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This Has Not Been A Great Week For Stanford Basketball
Last week, Brook Lopez announced he was leaving Stanford. Today, it was coach Trent Johnson. (AP Images)
According to various print and online media outlets in Louisiana, Stanfod Cardinal men's basketball coach Trent Johnson is prepared to leave the West Coast to take the head coaching job at LSU.
Johnson has enjoyed great success at Stanford during his tenure, including three NCAA tournament appearances and a Sweet 16 appearance this year. But he knew things would be infinitely more difficult next year given that star forwards Brook and Robin Lopez announced on March 31st that they'd be forgoing the rest of their collegiate careers to test NBA draft waters.
So yes, the last week or so has been a royal kick in the nuts for the Cardinal men's basketball program. The twin towers are gone, and now so is the coach. Rubbing salt in the wounds is that Mike Montgomery - the all-time winningest coach in Stanford history (547 victories over 18 seasons) - recently took the head man gig at Pac-10 rival Cal. There is now widespread speculation that if Johnson had left the team earlier than he did, the Cardinal would've had a shot to get Montgomery back in the mix. But that's not going to be the case.