Ex-Stanford coach Trent Johnson was introduced as the new men’s basketball coach of LSU today. On many occasions after Stanford’s lost to Texas, Johnson had indicated he wanted to return next season. So this move comes as a bit of a surprise.
Did his NCAA tournament tirade and ejection sour Stanford and behind closed doors not want Johnson back? If so that is a pretty weak excuse for asking a top coach to look for another position. And Johnson would have had to be on a very short string. But, I doubt it. Was Johnson not happy with his current position? I mean he is coaching in the Pac-10 on one of the top three programs in the conference. Was it simply the money? It has been noted the LSU position would pay nearly twice as much as Johnson’s current deal with Stanford. But if the Cardinal really wanted him to say they would likely make some sort of counter offer to keep him.
All that speculation aside I think Johnson’s quote at the LSU press conferences sums it up perfectly, if not so directly.
“The opportunity to recruit the best student-athletes across the country and have the opportunity to compete for championship year in and year out … that is the goal,” said Johnson, who was 80-48 in four seasons at Stanford. “We have an excellent chance to get this thing turned around soon.”
Hmm, is it me or does that comment come off as a indirect shot at Stanford’s program? Translation:
I felt handcuffed at Stanford by the extremely high academic standards and that limited my ability to recruit the best players in the state of California let alone the country. We got lucky getting the Lopez brothers but they’re gone now. Since we don’t play in the Ivy league with the other “smart” schools I don’t feel we can compete for a championship every year.
Whether Trent Johnson felt that way is likely confined to the inner workings of his mind since publicizing statements like that would hurt his image. So I said it for him. Sure my interpretation may piss off some people off, but I don’t think that reasoning is out of the question. And certainly not far from reality considering Stanford’s only national championship came in 1942 and their only other Final Four appearance was in 1998.
