The coaching carousel has spun quite rapidly around The Burrow the past few years. FAU must be hoping that it finally stops whirling with the arrival of coach Mike Jarvis.
Former head coach Sidney Green was ousted in 2005, once the shimmer from a 2002 Atlantic Sun tournament championship and NCAA Tournament appearance had faded.
Matt Doherty brought a big name to Boca Raton, but quickly bolted to Southern Methodist and a bigger pay check after a semi-successful season in 2005.
Then Doherty’s understudy Rex Walters took the helm for two seasons. His fiery intensity wore thin after a little while and his clashes with players, including red-faced, spit-flying, way-too-public “teaching moments” during timeouts turned the players’ opinion polls against him. He is now the don of the University of San Francisco’s hoops program.
So here we go again. Another season. Another new coach. Another big name. But this one feels different. Mike Jarvis is the total package. He promises the dawn of a new day for FAU men’s basketball.
His experience is nearly legendary, having coached former NBA great Patrick Ewing as a high school student. Jarvis then moved on to successful tenures at Boston University, George Washington and St. John’s.
Meanwhile, Doherty came to FAU three years after his coaching tenure at North Carolina was marred by a player revolt and an awful 2001-02 season. Walters, as a former NBA player, brought basketball IQ, but not coaching and player management chops.
There is a calmness and steadiness to Jarvis. There is a sense that he has a sense of direction for this team.
The hope is that FAU basketball may have finally found its Howard Schnellenberger: someone that can use their name recognition to lead the program into national respectability. Schnellenberger has done it on the grid iron, why not Jarvis on the hardwood?
But just as Schnellenberger came to FAU with a bit of baggage, Jarvis does, too. He was fired by St. John’s amid allegations of team mismanagement and not properly monitoring a situation where a player claimed he was paid by a member of the coaching staff. Jarvis was never found guilty of anything but St. John’s forfeited 43 wins in which the player appeared. The win total has been lopped off the top of Jarvis’ career record.
Jarvis has more to work with than Schnellenberger did when he arrived. The football team started from scratch in 1998 and played its first game in 2001. At the beginning Schnellenberger’s team had no fans, and still has no real home. Jarvis at least has a fan base, albeit a flimsy one, and an on-campus home. FAU Arena is prettier than ever before, with the addition of luxury suites and more chair back seats, new locker rooms, a spruced up lobby and more concession areas.
This team started way back in 1988 and does have some history including that NCAA appearance and near upset of Alabama in 2002. An energized student body that has been coming out to football games in droves should pack home games this season.
No, FAU doesn’t have the frills, traditions and track record of success that Sun Belt powers like Western Kentucky and South Alabama have. But the Owls now have Jarvis, and they’re hoping that he sticks around long enough to make a real difference.
