Norm Roberts is one of the lucky guys, and given enough time, the pain of professional disappointment will subside and he’ll remember that most people never achieve their dream job.
Roberts did. For six years he lived his dream, coaching in the footprints of Lapchick and Carnesecca.
Now the dream is over.
It ended yesterday when St. John’s was eliminated from the Big East Conference Tournament in nightmare fashion, dropping a 57-55 gut-buster to Marquette that tagged Roberts with his 100th career loss.
Multiple highly placed sources — in the athletic department, on the board of trustees and in the booster sector — told The Post that Roberts will not be retained for a seventh season.
“He has as much as integrity as anyone I’ve known,” said one source. “He is as classy as anyone I’ve ever known. That’s what makes this so hard.”
When the university announced two years ago that it was rolling over Roberts’ revolving five-year deal, the emphasis shifted from rebuilding the basketball program’s image to improving success on the court. Translation: postseason play.
Although the Red Storm (17-15) posted the most wins in Roberts’ tenure, an NIT berth is highly unlikely said sources well-versed with the NIT’s selection process, which now falls under the auspices of the NCAA. St. John’s is likely the fifth Big East candidate on the NIT selection committee’s board.
“That’s all fair,” said Roberts, when asked if wins and losses should be considered in evaluating a coach. “We’re paid to win games. But we’re also paid for the process of running a program that St. John’s can be proud of and nobody can say we haven’t done that.”
The fall for Roberts (81-100), whose annual package pays him about $650,000 will be lessened by a buyout of $700,000-$800,000, sources said. Roberts’ agent, Dennis Coleman, interrupted a telephone conversation with The Post to say he had to field a call from one of his college basketball coaching clients. He subsequently did not return calls and texts.
When St. John’s hired Roberts, his only previous college head-coaching experience was at Queens College. Now the university will turn its attention to finding a proven winner that can galvanize the program.
Highly placed sources said that Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg, a Long Island native with ties to St. John’s, tops their list of realistic candidates. Greenberg is a two-time ACC Coach of the Year.
Several sources at St. John’s said the university was prepared to offer a long-term (six years), lucrative ($1.5 million annually) deal to the right candidate.
Hofstra coach Tom Pecora, who is highly respected by high school and AAU coaches in the metropolitan area, also is on the Red Storm’s wish list as is Siena coach Fran McCaffery, Iona coach Kevin Willard and Harvard coach Tommy Amaker, the former Seton Hall and Michigan coach.
Sources told The Post that former St. John’s and Knicks star Mark Jackson has reached out through third parties to gauge if there is interest on the university’s behalf. Although he has name recognition, he has no head-coaching experience.
lenn.robbins@nypost.com