The legendary St. Anthony High School coach said he might speak with Seton Hall officials as soon as Saturday afternoon to offer counsel on whom they pick to replace Bobby Gonzalez, who was fired Wednesday after four tumultuous seasons.

“I’m going to talk to the people from Seton Hall but I see my role as a veteran coach in New Jersey just telling them what I think about the whole hiring situation, which really doesn’t include me,” Hurley said by phone Saturday afternoon before he planned to hop in his convertible and watch some AAU basketball games.

“They have reached out to me and I’m going talk to somebody perhaps later [Saturday].  I’m going to talk to them. I don’t know that in this point in my life it’s something I should do.”

Pat Hobbs, the Dean of the Seton Hall Law School, and Joe Quinlan, the school’s AD, are running the coaching search. Hurley has known Quinlan for years.

Hurley, 62, led St. Anthony to the Non-Public B state title game this year, where the Friars lost to Trenton Catholic. He has won 24 state championships, nine Tournament of Champions crowns and is closing in on 1,000 career victories. For the second year in a row, he is eligible for the Naismith Hall of Fame.

Hurley said has advised both Seton Hall and Rutgers in their last several coaching searches and that he was among a group of people who endorsed Gonzalez for the Seton Hall job four years ago.

“He was the best candidate,” Hurley said of Gonzalez.

Hurley said he had no particular agenda in terms of a hiring a new coach, but feels an obligation to Quinlan and the University because St. Anthony and Seton Hall are both part of the Archdiocese of Newark.

“Over the years I’ve always known the people from Seton Hall and we’re one of the schools in that Archdiocese,” he said.

St. Anthony has also sent a number of athletes to the South Orange school over the years, from John Valentin to Jerry Walker to Terry Dehere to Dan Hurley.

Hurley has no particular candidates in mind but said Seton Hall must find a coach on his way up, not on his way down.

He specifically mentioned former Rutgers coach Kevin Bannon as someone the school got “on the way down.”

“My advice for everybody is you gotta get somebody on the way up,” Hurley said. “Don’t get someone who’s been successful but you may be catching him on the way down. Kevin Bannon became a guy that Rutgers hired on the way down. He didn’t put in the same time at Rutgers that he had in Rider.”

Asked about potential candidates, Hurley pointed to Robert Morris coach Mike Rice as someone on the rise. Rice nearly led the No. 15 Colonials to an upset of No. 2 Villanova on Thursday but lost 73-70 in OT. Rice, 41, is a fiery personality and became apoplectic on national TV after several questionable calls were made down the stretch.

“Mike Rice, very simply, is on the way up. He’s a very intense guy,” Hurley said.

Hurley called Siena coach Fran McCaffery, 50, “relatively young” but admitted he didn’t know much about him.

As for Iona coach Kevin Willard, Hurley said, “That’s for them to figure out whether he’s coached long enough.”

Whoever gets the job will have some major cleaning up to do and must be prepared to make some hard decisions about the makeup of the current roster. It’s possible certain members of the current roster could also leave early or transfer.

“With this group at Seton Hall you gotta be ready to do some thinking because there’s some kids who probably won’t be back next year. You have to make some strong decisions about who’s gonna be back and eligible. Then you’ve got to be able to decide how many scholarships you want to give out and how many you want to keep,” he said.

Junior guard Jeremy Hazell said before the coaching change that he definitely planned to return for his senior year.

As for forward Herb Pope, who punched a Texas Tech player in the groin on national  TV in the team’s finale in the opening round of the NIT, Hurley said that probably merited a suspension of some kind.

“Behavior like that probably warrants at least a suspension for a semester from basketball,” Hurley said. “Unexplained behavior like that is something you have to address.”

The Pope incident, combined with the recent arrests of former Seton Hall players Robert “Stix” Mitchell and Kelly Whitney and the November wrong-way driving incident with Keon Lawrence, raise serious questions about some of Gonzalez’s recruits.

“You can have a high maintenance player surrounded by solid kids and it could work but you can’t have more than that because you’re  putting out too many fires,” Hurley said.

On the recruiting front, Hurley said Gonzalez recruited his “comfort zone,” using Dermon Player heavily in New York and relying on Scott Adubato, whom Hurley calls a friend, for New Jersey.

“Everybody is a product of their comfort zone and [Gonzalez's] comfort zone was New York City,” Hurley said. “Dermon Player had more influence in New York. Scott Adubato, who is a good friend, was the Jersey recruiter.”

Still, Hurley pointed out that Seton Hall’s 1993 Big East championship team featured mainly players from New Jersey — Dehere, Jerry Walker, Bryan Caver, Luther Wright and others.

Whoever gets the Seton Hall job needs to establish strong ties with both Bob and Dan Hurley, the St. Benedict’s Prep coach, Bob Farrell at Seton Hall Prep, Kevin Boyle at St. Patrick and Damon Wright at Paterson Catholic, as well as the key AAU coaches in the state.

“If you’re Villanova or St. John’s or anybody in the Big East you gotta be able to come in here because there are so many good players in Jersey,” he said.

“If you’re an in-state school you have to be able to go into those schools because the talent in those schools is enough to get it done if you can keep your fair share of kids.”

RELATED CONTENT:

**Enough was Enough: Gonzo Fired

**Former Seton Hall Player Whitney Arrested

**Seton Hall recruits up in the air.

**Stix Mitchell charged with robbery, kidnapping

**Pat Knight says father could coach again.

(Photo courtesy Star-Ledger)

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

“We’ve come to the decision that Norm will not be retained as our head coach for next season and we will start immediately with a national search to take over as his successor,” St.  John’s athletic director Chris Monasch said Friday morning in a conference call.

Monasch will run the process himself and will not use a search firm or a committee. Hofstra coach Tom Pecora, Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg, Louisville coach Rick Pitino, Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt and former St. John’s standout Mark Jackson are among the possible candidates.

Read the full story at SNY.tv.

**Click the Video Player at right for the video of St. John’s AD Chris Monasch.

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

“Seton Hall did contact Tom Pecora,”  a source with direct knowledge said. “Tom is going to actively look at that job.”

Pecora turned down the Seton Hall gig four years ago, choosing to remain at Hofstra instead. The Pirates then turned to Gonzalez.

Hofstra went 19-15 this season, falling Wednesday night to IUPUI in the first round of the CBI. In nine seasons at Hofstra, Pecora is 155-126. Twice during his tenure he has been named the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association Coach of the Year.

A Queens Village, N.Y. native, Pecora could also be a candidate at St. John’s, should the administration there opt to let go of Norm Roberts. The New York Post reported last week that Roberts would be fired after the season, but the Johnnies lost a dramatic 2-point game Wednesday night at Memphis in the first round of the NIT. No announcement on Roberts is expected until at least Friday, sources said.

“If there was a chance [at St. John's], he would look at it,” the source said of Pecora. “But Seton Hall is nothing to sneeze at.”

Despite rumors that Seton Hall would announce its new coach within a week, sources said it was more likely to happen sometime around the Final Four.

Pecora has also been considered a strong favorite to land the Fordham job, should the administration opt not to retain interim coach Jared Grasso, who has strong support from the players.

Should Pecora land at Seton Hall or St. John’s, Fordham could opt to go with Grasso or Fordham alum Mike Rice.

Rice led No. 15 Robert Morris to a dramatic 73-70 OT loss to No. 2 Villanova Thursday here in a South Regional game and could be in play at Seton Hall or St. John’s as well.

Speaking generally about Rice in association with the various New York-area openings, Villanova coach Jay Wright said.

“I think Mike Rice would be a good candidate for any job,” said Wright, who was also Pecora’s boss at Hofstra. “He’s got great passion. He’s an excellent leader. He’s a very good recruiter…And I would recommend him for any job.”

(Photo courtesy Hosftra Athletics)

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- If Mike Rice leads No. 15 Robert Morris to an upset of No. 2 Villanova today in the NCAA tournament, he will treat it like the Final Four.

“My daughter doesn’t even have us winning this game,” Rice cracked Wednesday. “No, you know what? I told somebody…that I’m going to cut down the nets if we win this game and they’d have to delay the game.”

Whether or not Rice wins this one, he is certainly one of the hottest names in the coaching ranks.

A 41-year-old Fordham alum, Rice is expected to meet with the administrators at Fordham at some point in the near future about that situation.

Sources close to Rice said he would also listen if Seton Hall called about the vacancy there created by Wednesday’s sudden firing of Bobby Gonzalez.

Rice has led Robert Morris to back-to-back Northeast Conference tournament titles and NCAA appearances. The Colonials are 73-30 on his watch over the last three seasons

A former Hoop Group camp director and assistant at St. Joe’s and Pitt, Rice has deep recruiting ties in the all-important New York/New Jersey/Philly corridor.

The current Robert Morris roster is littered with guys from that area, including former Paterson (NJ) Eastside star Karon Abraham, the NEC Rookie of the Year. Listed at 5-9, 150, Rice said Abraham is probably closer to 5-6, 135.

“Karon is not afraid,” Rice said. “Karon has no fear…That’s what I love about , whether it’s the New Jersey kids I have or my Philadelphia guys. It’s the same intensity and toughness that you find.”

Added Villanova coach Jay Wright: “I’ll tell you, we really are impressed with their team. They play a lot like we like to play…I’m very impressed with how he’s got Abraham as a freshman to defend so well and [Velton] Jones, the kid out of Northeast Catholic in Philadelphia, [Russell] Johnson out of Chester. They’re both redshirt freshmen. But they play like an experienced player.”

Certainly, Rice’s deep connections in this talent-rich area would help at either Fordham or Seton Hall.

Asked if that made him a more attractive candidate, Rice said: “I would think so. North Jersey, Philly and New York City is a hot bed of recruiting. It was when I was hired away from St. Joe’s to Pitt. They wanted somebody that did North Jersey to  Philadelphia. Besides my experience at the Hoop Group, I had my St. Joe’s ties and Philly ties.”

One Division 1 head coach said Seton Hall is going to look to do a 180-degree turn from Gonzalez. So even if Rice is a fiery guy, he is stable and should be able to recruit local powerhouses St.  Anthony, St. Benedict’s, St. Patrick and Paterson Catholic.

Rice certainly fits that bill. Just ask Jay Wright.

“I watched his teams from afar kind of as a fan,” Wright said. “I’ll watch any game. But preparing for them, I’m even more impressed with his ability to teach execution. His teams are very disciplined. You can see offensively, they’ve got some great concepts. We’re going to steal some for next year.

“And you can see he’s really, really thought out a philosophy behind how his team plays and its well taught.”

THARPE TO PROVIDENCE
5-11 junior point guard Naadir Tharpe of Brewster Academy verbally committed to Providence.

“Yes, he committed to Providence [Wednesday] night,” Brewster coach Jason Smith said. “He has a very high basketball IQ, elite/level quickness and is an out outstanding passer with vision. He’s a big-time kid. People in their community will fall in love with him. He is outgoing and personable. He has great school spirit.”

Smith said Tharpe was hearing from Boston College, Virginia, UNLV, West Virginia, Indiana and Iowa State.

RECRUITING NOTES

Rivals reports that UConn head coach Jim Calhoun this week will visit 6-8, 210-pound power forward Luke Cothron of Red Springs (N.C,) Flora Macdonald Academy. Cothron just decommitted from N.C. State. An Alabama native, he averaged 31 points and 14 boards.

(Photo courtesy Robert Morris Athletics)

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

PROVIDENCE, R.I. —

Enough of his players being arrested.

Enough of his abusive behavior toward administrators, officials, players, opposing coaches and the media.

Enough of the embarrassment and dishonor he brought to the Seton Hall program.

Enough was enough.

Read the full column here.

RELATED CONTENT:

**Hit the Video Player at right for interviews with Seton Hall’s Patrick Hobbs, Joe Quinlan, Jordan Theodore and Jeff Robinson**

**Rutgers sticking with Fred Hill.

**Seton Hall recruits up in the air.

**Stix Mitchell charged with robbery.

**Pat Knight says father could coach again.

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

On the same day that Rutgers AD Tim Pernetti endorsed Fred Hill as the Rutgers basketball coach going forward, Seton Hall fired Bobby Gonzalez.

“Performance and success are not measured solely by wins and losses, but also in the conduct of those associated with the program,” Pat Hobbs, Dean of the Seton Hall Law School, said in a statement.  “We have expectations as to how our coaches and players will conduct themselves, and they are expected to treat everyone they interact with, whether officials, the press or our students, with the utmost respect, maturity and professionalism. Those core expectations must be met.”

University President Monsignor Robert Sheeran added: “It is essential that all University leaders embody the ideals that make us all so proud of Seton Hall.”

Seton Hall is holding a 2 p.m. conference call to announce the decision.

The decision to remove Gonzalez after his fourth season came shortly after the team’s embarrassing loss Tuesday night to Texas Tech in the NIT and was the result of a pattern of off-the-court issues associated with the team.Gonzalez last fall agreed to a three-year contract extension through 2015, but reportedly never signed the paperwork.

The latest incident involved a series of below-the-belt punches by sophomore forward Herb Pope, who was given a flagrant foul and ejected from the Texas Tech game in the first half.

“Man, I never got someone even knee me that hard in a practice by accident. He just took a swing,” said Texas Tech’s Darko Cohadarevic. “I just couldn’t breathe for a second.”

Later in the game, after Gonzalez received his seventh technical foul of the season, chants of “Fire Bob-by” rose from the student section

The Pope incident was the latest, and last, in a bizarre year for Seton Hall. Junior forward Robert “Stix” Mitchell was booted from the team two days before the NIT after he criticized Gonzalez’s substitution patterns in the Bergen Record during last week’s Big East Tournament. Mitchell, a Brooklyn native, has a year of eligibility remaining but Gonzalez ended his career early, saying he didn’t “want any malcontent or cancerous type stuff.”

Lawrence was suspended on Nov. 9 following his involvement in a wrong-way car crash on the Garden State Parkway. Lawrence, 22, was reinstated Dec. 19., and subsequently charged with auto-by-assault and driving with a suspended license.

Despite stating that his goal was to reach the NCAA tournament, Gonzalez’s season ended in an 87-69 loss to Texas Tech in the first round of the NIT.

After the game, Gonzalez was seen walking the hallways of the Prudential Center talking about how his team “beat Rutgers twice and St. John’s once.”

Gonzalez was also the subject of a recent hard-hitting New York Times article that covered many of his past transgressions and painted him in highly unflattering light.

The essence of the story was that Gonzalez had built his current team on high-risk, low-character transfer players, such as Lawrence, Pope and Jeff Robinson.

Asked if he agreed with that assessment, Villanova coach Jay Wright said, “I think [Gonzalez] did what he thought was best for Seton Hall. I really did. I don’t think he purposely went and got risky kids. I think he did what he thought was best for Seton Hall. I really do.”

While Gonzalez is now out of a job, Hill will hold on to his.

“Fred Hill is under contract as our men’s basketball head coach. We had a productive meeting and look forward to working together to build the program,” Pernetti announced in a statement Wednesday.

Hill has compiled a 47-77 record over four years — including a 15-17 mark this season — and has received increased heat from a frustrated fan base.

Yet it would have cost the University about $1.5 million to buy Hill out, and the school opted to let him remain.

According to The Star-Ledger, Hill picks up an additional $300,000 for returning and also gets a $100,000 bonus for remaining at Rutgers after April 5.  His guaranteed outside income also increases to $400,000 from $300,000 for the last two years of the three he has remaining.

Told that Hill would be staying, Wright said, “Oh, great. Oh, good. Good.”

NEWARK, N.J. -

Pat Knight, Bob’s son and head coach at Texas Tech, said his father would consider coaching again and interested schools should give him a ring.

“If I’m St. John’s or Rutgers, to me, you gotta be an idiot … if you’re an AD or president, it doesn’t hurt to call,” Knight told SNY.tv exclusively after his Red Raiders hammered Seton Hall, 87-69, in a first-round NIT game at the Prudential Center.

Read the story exclusively at SNY.tv.

**And read about Seton Hall’s bizarre season-ending NIT loss to Texas Tech here. Herb Pope was ejected for punching a Texas Tech player in his, shall we say, manly regions.

“Man, I never got someone even knee me that hard in a practice by accident. He just took a swing,” said Darko Cohadarevic.

**Elsewhere in the NIT, senior guard Jerome Dyson scored 13 of his 18 points in the second half as Jim Calhoun’s current team, UConn survived his old outfit, Northeastern, 59-57, in Storrs.

Houston gained an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament on Saturday with its 81-73 victory over UTEP.

“Tom wanted to be one of 8 college coaches to take 4 different teams to the NCAA Tournament,” the source said.  “Now that he’s achieved that goal, he’s ready to step down and do some color commentary, which he really enjoyed doing before he got the Houston job.”

Penders, 64, led Rhode Island, Texas, George Washington and now the Cougars to the Big Dance.

Former Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie and current Texas assistant Rodney Terry are among the leading candidates to replace Penders, sources said.

Houston features several players with ties to the New York metropolitan area, including junior guard Zamal Nixon of Brooklyn Boys & Girls and sophomore guard Desmond Wade of Linden (N.J.).

Penders is back in the NCAAs for the first time since 1999 with George Washington.

“We’re dancing, we’re dancing,” Penders told reporters. “I may be dancing a little slower than I was the last time I went, but we’re dancing.”

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

(Photos courtesy Andrew Mills / The Star-Ledger)

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Ronald Roberts, a 6-foot-8 forward from Jersey City (N.J.) St. Peter’s Prep who has committed to St. John’s, said he was uncertain of his plans now that head coach Norm Roberts’ future is in doubt.

The New York Post on Thursday reported that Roberts would be let go at the end of the season. The team is NIT eligible and the school likely won’t make any official announcement until after Sunday night’s NIT selection process.

“I’m just going to see what happens. I’m really not sure. I’m disappointed, but I just don’t know what to do at this point,” Roberts said after scoring 16 points as St. Peter’s beat Seton Hall Prep, 64-54, to win the New Jersey Non-Public A North title at Rutgers.

Sources close to the St. Peter’s program said several Big East and ACC schools continued to call with inquiries about Roberts even though he has signed with St. John’s.

Roberts would have to be let out of his Letter of Intent to transfer. Sources close to St. Peter’s Prep say there is no “out clause” in his NLI with St. John’s. Devin Ebanks had one at Indiana and ultimately landed at West Virginia after Kelvin Sampson was let go. If there is a coaching change,the administration could opt to let him leave.

Norm Roberts and his staff did not appear at the game because they attended the wake for Dolores Braica, the mother of assistant coach Glenn Braica. The funeral was Friday.

“I’m just focused on winning a state championship with my team right now,” Roberts said.

St. Peter’s faces Camden Catholic in Saturday’s Non-Public A final.

As for the St. John’s situation, multiple outlets are reporting that the school is targeting Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg, a Plainview, N.Y. native and Fairleigh Dickinson graduate who has three NCAA tournament appearances on his resume.

The Hokies face Miami in an ACC tournament quarterfinal Friday.

Reached by phone Thursday, Greenberg said, “I can’t visit right now. I’m getting ready to prepare my team for the ACC tournament.”

Greenberg, 53, has also been mentioned in connection with the Rutgers job.

Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti has yet to make a public pronouncement on the future of head coach Fred Hill.

One source said he thought Greenberg would prefer Rutgers to St. John’s if both were options.

“It’s a state school. You have greater resources at a state university,” the source said. “With Jersey being the basketball state that it is, I think it would be a more attractive situation for him [at Rutgers].”

That same source said Hofstra coach Tom Pecora would be more likely to land the Fordham job than the St. John’s one.

“It will be hard for him to get the St. John’s job because Hofstra isn’t winning quite to the extent that they were four or five years ago,” the source said.

Fordham interim coach Jared Grasso remains in the mix for the full-time job and has the support of his players.

Robert Morris coach Mike Rice, a Fordham alum, has also been linked to the job.

St. John’s, Rutgers and Fordham will  have to wait to interview several of these candidates.

Robert Morris and Siena, coached by Fran McCaffery, are both in the NCAA tournament with automatic bids.

Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech, coached by Paul Hewitt, could get at-large bids.

McCaffery has been linked to the Rutgers job, and Hewitt to St. John’s.

Hofstra could be headed to the NIT.

ST. ANTHONY DOWNS PATERSON CATHOLIC

This time St. Anthony was the underdog and Paterson Catholic was the favorite.

And for a second straight year, the dogs won.

One year after losing to the Cougars in their own gym in the semifinals of the North Non-Public B bracket, No. 2 St. Anthony hammered No. 1 Paterson Catholic 63-49 in the North Non-Public B final at Rutgers.

St. Bonaventure-bound guard Elijah Carter, born and raised for 12 years in Paterson, killed the Cougars with 28 points and 14 rebounds. Oregon State-bound forward Devon Collier added 14 points.

“It feels good,” Carter said. “I grew up with them playing against them when I was younger so  it feels good to come out and get the win,” Carter said.

“I wasn’t really a factor in the game last year. I worked the whole summer to improve my game and today I came and played a good game,” Carter added.

The previously unbeaten Cougars (28-1) were ranked No. 3 nationally by PrepNation.com and ESPN.com.

The Friars will seek their 25th state title under legendary coach Bob Hurley Saturday against Trenton Catholic.

“I’m ecstatic,” Hurley said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever had a team that has made this much progress during the season.”

St. Anthony has now beaten four teams this season that downed the Friars a year ago.

Seton Hall-bound forward Fuquan Edwin led the Cougars with 22 points and Kyle Anderson scored 10. Junior guard Myles Mack managed just 9 points on 3-for-12 shooting.

St. Anthony stifled PC with a variety of zones and defensive schemes and the Cougars never got within single-digits after trailing 27-16 at the break.

“Just today, I just got to give credit where credit is due,” PC coach Damon Wright said. “They just came out and played a better basketball game than us.”

PC didn’t reach its ultimate goal of winning its first Tournament of Champions title, but they did become the first Paterson team to win the prestigious City of Palms Classic. They captured their third straight Passaic County title. And they won their first 28 games of the season.

The underdog won again this year. But this time the dog was St. Anthony.

NOTES

Among the head coaches on hand were Hill, Grasso, Pecora, Dr. John Giannini of La Salle and Jose Rebimbas of William Paterson. Seton Hall assistant Scott Adubato, Holy Cross assistant Guillermo Sanchez and Quinnipiac assistant Eric Eaton were also on hand, as was the entire Rutgers staff.

For more on Bob and Dan Hurley, read the feature about their recruiting pipeline to the Big East.

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

Citing multiple sources “in the athletic department, on the board of trustees and in the booster sector,” the New York Post is reporting that St. John’s coach Norm Roberts will be let go after the season ends.

“Chris Monasch, the athletic director, has been very supportive of Coach Roberts throughout his tenure and he’ll comment when the season’s over as he’s stated. Coach Roberts is on campus today and we’re going to do the Red Storm report.”

Roberts added in a text: “Waiting to see if we get into NIT. Won’t decide until season’s officially over.”

Roberts is 81-100 in six years at the Queens school.

The Post listed Iona’s Kevin Willard, Virginia Tech’s Seth Greenberg, Hofstra’s Tom Pecora and Harvard coach Tommy Amaker as potential targets and said the school was prepared to offer Roberts’ replacement $1.5 million annually for six years.

Sources said neither Rutgers nor St. John’s had reached out yet to Willard.

(Photo courtesy New York Post)

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter