St. Louis Billikens Aim High -- For Now

It is now going on year 20 and 4 coaches since St. Louis University President, Rev. Lawrence Biondi's goal for having a perennial top-50 basketball program. Heck, that goal was listed in the Billiken press release when Brad Sodenberg was suddenly fired in mid-April.

It was determined that a coaching change is necessary if the University is to achieve its goal of consistently having one of the nation's top basketball programs.

There was something somewhat refreshing in the blatant honesty in the press release for firing the coach.

Because the success of the new Chaifetz Arena is largely contingent on the success of the men's basketball team, it is imperative that the team be led by a coach who we believe can establish a program that consistently vies for conference championships and engages in postseason play. The new head coach also must be committed to the University's history of following NCAA regulations and graduating its student-athletes.

Note, of course, that wins come first. The rest comes under, "also." The reason for the firing is clearly there. Money. The Billikens are moving into a new on campus arena and having 50% or less capacity as it has been at the Scottrade Arena won't cut it. They need real revenue that comes from a packed house.

Now you know why they are going after a name like Majerus. They need him. He's a name that generates instant credibility and buzz about a program that has made itself a nomad. Having been in 6 conferences in the past 33 years -- Missouri Valley until 1974; Metro to 1982; the now Horizon League (previously called the Midwestern Collegiate) through 1991; the Great Midwest/Conference USA (C-USA was a merger of the Great Midwest and the Metro) until 2004; and now in the Atlantic 10.

Really, the school wonders why it isn't achieving, and yet it keeps hopping conferences and eliminating rivals. It is now in the A-10 where the common theme may be the large contingent of Catholic/Jesuit schools (Xavier, Duquesne, Fordham, St. Joe's, Dayton, LaSalle and St. Bonaventure), but no geographic ties. No real rival, and no stability.

Well, there's another reason for the failure to achieve at St. Louis. Generally being cheap. They had lousy facilities and put no money into recruiting.

SLU spent $2.1 million on men's basketball for the 2005-06 season, ranked eighth among the Atlantic 10's 14 schools. Temple led the way with $3.8 million in expenses, and St. Bonaventure was last at $1.3 million.

SLU annually spends more on men's basketball than most Division I schools without a football team (Division I-AAA), according to Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act data. However, when it comes to recruiting, SLU spends less on men's sports - the majority on basketball - than the average Division I-AAA school.

So they spend about average in the conference and get average results. Considering the lousy facilities and an off-campus site where they play, it could be argued that St. Louis has been overachieving.

The question remains, though, will Majerus come? He's talked about it before, but keeps backing away. It seems at times that Majerus is more interested in seeing his name mentioned, his ego stroked and hearing and reading about what a good coach he was.

Yet, at this point he shows little interest in actually coaching. Judging by his size when shown on (wide-angle) camera on ESPN telecasts, he's done little to actually address the health conditions that plagued him at Utah.