Jarvis reminiscing on the good ol' days.
It's not easy being Mike Jarvis.
On Thursday night, the Florida Atlantic coach was assessed three technical fouls and escorted off the court by police in the Owls' 94-88 loss to Louisiana-Monroe.
(I didn't even know three technical fouls on one man was possible!)
It all started late in the first half of a one-point game. After arguing with the refs about an out-of-bounds call, the FAU bench was nailed with a technical foul. As the ref's huddled to talk about the first technical, Jarvis protested loudly and possibly made contact with a ref while waving his arms. His actions earned him three quick technicals, all in succession and he was escorted off the court by police.
Due to Jarvis' actions, Louisiana-Monroe was granted eight free throws, seven of which they made and the Warhawks went on to win by six.
Jarvis' team has now lost 11 in a row and 15 of its last 16 games. Plus, the Owls most likely won't break their losing streak on Saturday, as they'll be playing without their first-year coach, who was suspended for one game by the university.
I'd say that this is the nadir of Jarvis' coaching career, but he's been through tougher times.
The rise of Mike Jarvis
It wasn't too long ago that Mike Jarvis was one of the biggest coaching success stories in NCAA men's basketball.
He started out his coaching career at his old high school, Cambridge Rindge and Latin, where he coached future Georgetown center Patrick Ewing and Michigan guard Rumeal Robinson.
In 1985, Jarvis made the leap to college coaching, taking over at Boston University. In five short seasons, he led the Terriers to two NCAA Tournaments and became the school's all-time winningest coach with a record of 101-50. (BU coach Dennis Wolff has since surpassed Jarvis.)
Jarvis then headed south, taking over as coach of the George Washington Colonials in 1990. In just a few short years, he built the program into a national powerhouse. Led by seven-foot-one center Yinka Dare, the Colonials made it to the Sweet-16 in 1993 and the second round the following year.
(Love this video of Jarvis and Dare.)
Considered one of the hottest young coaches in the nation, he was named coach of the U.S. under-22 men's team in 1993 and eventually compiled a 143-100 record in Foggy Bottom.
In 1998, Jarvis jumped ship again, this time to coach in the Big East at St. John's.
The success continued to pile up in Queens. After replacing Fran Fraschilla as the coach of the Red Storm, he promptly led the team to the Elite Eight. The following season, Jarvis' squad won the Big East tournament.
The fall of Mike Jarvis
Despite winning winning the Big East Tournament in 2000, the new millennium did not prove kind to Jarvis. What had started so positively for both the coach and the university quickly devolved into an unmitigated disaster.
Jarvis' last glorious moment at St. John's came when he guided the Red Storm to the NIT title in 2003.
The very next season, St. John's got off to an uneasy 2-4 start. But that was the least of Jarvis' worries. A juco transfer was charged with assaulting a female student, another player was kicked off the team for smoking marijuana and, to top it all off, center Abe Keita came forward with allegations that Jarvis had paid him $300 a month for the past four seasons. Jarvis was quickly fired and St. John's placed itself on probation, forfeiting 43 wins in which Keita participated.
In the end, the NCAA criticized Jarvis for failing to properly monitor the Keita situation, but stopped short of accusing the coach of actually giving the player money. Regardless, Jarvis' legacy at St. John's was forever tarnished and he was effectively blackballed from college coaching until his return to FAU in 2008.
The rebirth of Mike Jarvis
Jarvis spent almost five years away from coaching the sport he loves because of the accusations of a player who only averaged 1.6 points per game. Despite being only one of four Division I coaches to have won over 100 games at three different universities, Jarvis was confined to the broadcast booth until lowly FAU finally decided to take a chance on the once-promising coach.
So, yeah, being assessed three technical fouls and escorted off the court by a police officer is not an ideal situation, but it's nothing compared to having your legacy permanently tarnished.
Jarvis will be back and -- you watch -- FAU will be winning a lot more games in the upcoming seasons.
Comments
St. John's became the Red Storm under Brian Mahoney, a year or more before Fran Fraschilla took over. FYI, he left Jarvis two McDonald's All-Americans and a pretty good supporting cast.
D,
Good point about the Red Storm. I have corrected it in the writing above.
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