Gonzalez Out as Coach at Seton Hall

The most embarrassing night of the season for the Seton Hall basketball team turned out to be the last full day Bobby Gonzalez was its head coach.

Gonzalez and the school parted ways Wednesday after four seasons. A report in that morning's Newark, N.J. Star-Ledger said that the school forced Gonzalez out, but the official announcement later in the afternoon made no such distinction. Seton Hall law school dean Patrick Hobbs, who has overseen the athletic department since last July, made the move official less than 24 hours after the Pirates lost at home to Texas Tech, 87-69, in the first round of the NIT.

The short NIT trip concluded the fourth season under Gonzalez in which the Big East school failed to make the NCAA tournament. He had been hired from Manhattan in 2006 to replace Louis Orr, who had just taken Seton Hall to the 2006 NCAAs. Before this season, he signed a contract extension through the 2014-15 season.

In the loss to Texas Tech Tuesday night, forward Herb Pope, the most scrutinized of a number of risky transfers brought in by Gonzalez, was ejected just five and a half minutes into the game after twice punching Darko Cohadarevic in the groin during play. Gonzalez also picked up a technical foul in the second half.

Hobbs' explanation for Gonzalez's departure appeared to factor in the ugly ending to Seton Hall's 19-13 season.

"Performance and success are not measured solely by wins and losses, but also in the conduct of those associated with the program," Hobbs said in a statement from the school. "We have expectations as to how our coaches and players will conduct themselves, and they are expected to treat everyone they interact with, whether officials, the press or our students, with the utmost respect, maturity and professionalism. Those core expectations must be met."

Added Seton Hall president Msgr. Robert Sheeran in the statement: "It is essential that all University leaders embody the ideals that make us all so proud of Seton Hall.'' Also quoted in the statement was athletic director Joe Quinlan: "It became clear that a change is necessary to fulfill our University expectations."

In what may have been either a bizarre coincidence or another factor in Gonzalez's departure, Robert Mitchell, who had been kicked off the team on Sunday, had been arrested Tuesday in Newark on charges of kidnapping, robbery, burglary and possession of a weapon, county law enforcement officials told the New York Times. Mitchell, the Times reported, was accused along with another person of breaking into a home, duct-taping eight people and stealing cash and personal items.

Mitchell had been one of several transfers, mostly from the New York City-north Jersey region, brought in by Gonzalez to jump-start the program. But last Wednesday, after Seton Hall lost to Notre Dame in the second round of the Big East tournament and ended its NCAA hopes, the junior forward criticized Gonzalez, telling the Bergen County, N.J. Record and Herald News, "It's hard to stay consistent as a player," and adding, seemingly implying that Gonzalez makes knee-jerk decisions, "There are people three rows behind the bench who are coaching the team."

Gonzalez told reporters that he had removed Mitchell from the team when he did because, "When you can go into a postseason, you don't want any malcontent or cancerous-type stuff.''

On the eve of the Big East tournament, the Times ran a lengthy profile of Gonzalez and his tenure at Seton Hall, describing him as "one of the most divisive and volatile characters in the conference.'' It included details of his feuds with fellow Big East coaches and media, of a sideline temper that earned him a one-game suspension at the start of last season, and the questionable transfers, including Pope (who had previously been arrested for driving under the influence and also had been shot at a house party in his senior year of high school) and guard Keon Lawrence, from Missouri, who was charged in a drunken-driving incident last November, before his first game at his new school, and was suspended for a month.

Seton Hall began this season 8-0, and while it finished 9-9 in the Big East and lost critical games down the stretch to cost itself an NCAA berth, it did beat three eventual teams that got bids to the field of 65, including Louisville and Pittsburgh in consecutive games in late January.

At the time, in an interview with FanHouse, Gonzalez relentlessly defended his players and their backgrounds while admitting, "I took a lot of chances, at-risk kids.'' He also said that he was prepared for the pressure of producing after four years of controversy and contentiousness.

"I don't mind that,'' he said. "I can take the heat; I'm a big boy. I know where I'm coaching, the Big East. You've got to win.''

Gonzalez's Seton Hall record was 66-59, 29-45 in the Big East. The school said a national search for a replacement will be conducted.