Boeheim. Catlett. Calhoun.

Which one doesn’t belong?

According to the Big East, they all did. The three were the conference’s only head coaches with more than 20 years of experience and 500 wins. That changed Feb. 14 when Gale Catlett announced his resignation after 30 years of coaching and 24 years with West Virginia.

‘It’s a territory few others have entered,’ Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun said. ‘How many coaches in Division I have (had) 500 or more? Maybe 30 to 35? The longevity he’s had is his real success. Every year he has 19 wins.’

Every year but this one.

Despite being expected to contend for an NCAA berth, the Mountaineers struggled to an 8-15 record before Catlett left. He struggled through a viral infection that forced him to miss two games. The team’s lone Big East win came as he lay in a hospital bed. And he was forced to suspend team captain Lionel Armstead and last year’s starting point guard Tim Lyles (out for the year with a torn ACL) for violating team policy.

‘It’s real tough when you have to go through those things,’ said Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim, who has also battled illness and off-court distractions this year.

Before going to West Virginia, Catlett was an assistant coach at two of college basketball’s powerhouses. He worked under Ted Owens at Kansas and Adolph Rupp at Kentucky. Had he stuck around, one of these jobs likely could have been his. A year later he became head coach at Cincinnati, but his eyes looked further East in 1978 — toward home — and focused on Morgantown, W.Va.

Gone were the days of his youth, when West Virginians raved about Jerry West, and he played alongside Rod Thorn on an East Coast power. When he looked at his alma mater, he saw a mediocre team whose 10-year record had fallen to 116-121.

And he knew it was time to go home.

In 24 years, Catlett went 439-276 in a state people made fun of — a place where few All-Americans ever ventured. In fact, Catlett never coached an NBA player.

‘He never had top-of-the-line kids,’ Boeheim said. ‘He had good players and developed them. He managed to have a good career without getting the high school All-Americans.’

But Catlett wanted it that way. He never wanted a star.

‘He coached best when he had a lot of role players,’ said Bob Hertzel, a reporter for the Morgantown Dominion Post. ‘He’d press and rotate them in and out. Stars wouldn’t have wanted to come out.’

Catlett brought West Virginia back to respectability and to postseason appearances in 16 of the last 20 seasons, but most importantly he brought them pride.

‘A lot of people say things about him because he was a loner,’ Calhoun said. ‘He was never at all the meetings in New York City. It just wasn’t him. He’d golf with a few of his West Virginia guys and that was it.’

Outsiders considered Catlett overbearing and high on himself. He was one of a few coaches who singlehandedly started a rivalry, as he did in 1982 by calling Pittsburgh’s basketball program mediocre. After committing the coaching faux pas, Catlett’s 26-2 team was defeated in the Eastern Eight Conference Championship by the Panthers.

‘He was arrogant and condescending,’ Hertzel said. ‘But he had a lot of pride in this state.’

It was that pride that eventually told him it was time to go.

Hertzel said it was evident that Catlett had reached his physical and mental limits after his final game, a loss against Virginia Tech. In the battle for last place in the Big East, the Mountaineers lost by 15 on their home floor. After the game, Catlett remarked that his players no longer had pride in the blue and gold uniforms of West Virginia.

After years of being misunderstood by the media but understood by his players, Catlett finally found a group he couldn’t comprehend.

‘He just couldn’t communicate with the young guys this year,’ Hertzel said. ‘They really got to him. I wouldn’t say there was open defiance, but they didn’t take anything he said to heart. They did things he never would have stood for years ago. They just seemed to quit on him. There’s a time when we all should go.’

Are you kidding me?

n

Remember when the Big East was known for toughness? Seton Hall coach Louis Orr’s main goal this year was to foster a caring family environment, while Rutgers’ coach Gary Waters has only one rule for the rest of the season — love each other a little more each day. Somebody’s certainly been taking Valentine’s Day a little too seriously.

n

What happened to Boston College? The Eagles looked poised to stake their claim to being the conference’s best with a 10-point lead and 2:47 remaining against division-leading UConn. Connecticut tied the game with pressure defense, winning in overtime 79-77. Two nights later the Eagles missed their first 10 shots in a 71-62 loss to St. John’s.

Numbers never lie

n

14-3

That’s Rutgers’ record at the Louis Brown Athletic Center and it has the Scarlet Knights guaranteeing a win over Seton Hall to push their home record to 15-3. Last year, the Scarlet Knights won 11 games the entire season.

n

12

There’s something wrong with thieving monks, but for some reason the Providence Friars are the lords of larceny. John Linehan, who wears No. 12, needs 12 steals to take the NCAA career record from former Friar Eric Murdock.

n

27.7

Rutgers guard Jerome Coleman’s averaged nearly 28 points in his past three games against ranked teams. Next up? The Big East’s highest-ranked team, Pittsburgh.

On tap

Rutgers at No. 11 Pittsburgh

Thursday, 7:30 p.m.

Rutgers may be 14-3 at home, but the only teams it’s beaten on the road are Fairleigh Dickinson (4-22), LaSalle (12-14) and Big Ease cellar-dweller West Virginia (8-16). Not good.

UConn at Boston College

Monday, 7 p.m.

Boston College gets a rematch after UConn’s stunning comeback last weekend. The Eagles probably need to win the rest of their games to make the NCAA Tournament, but with Troy Bell, they’re one of the few teams with enough talent to do it.

Yup, he said it

St. John’s coach Mike Jarvis on Andre Stanley, the only walk-on starter in the conference. Before the season, Stanley got to practice by waking up at 5 a.m., taking a train, transferring to a bus and then walking to the gym. All this to stay close to his mom, who had a leg amputated last year.

‘With a story like that, all Dre had to do was walk and chew gum and I’d have put him on the team.’

-30-

Published on February 19, 2002 at 12:00 pm