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It's another bad week for Bobby Gonzalez. Yesterday he got ripped by his athletic director for writing a column analyzing the NCAA tournament, which came on the heels of getting ripped by his athletic director for driving the wrong way down one-way streets near Seton Hall's campus, and today he got ripped for his behavior during the final Big East game of the year against Rutgers.

He also got suspended by the university for the first Big East game of next season and AD Joe Quinlan pulled no punches when explaining his decision.

"Bobby Gonzalez's criticism of Big East officials following the Seton Hall-Rutgers game on March 9 is unacceptable and is not representative of Seton Hall University athletics. The Big East provides the best roster of game officials for our students in the country. They represent the game and the conference with great integrity and dignity. We regret any embarrassment this episode may have brought to the Big East and our fellow institutions."

It certainly doesn't sound like Quinlan did a lot of tossing and turning over the decision. He and Gonzalez aren't destined for a long-term relationship. Unless he starts winning mighty quickly, I wouldn't put my money on Gonzalez as the last man standing either. You can get away with a lot when you win but Gonzalez hasn't done that and, given the strength of the Big East, it doesn't look like he's poised for a great leap forward.

The first two years of the Bobby Gonzalez era haven't gone all that well for the coach or for Seton Hall. He's only managed a 30-31 record, reportedly exchanged punches with an assistant coach and could face a suspension, the first in Big East history, for his conduct in a late-season loss to Rutgers. Now comes word that the school is angry with their coach but not for any of the things previously listed. It's because he wrote a column for the New York Times with his thoughts on this year's tournament. Seton Hall AD Joe Quinlan explains:

"It could put the individual and the university in a less than favorable position. That's the equivalent of bulletin board material."

What might Pirate opponents use to motivate them next season? Well he picked Georgetown to go to the Final Four, said UConn could upset UCLA and mentioned that Syracuse should have made the field. Hard to see how that ruffles feathers. Honestly, Gonzalez's piece was a run of the mill insider piece that offered about as much bulletin board material as a bus schedule.

If teams pay attention to anything about this year's Seton Hall team, it will be their inability to make or defend shots. They finished 231st and 227th, respectively, in those percentages and are losing Brian Laing, by far their best player. All of which is far more damaging than picking UCLA over North Carolina in the finals.

Citing "two independent sources," The Big Lead is reporting that Seton Hall head basketball coach Bobby Gonzalez had a halftime fight with an assistant coach during a game last weekend. The Big Lead's report follows up on an ESPN.com report that "a Big East coach who shall remain nameless" had a fight with an assistant.

I spoke with Seton Hall Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Communications Matt Sweeney this afternoon; he had no formal comment about the reports but told me that he attends every Seton Hall men's basketball game and had never heard anything about it.

The ESPN.com report, from the well regarded college sports writer Pat Forde, said that the unnamed coach "recently got into a halftime argument with one of his assistants in a hallway outside the locker room. According to a source, it escalated to the point where punches were thrown."

The Big Lead says two sources confirmed a confrontation between Gonzalez and an assistant on February 17, as Seton Hall was headed to the locker room for halftime, trailing West Virginia 45-30. But the report said the sources disagreed on the extent of the confrontation:

one source claims it was a very heated argument and other assistants intervened before punches were thrown; the other source claims punches were thrown

As The Big Lead notes, Gonzalez is a personable coach who is well liked by the media, and that could keep this bizarre story from having legs. But it sure sounds like a story that the college basketball media should be all over.

We all have slips of the tongue at times, but announcer Jim Spanarkel, speaking with Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez commits a rather bad one:

It sounds like a typical post-game interview, as Gonzalez says about Seton Hall's fans, "The emotion, the energy, the buzz in the building, just spectacular, they were our sixth man, and it really was a special, special win for them."

And then Spanarkel says, "Congratulations. Continued good sex in the -- ugh, sex -- in the Big East." He was trying to say "success," but he never did quite manage to say it.

Video via Ballhype.

UPDATE: Thanks to the commenter who informed me of the announcer's name.
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