What did ex-Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez allegedly steal?

By Jeff Eisenberg
July 6, 2010


In the four months since fired Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez's turbulent tenure ended amid criticism over his tyrannical methods, everything we've learned about him has painted him in an even worse light.

Somehow, someway, however, Gonzalez has managed this week to make himself into an even bigger punchline.

Police have charged Gonzalez with shoplifting from a Polo Ralph Lauren store at a New Jersey shopping mall, an eyebrow-raising accusation for a man who made brought home a six-figure income for the past decade. Worse yet, the item that Gonzalez allegedly stole? A $1,395 leather men's satchel that looks suspiciously like a man purse.

Gonzalez's attorney, Gerry Krovatin, told the Newark Star-Ledger that the arrest was "a misunderstanding" and his client "had no intention of stealing anything," but it doesn't look good that the bag's sensor tag reportedly was damaged.

In fact, the most intriguing question to emerge from this fiasco is not whether Gonzalez stole the bag but what a coach known for his fierce temper and intimidation tactics would want to carry a man purse for in the first place?

As the guys over at the College Basketball Nation Blog pointed out, only one men's satchel on the Polo web site is priced at $1,395: a Deerfield Vachetta Mailbag offered in either papaya or saddle shoe tan. Polo describes it as a "handsome messenger bag, exquisitely crafted in Italy from smooth leather and finished with antiqued hardware for an inspired vintage quality."

A little fancy for holding clipboards and notepads, isn't it, coach?

In his first public interview after his firing, Gonzalez told the Star-Ledger last month that he fully expected to be a head coach again soon. That seemed improbable then. It's downright delusional now.

After an offseason in which Gonzalez had already lost his job, filed a lawsuit against his former employers and launched into profanity-laden tirades against his former bosses, perhaps now the former Seton Hall coach has finally hit rock bottom.

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