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Illustration by Cody Angell
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Arizona Daily Wildcat
Thursday Apr. 11, 2002
Tuesday, Oregon State ended its search for a head basketball coach when it hired Arizona assistant coach Jay John to replace the departed Ritchie McKay, who left to coach New Mexico.
OSU signed John to his first NCAA Division I head coaching contract for five years at $250,000, with $100,000 in incentives available based on his success.
The 43-year-old John brings 14 years of Division I experience as an assistant at Arizona - where he coached and recruited under the tutelage of Lute Olson for the last four years - as well as Oregon and Butler. He also spent two years as an assistant and head coach in the community college ranks at New York's Jamestown Community College.
But John faces a daunting task in taking control of an OSU program that hasn't had a winning season in 12 years. The decade-long losing tradition does not sit well with the Beaver fans and alumni, as the program - the 10th-winningest in Division I history - used to be ranked among the nation's elite, during legendary head coach Ralph Miller's tenure. Miller's teams boasted such stars as Gary Payton and A.C. Green.
McKay's two years as head coach were a rocky time for the Beaver program. The team posted a record of 12-17 overall and finished ninth in the Pac-10 with just four conference wins last season. During McKay's two years, the team was 22-37.
Can John bring back the winning tradition at Oregon State?
Turnaround not likely
Oregon State athletic director Mitch Barnhart made a good choice by hiring Jay John, and I'm sure the Beavers will be somewhat successful under his tenure. But anybody who's expecting John to bring back the glory days the program enjoyed under Ralph Miller is sorely mistaken.
I don't think Jesus could make OSU one of the elite Pacific 10 Conference programs again. This is a program that hasn't had a winning season since the other George Bush was in office. Ritchie McKay, who left to coach New Mexico, mustered a 22-37 record in two seasons marred by bickering and departures among his players.
McKay brought four years of head-coaching experience to OSU. First, he resurrected a Portland State team from scratch; then, he brought Colorado State to respectability.
John, though he's certainly paid his dues over 15 years of assistant coaching, has never been a head coach. Now, he faces a challenge even tougher than the one McKay faced at Portland State: to take a group of players somebody else has coached and recruited and to make them into winners.
McKay couldn't do it at OSU, and I don't see anything on John's resumŽ that leads me to believe he will be much more successful.
John will probably bring them back to .500, but don't expect to see the Beavers near the top of the Pac-10 standings anytime soon.
In his first OSU press conference, John said he was confident, claiming, "We will win."
That's what Ritchie McKay thought.
Justin St.Germain is a junior majoring in creative writing and English. He can be reached at sports@wildcat.arizona.edu.
Enough, enough, enough
All right, enough about Jay John going to the Beavers and resurrecting their program. Enough, enough, enough. I have heard numerous people over the past couple days who think that John will be the difference-maker at OSU. The funny thing is that before he was hired in Corvallis, no one knew who the hell Jay John was anyway.
Everyone knows who Josh Pastner is, and the more dedicated fans know Jim Rosborough, but I bet 99 percent of the students here couldn't pick John out of a lineup.
From what I know about him, he is a solid recruiter and good at coaching players who play under the basket, but that doesn't make him a good head coach.
Corvallis is no Tucson, and it's not even Eugene, Ore. - the Beavers' in-state rival. It's hard to get people to play in a town where there are less people in than were in my Comm 101 class last semester.
It's going to be hard to bring quality players to Corvallis. Just ask Dennis Erickson, the Beaver football coach.
The Beavers were a surprise team two years ago and choked last year. The reason the football team was so good was because he brought in junior college players.
The problem with ju-co players is that they can only play for two seasons.
John might have a good season here and there, but Ritchie McKay would not have left Corvallis to go to, of all places, Albuquerque without reason.
Let's be honest with ourselves here: OSU might have been good with Gary Payton, Brent Barry and A.C. Green, and is actually the 10th winningest program in Division I history, but 12 years of obscurity erase the past.
Maxx Wolfson is a journalism junior. He can be reached at sports@wildcat.arizona.edu.
John won't be Ericksonesque
It's nice to see a member of one of college basketball's most capable staffs get the chance to run his own program.
While Jay John will not do what Dennis Erickson quickly accomplished in turning around the Beavers' football program and taking them on the verge of a national title, he is a great fit for OSU and will make the Beavers a lot better - though it's not likely they could get much worse.
While Gary Payton was perfecting his craft as 'the Glove' in the late '80s, he apparently snatched the winning tradition from Corvallis with his departure. The Beavers have finished under .500 for 12 straight seasons.
Yet, John is a proven recruiter and brings with him plenty of Pac-10 experience. After two one-year stints as an assistant at the other school in Oregon, John has flourished during the past four seasons while teaching at Lute Olson's side.
John's greatest impact at Arizona was felt in his work with big men. He will inherit a team returning its two leading scorers - Phillip Ricci and Brian Jackson - both of whom are power forwards. Don't expect John to be able to transform either of them into Pac-10 first-team performers as he did with A.J. Bramlett or Michael Wright, but they will help the Beavers boast a vastly improved frontcourt next season.
Beaver fans should expect a steady yearly improvement from its hoops team and an eventual return to postseason play under John. In the meantime, don't be surprised next year when the Wildcats' annual Pac-10 road game debacle comes during its trip to Corvallis.
Dan Komyati is a journalism senior. He can be reached at sports@wildcat.arizona.edu.
OSU post doorway to greener pastures
OSU stepping-stone for John
The likelihood is that Jay John will not have much more success than his predecessor Ritchie McKay did with the Oregon State program. One of the most difficult positions to start out with is a head coaching spot at a lower-tier school in a major conference like the Pacific 10. Most reclamation efforts begin with in-state talent, but John will have difficulty selling his program right next door (figuratively) to an Oregon program coming off a regular-season conference title and an Elite 8.berth.
That being said, John won't need to do much for his hiring to be considered a success. At Arizona, he proved himself to be both great at working with big men - his work with A.J. Bramlett and this year's freshmen being the best examples of that - and an apt recruiter, proving instrumental at landing Jason Gardner and Channing Frye. Furthermore, the Wildcats have recruited the Pacific Northwest well, and John may be able to leverage his time at Arizona and one year on the Ducks' staff into some minor recruiting miracles up there.
All that said, the best yardstick for John's success as a head coach may not be Oregon State's record during his tenure, but how quickly he can land a better job. Usually, positions like the one he has just taken are reserved for younger, up-and-coming coaches. John isn't a kid anymore, and his window to move into an elite coaching job is closing fast. If he can leverage his pedigree and whatever success he has with the Beavers into a better job, his time at OSU will have been a success.
Connor Doyle is a journalism senior. He can be reached at sports@wildcat.arizona.edu.
Beavers in good hands
The hiring of Jay John at Oregon State will have major implications for the Pac-10 for years to come. The effects will not be seen immediately but surely will show up eventually.
The Beavers will thrive as much as possible in the given situation. The program likely won't be in the class of Arizona or Stanford, but OSU will make things interesting, just as Southern California and Oregon have done recently.
John is a recruiting guru, and it would not be surprising if he even steals a couple of preps away from Lute and Company in the near future.
If John is able to implement some of the tools he picked up while in Tucson, he will no doubt be able to produce winning teams.
The hiring in Corvallis also alters the future plans of those in Wildcat country. Any coaching strategy that has been used at Arizona is now in the hands of the enemy, and a Pac-10 foe at that.
On another note, John's hiring will have a major effect on the future of Wildcat fan-favorite Josh Pastner. The Texas native is now a full-fledged member of the UA staff, a definite step up from his previous position.
Pastner is just 24, and it would be a surprise if he was not a head coach somewhere by the time he turns 30. That is, unless the good folks in the UA athletic department convince him to stick around and be groomed as the next in line to Lute Olson.
Brett Fera is a business sophomore. He can be reached at sports@wildcat.arizona.edu.
