Editor's Note: As ASU continues its search for its next head coach, writers for The State Press pitched their best ideas on who should replace Herb Sendek. Read others here.
Here's why Justin Toscano thinks former St. John's coach Steve Lavin should be the next to take over the Sun Devils:
A much-needed culture change for ASU basketball could, and should, come in the form of ex-St. John's head coach Steve Lavin, who has proven himself throughout his career.
Lavin coached at UCLA from 1996 to 2003 and at St. John's from 2010 until he recently agreed to part ways with the Red Storm. He is 237-150 in his career, including a 145-78 record at UCLA. In addition, he is 11-8 in the NCAA tournament, including two trips to the big dance with St. John's and five Sweet 16 appearances with UCLA. When given the talent, Lavin has produced a great product on the court.
If ASU basketball wants a culture change, which it should, Lavin is the guy because he's proven himself when it comes to turning around a program. Before he arrived, St. John's was 81-101 in six seasons under Norm Roberts.
His two NCAA tournament appearances, one of which was his first season at the helm, are impressive considering the gauntlet that used to be the Big East conference. His teams competed with old Big East powerhouses like UCONN, Pitt, Syracuse, Louisville, Villanova and Notre Dame. Also worth noting is the fact that the Big East had seven ranked teams in the 2010-11 season, one of which was No. 18 St. John's (21-12), which had gone 17-16 the year before.
Simply put, Lavin took over a more difficult situation at St. John's than he would take over at ASU, but made the most out of it. If his team succeeded in a tough Big East, one has to wonder what he could do in a Pac-12 conference that boasts maybe 3-4 good teams per year.
The most important aspect of Lavin's career is how he maximized talent. He had a good team at UCLA and it showed with the five Sweet 16 appearances. All it would take is a few years of good ASU basketball to make the biggest school in the nation a more prominent destination for recruits — Lavin is the perfect guy to lead ASU back to the NCAA tournament, which will slowly start to turn the program around.
Although he should be, Steve Lavin may not be on ASU's radar of seriously-considered targets.
First off, it appears that Jeff Capel is "the guy" at this point in the coaching search. If Capel is the target this early, ASU may not be seriously considering many more targets and with Lavin only leaving St. John's on March 24, he may have joined the party too late.
In addition, Lavin is 50, which is somewhat older than all of the other coaching candidates. Although it should not matter, ASU may take age into consideration because Capel is 40, Buffalo's Bobby Hurley is 43 and Memphis's Josh Pastner is 37.
If ASU is looking for a young coach to turn around the program, Lavin isn't the guy. However, no one can deny that he hasn't proven he can turn around a program because he did so in Queens, New York, at St. John's. Lavin took a low-profile program to the tournament twice, but when he had the talent during his time at UCLA, he did even better. The five Sweet 16 appearances in five seasons at UCLA and 237-150 career record also speak for themselves — that's called winning consistently, which is what ASU basketball needs .
Reach the reporter at Justin.Toscano@asu.edu or follow @justintoscano3 on Twitter.
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