Seton Hall athletic director Joe Quinlan was not pleased that basketball coach Bobby Gonzalez wrote a column for a national newspaper in which he offered tips on how to pick the upcoming NCAA Tournament games.
“It could put the individual and the university in a less than favorable position,” Quinlan told The Post in a telephone interview last night. “That’s the equivalent of bulletin board material.”Quinlan said that Matt Sweeney, Seton Hall’s assistant athletic director for communications, received a request last week from a New York Times reporter asking to speak to Gonzalez after the tournament field was selected Sunday night.
Sweeney confirmed that account and said there was never any mention of Gonzalez’s words being used in a column format. Attempts to reach Gonzalez were not successful.
Times sports editor Tom Jolly said he was surprised to hear there was any misunderstanding.
“We were quite clear,” said Jolly. “In my opinion there was nothing controversial about what he said. We were looking for a coach to give us his opinion on the field and the article accurately reflects that.”