Louis Orr wins more than he loses. He doesn't lie, cheat or steal. Doesn't curse. Drink and drive? He doesn't even drink.
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| Seton Hall's Louis Orr has a record of 69-60 since joining the program. (Getty Images) |
Orr, who has a 69-60 record in five-plus years at Seton Hall, is the litmus test that should shame college basketball.
What do we want from our college basketball coaches, anyway? We want a great man who runs a great program -- yes-yes, sure-sure. But beyond that, if faced with an either/or choice, which would we choose? A great man? Or a great program?
That is the question Seton Hall will ask itself after this season. The Pirates are 6-2, but that .750 winning percentage won't last. As Seton Hall's winning percentage drops, the heat on Orr will rise.
The Big East is too strong, too deep -- and Seton Hall is a good program, not a great one. Seton Hall won 21 games in 2003-04, beating Arizona in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, but true greatness happens at places like Connecticut and Louisville, Syracuse and Pittsburgh. Places where the commitment to winning big matches the expectations of winning big.
Seton Hall has the expectations, but lacks the commitment. In the 16-team Big East, Seton Hall is near the bottom in tradition, facilities, salaries and budget. There is only one Big East job clearly worse than Seton Hall, and that's South Florida.
That is not a debatable point. Seton Hall plays in a cavernous, off-campus NBA arena -- and a bad NBA arena, at that. The Meadowlands is in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by swamps and awful traffic, and is so big that it swallows what would be a solid college crowd of 8,000. Put it this way: How many schools consider their building to be a recruiting dis-advantage? Seton Hall does. Seton Hall always has.
Still, Louis Orr has won more than he has lost. And while his Big East record of 30-39 falls below the breakeven mark, it still rises above four of the five coaches who preceded him.
Not even P.J. Carlesimo, who led Seton Hall to the 1989 NCAA championship game -- with Australian mercenary Andrew Gaze, who didn't complete a single class while on campus -- exceeded Orr's .435 winning percentage in Big East play. Only Tommy Amaker, who went 35-39 (.473) in four Big East seasons, could do that.
And Amaker was so thrilled with his prospects that he left Seton Hall in 2001 for Michigan, which was in the middle of one of the most outrageous booster-fueled scandals in college basketball history. That's how bad the Seton Hall job is.
But enough about Seton Hall. What of Louis Orr? He has his limitations, absolutely. For one thing, he's not a Jersey guy. He's soft-spoken and humble, not about to wow the hard New York media with fast talk and funny jokes. He's openly religious, another quality that doesn't play in the big city.
For another, he could be loyal to a fault. Twice, Orr has declined to hire the ultimate Jersey guy, popular ex-Pirates assistant Fred Hill -- first in 2001 when he brought his staff from Siena, and again this spring when he promoted George Jackson to assistant. Hill, who had been recruiting New Jersey for Villanova, went to Rutgers.
Seton Hall fans were furious. The media was incredulous. Bad combination. On July 2, the New York Post reported that boosters were preparing to buy out Orr's contract, noting that "the coach may be gone by the weekend."
Orr didn't go anywhere. The story was wrong. But two days later the vital summer recruiting period began, with Orr's status discussed from the ABCD Camp in Jersey to the Nike Camp in Indianapolis. Clearly the Post story was planted by someone wanting to hurt Orr. Perhaps an angry booster. Perhaps -- my guess -- a competing Big East program.
Still, Orr has three recruits lined up. Top 100 recruit Malcolm Grant is signed for next fall, though Grant has made it clear he's coming to Seton Hall only if Orr is waiting for him. Orr also has commitments from two players in the Class of 2007.
But Orr's stubborn, with a John Chaney-like streak when it comes to disciplining his team. Seton Hall players are routinely suspended for a game for "undisclosed reasons" that typically are a skipped class or a late arrival for a team meal. Most programs would make a player run extra wind sprints -- which would be best for Orr's job security -- but he must feel that a game suspension is best for the player.
Not Arizona, and barely UTEP. Arizona's Hassan Adams was arrested for disorderly conduct, while UTEP's Jason Williams punched out a teammate, breaking his jaw. Adams won't miss any games. Williams is back after missing one.
Last season, Orr sat junior guard J.R. Morris for the final seven games for academic reasons. Morris was eligible, but Orr was trying to get through to him before he jeopardized his eligibility for the 2005-06 season. The message failed. Morris entered the 2005 NBA Draft. And Seton Hall lost six of those seven games to finish 12-16.
To put that in perspective, remember that Connecticut suspended All-America point guard candidate Marcus Williams -- also for seven games -- after his arrest on felony charges. UConn is a great program, but its coach is not a great man.
Which way does Seton Hall want to go?
