Its a long road back

This is a post from my blog, The Seton Hall blog

People that thought Kevin Willard would come in and get instant results were wrong in expecting that. It just doesn't happen. Unless you are a John Calipari and can get a #1 recruiting class, you are not going to be able to come to a program and instantly be successful. Just look at Mick Cronin and the University of Cincinatti as an example. Cronin took over a team that was in tatters and was entering the Big East. His 1st year he went 11-19. His 2nd year he went 13-17. His 3rd year he went 18-12. None of those years did they make the post-season. His 4th season they went 19-16 and won an NIT game. This year, an incredible 26-8 and took his team to the 2nd round of the NCAA tournamnet. His teams improved every season. He was dicisplined and installed a system and stuck with it. He kept preaching defense and being smart. He kept working on recruiting. He established a recruiting bed in a location full of talent and stuck with it. He recruited New Jersey. He got assistants that believed what he believed and he had a school that cared more about its image than instant success. All these things lead to this incredbile season. Coach Kevin Willard is essentially in the same spot as Mick Cronin was 5 years ago. He took over a program, that while it was filled with talent, it was undisicplined talent that were all me 1st players. He has already began the rebuilding image. It started with the benching of Herb Pope for the 1st half of the Arkansas game. It continued with the dismissal of Keon Lawrence and Jamel Jackson. It is happening right now by recruiting high character and hard working kids. Seton Hall won 13 games this year. Expecting 15 for next year is realistic. If Willard keeps sticking to his system and keeps coaching hard, Seton Hall will continue to improve. If Patrick Hobbs sticks with Willard for 5 to 6 years before expecting great things, Seton Hall can be the next Cincinatti. However, it is not going to happen overnight. It will take days, months, and years to get Seton Hall's image to where it needs to be. It will take years to get Seton Hall into a NCAA tournament staple that we can expect tournament results every year. However, for the next 2 to 4 years just enjoy the ride and hope that Seton Hall sticks with Kevin Willard for as long as it takes.