the next season. that was supposed to be lorenzo’s role and was the weakest part of our offense. all season we needed that dribble penetration, much like what degand tried to do… granted half the time he was out of control.

  2. Wolfy__79 03/30/2010 at 9:07 PM #

    bc is way out of place in the ACC. they suck. whomever makes these decisions to add these teams makes lee fowler look like a genius IMO. please give miami and bc their pink slips and hold at ten teams. honestly, i would like to have the eight team conference back but i don’t think that would ever happen. if we were to get rid of some and add others, florida would not be my choice for sure… that’s all we need is another fb powerhouse like fsu was to come in and shake up the pecking order again. that decision alone set our chance of progress back in fb a decade or two. so if we were to add/drop i’d hope we would get more of a class act instead of what we added before. since those additions, the basketball has been crap all around, IMHO.

  3. Wolfy__79 03/30/2010 at 9:09 PM #

    i’m watching the nit and laven was on during halftime getting free plugs for his open assistant coaching positions. he looked and sounded like a deer in the headlights. perhaps he’s been out of the game a little too long. didn’t sound like he knew what he was talking about from a coaches perspective. i laugh if he falls on his face.

  4. packsbiggestfan 03/30/2010 at 9:12 PM #

    ncsukappa sounds like a goon. Wood’s offensive production could have been more consistent but his defense was impressive. Maybe you should call Javi out for some questionable fouls….cough cough. If Wood didnt perform like he did against FSU we would have added two more losses and been without an NIT trip. I will reiterate, his defense was impressive (especially to be a skinny as he is).

  5. packsbiggestfan 03/30/2010 at 9:12 PM #

    What does Wood have to do with Skinner getting fired anyways?

  6. section2chuck 03/30/2010 at 9:17 PM #

    This just goes to show what a puss Lavin is for being too scared to take our job in 2006. It’s pretty bad when St. Johns can land him, and he pretty much said thanks, but no thanks to us. He was scared of Roy and K..lol

  7. Wolfy__79 03/30/2010 at 9:18 PM #

    yeah, i was impressed with wood’s hustle at times. he ran the length of the floor after a turn and blocked a layup atleast twice if my memory serves me correctly. i think it was a combo of his youth, his supporting cast and sid didn’t quite challenge him the way he was expecting. this kid is going to shine at NC STATE. but his defense was good for a freshman and considering his build… can’t wait to see him develop.

  8. Wolfy__79 03/30/2010 at 9:20 PM #

    well all things considered, i’m glad we didn’t land any of those coaches. i’m not happy with the results, but i want a coach that wants the J O B. the good thing about sid is that he isn’t intimidated at all by unc-ch or dukE. but he hasn’t done much else, YET.

  9. Wolfy__79 03/30/2010 at 9:26 PM #

    packinsider has some new video of uchebo.. highlights of him facing off against the youngest of the plumlee (duke) brothers. uchebo is going to be solid.

  10. StateFans 03/30/2010 at 11:05 PM #

    Al Skinner’s record From SCACCHoops

    http://www.scacchoops.com/tt_NewsBreaker_External.asp?NB=3517

    1997-98 15-16
    1998-99 6-21
    1999-00 11-19
    2000-01 27-5 NCAA 2nd round; Big East Reg Season & Tourney Champs
    2001-02 20-12 NCAA
    2002-03 19-12 NIT
    2003-04 24-10 NCAA
    2004-05 25-5 NCAA 2nd round; Big East Regular Season Champs
    2005-06 28-8 NCAA Sweet 16
    2006-07 21-12 NCAA
    2007-08 14-17
    2008-09 22-11 NCAA
    2009-10 15-16

    Skinner has coached 5 All-Americans (Troy Bell x2, Craig Smith x2, Jared Dudley) and three conference players of the year (Bell x2 and Dudley). He was named Big East coach of the year twice and also earned national coach of the year honors in 2000-01. He won the Big East regular season championship in 2001 and 2005 and also won the Big East Tournament in ’01.

  11. LKNpackfan 03/31/2010 at 9:04 AM #

    In other embarrassing-coaching-search news: DEPAUL is also giving Lee a run for his money

  12. rtpack24 03/31/2010 at 9:26 AM #

    Lavin has used his position at ESPN to lobby for numerous jobs throughout the years and the only other offer before this job was our offer. It was actually a running joke with several of his co-workers if any of the jobs he would go after would even give him an interview. The fact the Lee Fowler offered our job to this man should have been a firing offense at the time. Who knows maybe Lavin will do a great job at St Johns.

  13. newt 03/31/2010 at 11:17 AM #

    Izzo is a Michigan State alum, and obviously Michigan State has no ceiling for success. Can’t imagine he would leave.

  14. Tau837 03/31/2010 at 2:33 PM #

    Bob Ryan is a BC alum and Boston area sportswriter. He explains why Skinner was fired here: http://www.boston.com/sports/colleges/mens_basketball/articles/2010/03/31/skinners_successful_boston_college_tenure_had_run_its_course/?page=full

    From the article:

    “Bill Coen was able to find the players for Al, just as he had when he worked for him at Rhode Island. It was Bill Coen who provided Al with Cuttino Mobley, Tyson Wheeler, Troy Bell, Craig Smith, Jared Dudley, Sean Marshall, and Tyrese Rice, among others.

    It was a great partnership. Coen found these fallen-through-the-cracks guys (which every one of the above was; no McDonald’s All-Americans in this bunch) and Al certainly coached ’em up, which is something Eagles fans should not forget.

    The beginning of the end came when Bill Coen left to become the head coach at Northeastern following that 2005-06 season. With all due respect to Al’s current staff, none of them are Bill Coen.”

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