IT'S a shock to the Iolani Prep Basketball Classic. Vetter quits, shock
waves reach IolaniSt. John's at Prospect Hall (Md.), the No. 1 team in the nation in all polls last season and the Iolani champion for three of the last four years is no more.
You read it right.
Pau. Lights out. Ciao, baby.
The big reason is that 46-year-old Stu Vetter, the Vikings' head coach who was USA Today's national coach of the year last season, resigned earlier this month.
A few months ago, St. John's junior Damien Wilkins, the 1997 Iolani Classic MVP and a top national prep prospect with NBA genes, was expelled.
With Vetter's departure, the other 14 varsity players are expected to be elsewhere next season.
''They came to the school because of our program, and I can't see them staying in a mediocre program," said Vetter by phone yesterday.
Wilkins enrolled at Newport High of Maryland, where he joins a potential NBA draft pick out of high school, DeMarr Johnson. Presto. A national power.
And now Newport has pulled out of the Iolani Classic.
The Vikings, six years in the national rankings, were to be the centerpiece of the 14th Iolani Classic. The event is in its first year under the Nike umbrella, a sponsorship Vetter was instrumental in securing.
He's been an outspoken supporter of the classic, once commenting that Honolulu fans didn't fully appreciate its quality.
VETTER said he hasn't any immediate plans to coach but you can bet he's getting calls. And I'm sure there are even some colleges sizing him up.
He's the only coach to place teams in the national rankings 15 years in a row.
Vetter had a 136-10 record at St. John's, and his 23-year career record with three teams is a staggering 549-66. He also coached Flint Hill Prep and Harker Prep. All three were so-so before he took over.
He has coached five players who made it to the NBA. Wilkins and recent graduate Jason Capel (North Carolina) seem ticketed for the same future.
St. John's was on a 37-game winning streak. No question that Vetter's agenda is to win, so whoever hires him had better face that reality. He runs his prep programs like a college coach. Not everyone is comfortable with that.
You've got to realize that when he left Flint Hill and Harker, several key players followed him each time. ''The players believed in our program," said Vetter.
To his credit, he is a disciplinarian. I've seen that here. And his kids seem to do well in the classroom. But look at his record and you can tell that basketball success is indeed his stock in trade.
HIS players came from near and far, and, you can infer that he recruits. Bigtime.
''Our program recruits itself," Vetter likes to counter. Maybe it does.
But Vetter made sure his teams played schedules worthy of their well-chosen talent. No pushovers on his card.
I wish a certain national football power in this town could figure out how to get a decent preseason opponent.
Why did Vetter resign?
Well, Wilkins' expulsion for showing public affection with a female classmate on school grounds obviously had something to do with it. Both youngsters are black.
Vetter, never one to mince words, charged racist attitudes prevail at the school, which has had five headmasters in the six years he's been there. He said he was fed up.
''We felt that the players, particularly the black kids, were held to a higher standard than everyone else," he said.
That's Vetter's side of it, and if he's right, I applaud him for pulling the plug on St. John's.
But, I can't help believing he's going to pop up in another so-so program again very soon. And within a year's time, that school will be on the map.
Pat Bigold has covered sports for daily newspapers
in Hawaii and Massachusetts since 1978.