Column by Chris Graham
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“I’m the coach at Virginia Tech.”
That was Seth Greenberg’s answer over the weekend at the end of an interview on ESPN in which he was trying to sell his Virginia Tech team’s NCAA Tournament hopes to the world to a question about whatever interest he might have in the open St. John’s job.
Interesting choice of words, and all we can do right now is parse them. “I’m the coach at Virginia Tech.” OK for a declarative statement. Could’ve said, “No interest,” or something akin. But no, he said he’s the coach at Virginia Tech.
Ahem, let me go ahead and speculate that Greenberg will take the St. John’s job if offered. The reason: What else can he do in Blacksburg at this point?
I mean, the guy can win 23 games, 10 in the ACC, and still not get an NCAA bid. He can finish in the top four in the toughest conference year-in and year-out in college basketball and have one Big Dance punch ticket to show for it.
Let’s face it – Virginia Tech isn’t going to get any breaks when it comes to the hardwood. The gridiron – sure. Frank Beamer has built a proven winner over the past 20-plus years, and his teams are going to get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to national rankings and postseason considerations.
Virginia Tech basketball may never get there, whereas St. John’s – well, it’s in the Big East, where teams can compile resumes similar to Virginia Tech’s this year and not only get into the tournament but get strong seeds.
Seriously, can you imagine a Big East team with a 23-8 record overall that includes a four-games-over-.500 mark in conference play getting sent to the NIT?
Of course you can’t. Greenberg goes to St. John’s and recruits even just the way he has at Tech, and he’s going to make folks there forget Lou Carnesecca’s sweaters.
And he’s going to be able to outperform what he’s done recruiting at Tech when he’s based in New York. No question about that.
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