Two St. Joe’s men’s basketball team commits for the 2019 season have decided to reopen their recruitment after hearing that Head Coach Phil Martelli was fired.

“After discussing with family members and coaches, I will be reopening my recruitment,” Kenan Sarvan tweeted on March 20, two days after the university announced that a search would begin immediately for a new coach. Sarvan plays at Bishop Sullivan Catholic High School in Virginia.

The next day, Hakim Hart from Roman Catholic High School in Philadelphia also released a statement on Twitter.

“I am sad to hear that Coach Martelli has been released from his head coaching job at St. Joseph’s University,” Hart wrote. “After much thought and reflection with my family and coaches, I have decided to reopen my recruiting process. God bless Coach Martelli and his family.”

With both of their recruitments now reopened, other colleges will have the opportunity to offer Hart and Sarvan a scholarship, with the chance to lure them away from Hawk Hill.

Martelli said he rejected Director of Athletics Jill Bodensteiner’s offer of retirement and instead decided to be fired because he felt loyal to current players and recruits.

“Kids go to school because of their coach,” Martelli told The Hawk. “Recruiting to me is very very very personal.”

Pat Lawless, senior basketball editor for PrepCircuit.com, said he thinks the negative reaction to Martelli’s firing could have an effect not just on current recruits, but on future ones.

“From a short-term perspective, it will definitely take its toll,” Lawless said. “All of his guys for 2019, it takes its toll. And the guys he was recruiting for 2020, that will definitely hurt.”

Lawless said building a relationship with players who joined a team to play for another coach will also be a challenge.

“It is a really tough thing to ask of somebody because in some of these cases Martelli has built relationships with [his recruits] for three years,” Lawless said.

Temple University also saw their long-time head coach, Fran Dunphy, leave the program March 19. Temple had announced before the season that it would be Dunphy’s last year, allowing Assistant Coach Aaron McKie time to establish relationships with the roster.

ESPN prospect and recruiting analyst Adam Finkelstein said he thinks this was where St. Joe’s made its biggest mistake.

“That is the thing I think was mishandled the most,” Finkelstein said. “There was an opportunity to have a transition year, not just to give Coach Martelli the send-off he deserved, regardless of when that is going to be. Temple is not going through that because they had a transition in place. There is obviously no transition here so it is going to be a start from scratch type of thing.”

Lawless stressed the need for St. Joe’s to find the right coach.

“This next hire that they make is pivotal, and Martelli is going to be a tough one to replace,” Lawless said.

Finkelstein said he thinks finding a replacement has its own set of challenges right now.

“There was a lack of class that has stained the athletic department at the moment,” Finkelstein said. “For the time being, it is hard. It is going to be a daunting battle for the new coach because of how poorly this was handled.”

Although Finkelstein said he thinks there will be many highly qualified candidates for the head coaching job, he also worries that the coverage surrounding the job may dissuade some potential applicants.

“The question to me isn’t, ‘Does it impact the recruits?’” Finkelstein said. “Does it impact the coaches who are going to have an interest in the job working under this athletic director and this administration given how they have just handled this? Is the situation perceived as too toxic right now?”