NEW YORK — Bobby Gonzalez is hoping for a comeback.
Whether it’s in the NBA or on TV, Gonzo is ready to go.
“I’ve got some NBA stuff going on,” the former Seton Hall coach told The New York Times after Tuesday’s Team USA practice at John Jay College.
“Or I might be in TV for a year or two. Let the smoke clear. I may get back in college someday, but I’ll wait a while.”
Gonzalez, an assistant on the American team that won a gold medal in the 2005 World University Games, sat in the stands along with several other current and former college and high school coaches, including Barry Rohrssen (Manhattan), Al Skinner (formerly of Boston College) and Hall of Famer Bob Hurley (St. Anthony).
After the practice, he chatted up several players, including Lamar Odom of the Lakers.
Seton Hall fired Gonzalez in March for cause after a controversial four-year tenure in which he compiled a 66-59 record but failed to make the NCAA tournament.
His last year at the Big East school was filled with fireworks.
In November, guard Keon Lawrence was arrested for driving the wrong way on the Garden State Parkway.
In the team’s final game of the season, a first-round NIT loss to Texas Tech, forward Herb Pope punched an opponent in the groin.
Shortly thereafter, two former Seton Hall players, Robert Mitchell and Kelly Whitney, were arrested on charges of kidnapping, robbery, burglary and possession of a weapon.
Gonzalez then sued the school in April, claiming he was fired without cause.
In June, SNY.tv reported that the firing came six days after he unleashed a profanity-laced tirade against Patrick Hobbs, his boss and the Dean of the Seton Hall Law School.
Last month, Gonzalez was charged with shoplifting and criminal mischief after he was accused of taking a $1,400 men’s satchel from the Polo Ralph Lauren store in the Short Hills Mall on June 29.
Gonzalez told the Times it was “a misunderstanding.”
His next court date was initially set for Aug. 27 before Judge Rachel Davidson at the Veterans Court House in Newark, but his attorney, Anna Cominsky, said Monday that the date would likely be postponed.
“I want to try to move on with my life,” Gonzalez told The Times. “Some of the things that went wrong, I think some of that was being misunderstood because of my passion. I want to start rebuilding my name, my image.”
(Photo courtesy Star-Ledger)
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bball purist / August 11, 2010
Yes, I”m sure you lifted the satchel bag from the store very passionately Bobby. I wonder if schizophrenia is in your family – it is hereditary, you know!
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