NEW YORK - Mike Jarvis became the first coach fired during the season in the 25-year history of the Big East Conference, dismissed by St. John's Friday after six games.
The Red Storm opened the season by losing four of five, which hadn't happened since 1922-23, and it was beaten at home by Fairfield and Hofstra, drawing boos from fans and chants of "Fire Jarvis!"
A victory over St. Francis, N.Y., improved the team to 2-4, but it wasn't nearly enough to save the coach's job. The Red Storm also lost to Marquette and Duke.
Associate head coach Kevin Clark takes over the program on an interim basis. St. John's plays at No. 5 Georgia Tech Sunday.
"This wasn't my choice, but you must respect the decision an employer makes," said Jarvis, 110-61 in his five-plus seasons.
Jarvis still had next season remaining on his contract, which is thought to be in the $725,000-a-year range. Assistant coach Mike Jarvis II also was let go.
The timing of the firing was "the best thing for all parties," St. John's athletic director Dave Wegrzyn said.
"We feel it is in the best interest of everyone to make this decision," he said.
He refused to discuss financial arrangements.
While Jarvis' players struggled on the court this season, they had problems away from it, too.
Senior guard Willie Shaw was arrested on suspicion of marijuana possession last month and kicked off the team. Shaw also was suspended for four games at the end of his sophomore season after testing positive for marijuana.
Junior college transfer Grady Reynolds was arrested just days before the 2002-03 season after a female student accused him of attacking her in a dormitory. Over the summer, Reynolds was ordered to perform community service and undergo anger management counseling to settle the charges, which would be dismissed in six months if he was not arrested again.
Jarvis replaced Fran Fraschilla, who was fired after the 1997-98 season. Jarvis spent eight seasons at George Washington and was at Boston University for five seasons before that. His career record for 18-plus seasons is 364-201. He took BU to the NCAA Tournament twice and George Washington three times.
Jarvis led the Red Storm to the region final of the NCAA Tournament his first season and it lost in the second round the next year. St. John's also went to the tournament in 2002, losing in the first round, and won the NIT last season.
UVA 76, LOYOLA MARYMOUNT 68: Elton Brown and Derrick Byars scored 21 each to lead the visiting Cavaliers. At 7-0, Virginia is off to its best start since the 2001-02 squad began 9-0. Brown made five of his six field-goal attempts in the second half, and Byars was 8-for-10 from the field, making four of his five shots in each half. Virginia broke open a close game with a 17-3 run in the second half.
Conference USA
EAST CAROLINA 76, GARDNER-WEBB 59: Derrick Wiley had 19 points and Moussa Badiane added 17 for host East Carolina. Gabriel Mikulas scored 15 for the Pirates, who shot 51 percent and took a 32-24 rebounding advantage.
State
TAMPA 68, SOUTHEASTERN 51: Josh Shave had 13 points and James Mereus added 11 for the host Spartans. Johnnie Grant scored 10 to lead Southeastern.
ECKERD 70, ARMSTRONG ATLANTIC STATE 67: Daryl Williams had 31 points but the Tritons ended the Pirates' home winning streak at eight.
