Gary Parrish

Here's Wednesday's Dear Gary ...

Dear Gary: Did you see the comments Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez made about you ?

-- Mike/Jennifer/Mitchell/Aaron/About 11 other people

Yes, I saw them. To his credit, the author (Brian Price of SNY.tv) called last Friday, read me Bobby's comments and asked if I wanted to respond. I did, and I did. But I would still like to use this space to expound on what SNY called a "clash" between me and the Seton Hall coach, and I'll do so by first showing you exactly what I wrote that set Bobby off, exactly what I wrote when I picked Seton Hall 10th in my Big East preview .

Here is exactly what I wrote: "Bobby Gonzalez has his most talented team to date, and if all goes right the Pirates could make a run at the NCAA tournament. But is it really possible that all goes right? Gonzalez has brought in gifted but questionable-character guys in Keon Lawrence (transfer from Missouri) and Herb Pope (transfer from New Mexico State), and most believe things will blow up, sooner or later. If so, Gonzalez could pay with his job. But if he can somehow blend Jeremy Hazell (22.7 ppg), Robert Mitchell (14.6 ppg and 8.0 rpg) and Eugene Harvey (12.5 ppg) with his newcomers, then this team will finish in the top half of the Big East, for certain."

I've talked to Bobby about those words.

I'll spare you the details of the conversation.

But I would like to remind you -- like I reminded Bobby -- that Herb Pope signed with New Mexico State out of high school in part because so many high-profile coaches (including Bob Huggins and John Calipari, if you can believe that) decided he wasn't worth the risk. Pope once famously punched an AAU coach, and he was arrested for DUI in December 2007 after he was "found unresponsive behind the wheel of a car that was stopped in a traffic lane ... with its engine running and doors locked at 2:27 a.m."

How is that not a questionable-character guy?

Meantime, Jeff Robinson, a transfer from Memphis, was once arrested for "inciting a riot" outside of a club, and the Memphis staff spent most of last November and December trying to push Robinson out of the program because they could no longer stand him. That's reality. And though it is true that Keon Lawrence had no legal problems when I wrote what I wrote, all I can tell you is that his reputation has never been good in basketball circles. It just hasn't. Either way, that's a moot point now because the transfer from Missouri was charged with DUI early Monday after driving the wrong way on the Garden State Parkway and causing a wreck around 3 a.m.

On a school night.

During basketball season.

I mean, are we really arguing whether these are "questionable-character" players?

Really?

Bobby's main complaint was how I wrote that he could pay with his job if things blow up, and I get that from his point of view. It's true that his contract was just extended through the 2015-16 season, and that such suggests he's in no trouble. But lest we forget Kevin Broadus' contract at Binghamton was extended in June through the 2013-14 season, and how do you think that's working out?

Remember, what Broadus did was bring in some questionable-character guys in an attempt to push his program to the next level (sound familiar?), and it worked; Binghamton made the NCAA tournament last season. But then Tiki Mayben got arrested, and Broadus' world started crumbling. Now he's on a leave of absence; he'll never coach at Binghamton again. So I guess what I'm saying is that if Kevin Broadus can pay with his job for having his questionable-character transfers encounter problems, I don't know why Bobby Gonzalez couldn't pay with his job if his questionable-character transfers encounter problems.

That was my point.

I stand by it.

We'll see how it goes.

But so far, thanks to Keon Lawrence, it clearly isn't going too well.