Kyle Smith was staying at his father’s house in the small town of Ross, Calif., looking for a job.
The Hamilton (N.Y.) College student saw a flyer posted in town, promoting a basketball camp run by “Cap” Lavin, who unbeknownst to Smith, lived down the block. The future Columbia coach began working at the camp, and in the mornings, he would get a ride from Cap’s son, Steve.
Early on, it became clear what coaching meant to Smith, then a Division III player.
“He had the desire and the drive at a young age to want to be a coach,” said Steve Lavin, the St. John’s coach, then an assistant at Purdue. “ He was someone that didn’t really have the basketball pedigree as a player or having gone to a big time school, but he blazed a trail starting at a young age to pursue wanting to become a head coach, and it’s paid dividends.”
The two worked together several more times, including a junior college camp in Bakersfield, with an unemployed Jamie Dixon.
Smith remembers being stunned. It was 8:30 a.m. and Lavin had dozens of college players doing several different drills without the ball, grabbing virtual rebounds and doing jump stops.
“He’s treating them like fifth graders,” Smith said, “a group of guys who I can’t imagine had any interest doing anything like this, and they’re diving on the floor. I said, ‘This guy could sell ice to Eskimos.’
“He’s just an incredibly positive and enthusiastic leader. You cannot keep the man down. In the camp [he would say], ‘It took one guy to start the wave and you’d get a crowd of 60,000 going.’ That’s kind of his mantra in life. He’s a great ambassador for basketball and he’s always been a really big proponent of me in my career, if I ever had to ask for help. He always makes time for you.”
Lavin and Smith kept in touch and crossed paths several times over the next two decades. Now, they run into each other at the same restaurants on recruiting dinners in New York, having been hired by their respective schools only 33 days apart in 2010.
On Saturday, they’ll meet at Barclays Center, when St. John’s (8-3) and Columbia (7-5) play in the opener of the Brooklyn Hoops Winter Festival.
The Red Storm possess obvious advantages in length and speed and overall athleticism, but the Lions are crafty, having nearly upset second-ranked Michigan State on the road, trailing by two with less than two minutes to play.
“What they do really well, we can’t replicate at all in practice,” Smith said, “ but I think we do some things well that will frustrate them, too. I think the Michigan State experience will have [his team] prepared.
“The gap is bigger in people’s heads than it is eyeball to eyeball. If you read the papers, read online, you’d think that you can’t compete with these guys, but the reality is, there aren’t that many big differences. That’s why we play the games.”
St. John’s freshman Rysheed Jordan returned to practice with the team on Thursday, after missing the previous game to attend to his ill mother in Philadelphia, and will play against Columbia.