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Bobby Gonzalez

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Bobby Gonzalez

Bobby Gonzalez is the former head coach of the Seton Hall University Pirates men's basketball team. Gonzalez was previously the head coach at Manhattan College. He is well known for his fiery personality on and off the court.

Gonzalez had previously been an assistant under Pete Gillen at Xavier, Providence and Virginia, serving as one of Gillen's top recruiters.[1]

Gonzalez also has experience coaching with USA Basketball. He was an assistant coach with the 2005 USA World University Games Team that won a gold medal in Turkey. He was also a court coach for the 2002 USA Junior National Team Trials.

A native of Binghamton, New York; Gonzalez graduated from Buffalo State College in 1986.[2]

Manhattan College

Gonzalez had a career record of 129-77 in seven seasons at Manhattan, including two trips to the NCAA Tournament. He took the Jaspers to the 2nd Round of the 2004 NCAA Tournament after the team defeated the fifth seeded Florida Gators in the first round 75-60.

Despite his success, Gonzalez was somewhat difficult to get along with. He often personally called beat reporters to criticize their coverage. At one point, several sports editors told athletic director Bob Byrnes they'd stop covering the Jaspers if something wasn't done. He also had numerous clashes with secretaries, security guards and his own assistants. In an interview with The New York Times, Byrnes said that it got to the point he could only handle Gonzalez "by threat."[3][4]

Several of Gonzalez' former players thought he pushed them too hard, and at least two felt they were playing more to burnish Gonzalez' resume than anything else.[2]

Seton Hall University

Gonzalez was hired by Seton Hall in April 2006, largely because of his recruiting pedigree and his ties to high school coaches in New York City (which is 14 miles east of Seton Hall's campus).[1]

Gonzalez's first season as Seton Hall coach ended with an under .500 record overall. The season ended with a 13-16 record and a record of 4-12 in the Big East. Seton Hall finished 13th out of 16 in the Big East and missed the Big East tournament for the first time ever.

Gonzalez's second season at Seton Hall was more successful than his first. The Pirates finished the regular season with 7 Big East wins and 17 wins overall. They qualified for the Big East tournament for the first time under Gonzalez as the 11 seed against the 6 seed Marquette Golden Eagles. Marquette won the game 67-54 to advance to the quarterfinals against the University of Notre Dame. The Pirates missed out on an NIT bid and rejected an invitation to the inaugural College Basketball Invitational.

Gonzalez's fiery personality reared its head following the Pirates last second loss to in-state rivals Rutgers on March 9, 2008. His criticism of the officiating resulted in a suspension for the first Big East game of the 08-09 season.[5]

Gonzalez led the 2009-10 Pirates to postseason play for the first time in four years, with a berth in the NIT. Within six minutes into the Pirates' first-round matchup with Texas Tech, forward Herb Pope knocked Texas Tech's Darko Cohadarevic to the floor with a punch to the groin. After officials reviewed the play on the replay monitor, Pope was ejected from the game, which Seton Hall subsequently lost 87-69. Gonzalez received his seventh technical of the season with 11 minutes to go.[6] The next day, Gonzalez was fired. School officials stated that despite the team's on-court improvement, he was not a good representative for Seton Hall. Seton hall University president Monsignor Robert Sheeran said the events of the previous night were "a crystallization of all that was really wrong" with the program under Gonzalez' watch.[7]

Earlier in the year, concerns had been raised that Gonzalez was building his program around high-risk transfers. No one in what turned out to be Gonzalez' last recruiting class had qualified academically. Pope had previously been arrested for DUI and underage drinking while at New Mexico State. Another transfer, Keon Lawrence, was suspended for a month in October 2009 for driving the wrong way on the Garden State Parkway and causing a two-car accident.[2] According to Times columnist George Vescey, the large number of questionable recruits was ultimately more than Seton Hall officials could tolerate.[8]

Head coaching record

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Manhattan (MAAC) (1999–2006)
1999–00 Manhattan 12–15 9–9 6th
2000–01 Manhattan 14–15 11–7 6th
2001–02 Manhattan 20–9 12–6 3rd NIT First Round
2002–03 Manhattan 23–7 14–4 1st NCAA First Round
2003–04 Manhattan 25–6 16–2 1st NCAA Second Round
2004–05 Manhattan 15–14 9–9 5th
2005–06 Manhattan 20–11 14–4 1st NIT Second Round
Manhattan: 129–77 85–41
Seton Hall (Big East Conference) (2006–2010)
2006–07 Seton Hall 13–16 4–12 13th
2007–08 Seton Hall 17–15 7–11 11th
2008–09 Seton Hall 17–15 7–11 11th
2009–10 Seton Hall 19–13 9–9 10th NIT First Round
Seton Hall: 66–59 27–43
Total: 195–136

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

References

  1. ^ a b Caldwell, Dave. Seton Hall to Hire Gonzalez. New York Times, 2006-04-07.
  2. ^ a b c Armstong, Kevin; Thamel, Pete. Seton Hall’s Bobby Gonzalez Is a Divisive Figure in the Big East. New York Times, 2010-03-08.
  3. ^ Thamel, Pete; Armstrong, Kevin. At Manhattan College, the Memories of Gonzalez Are Not So Fond. New York Times, 2010-03-08.
  4. ^ Thamel, Pete. Q. and A. With Manhattan Athletic Director Bob Byrnes. New York Times, 2010-03-08.
  5. ^ Thomas, Katie. Seton Hall Suspends Gonzalez for a Game. New York Times, 2008-03-20.
  6. ^ Pelzman, J.P. Seton Hall ousted from NIT by Texas Tech after Herb Pope's early ejection. The Record, 2010-03-17.
  7. ^ Pelzman, J.P. Seton Hall fires basketball coach Bobby Gonzalez. The Record, 2010-03-18.
  8. ^ Vescey, George. In the End, Conduct Is What Counts. New York Times, 2010-03-18.
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