An ex-Red Storm coach’s days are numbered at his latest coaching stop.
After an 11-17 start, San Diego announced they will part ways with head coach Steve Lavin at the end of this season. Lavin will still coach the team in their remaining three regular-season games, the WCC tournament, and any potential postseason. He had an overall record of 46-79 in four seasons with the Toreros.
Following a seven-year absence from coaching in which he spent as a college basketball broadcaster with ESPN, Lavin was hired by San Diego ahead of the 2022-23 season. In Lavin’s first year with the Toreros, San Diego went 11-20 and was led on the court by St. John’s transfer Marcellus Earlington, who played for the Johnnies from 2019-2021. As a COVID fifth-year senior, Earlington paced the team with 17.3 points per game and earned All-WCC Second Team recognition.
“I’m grateful for our student-athletes’ efforts in representing this university in an exemplary manner,” Lavin said in a statement. “Additionally, it was a blessing to learn from my fellow coaching colleagues and their respective teams. I’ll always be indebted to my talented, hardworking staff. Last but not least, a tip of the cap to our ‘True Blue’ loyal Torero fans.”
The program appeared to be on an upward trajectory in his second season, going 18-15 in the 2023-24 campaign and finishing fifth in the WCC, but that would be the only winning season in Lavin’s stint with the Toreros. Over the next two seasons, they went a combined 17-44 and are on track to finish no better than 10th in the conference for a second straight year. Last week, leading scorer Ty-Laur Johnson left the program after only 23 games played.
Over his career, Steve Lavin amassed a record of 283-229 across stops with UCLA, St. John’s, and San Diego. Lavin made eight NCAA Tournament appearances, one Elite Eight, four Sweet Sixteens, and won one conference regular season championship in his first season with UCLA in 1996-97. He was also an assistant coach for UCLA when they won the NCAA Division I national championship in 1995.
Lavin coached at St. John’s for five seasons from 2010 to 2015, leading the program to three 20-win seasons and a pair of NCAA tournament appearances in his first and final years in Queens. Legendary Purdue head coach Gene Keady, who served as a mentor for Lavin when he began his career as an assistant, joined Lavin’s staff for his Red Storm tenure. When Lavin arrived in Queens, he helped snap a nine-year NCAA tournament drought, the program’s longest in the modern era that began in 1985.
St. John’s parted ways with Lavin at the end of the 2014-15 season and hired program icon Chris Mullin to replace him. The Red Storm only made one NCAA tournament appearance in four seasons with Mullin at the helm.