NCAA: Chris Mullin to step down as coach of St. John’s
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Chris Mullin to step down as coach of St. John’s
By Post Sports Desk
April 8, 2019 | 9:00pm | Updated
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Chris MullinGetty Images
Chris Mullin’s return to St. John’s will end without an NCAA Tournament win.
Mullin will step away from the program with an official announcement coming this week, CBS Sports reported.
Mullin spent four years coaching his alma mater, going 59-73 and reaching the NCAA Tournament in his final season. His final game will be a loss to Bobby Hurley’s Arizona State team in the First Four.
Hurley, who has rebuilt programs at Buffalo and Arizona State, is on the top of the wish list for St. John’s, according to CBS.
St. John’s top recruiter Matt Abdelmassih left the program last week to join Fred Hoiberg’s staff at Nebraska and the Red Storm’s star player Shamorie Ponds had previously declared for the NBA Draft.
https://nypost.com/2019/04/08/chris-mullin-to-step-down-as-coach-of-st-johns/
By Post Sports Desk
April 8, 2019 | 9:00pm | Updated
Enlarge Image
Chris MullinGetty Images
Chris Mullin’s return to St. John’s will end without an NCAA Tournament win.
Mullin will step away from the program with an official announcement coming this week, CBS Sports reported.
Mullin spent four years coaching his alma mater, going 59-73 and reaching the NCAA Tournament in his final season. His final game will be a loss to Bobby Hurley’s Arizona State team in the First Four.
Hurley, who has rebuilt programs at Buffalo and Arizona State, is on the top of the wish list for St. John’s, according to CBS.
St. John’s top recruiter Matt Abdelmassih left the program last week to join Fred Hoiberg’s staff at Nebraska and the Red Storm’s star player Shamorie Ponds had previously declared for the NBA Draft.
https://nypost.com/2019/04/08/chris-mullin-to-step-down-as-coach-of-st-johns/
Report: Chris Mullin Expected to Step Down as St. John's Head Coach After Four Seasons
MICHAEL SHAPIRO
April 08, 2019
Chris Mullin is expected to step down as St. John's head coach, according to SI Now contributor Jon Rothstein.
Mullin has been the St. John's head coach since 2015. He is 59–73 with the Red Storm, reaching the NCAA tournament in 2018-19. St. John's lost to Arizona State in the First Four.
The Red Storm reportedly had "trouble filling the assistant coach vacancy" after lead recruiter Matt Abdelmassih left the program to work with Nebraska. St. John's athletic director Mike Cragg released a statement on Saturday, claiming Mullin will not be replaced as the Red Storm's head coach.
"Let me be clear and I said from the start, Coach Mullin is our head coach and we are not looking for another head coach," Cragg said in a statement, per Stadium's Jeff Goodman.
Arizona State's Bobby Hurley is expected to be the lead candidate to replace Mullin, per Rothstein.
MICHAEL SHAPIRO
April 08, 2019
Chris Mullin is expected to step down as St. John's head coach, according to SI Now contributor Jon Rothstein.
Mullin has been the St. John's head coach since 2015. He is 59–73 with the Red Storm, reaching the NCAA tournament in 2018-19. St. John's lost to Arizona State in the First Four.
The Red Storm reportedly had "trouble filling the assistant coach vacancy" after lead recruiter Matt Abdelmassih left the program to work with Nebraska. St. John's athletic director Mike Cragg released a statement on Saturday, claiming Mullin will not be replaced as the Red Storm's head coach.
"Let me be clear and I said from the start, Coach Mullin is our head coach and we are not looking for another head coach," Cragg said in a statement, per Stadium's Jeff Goodman.
Arizona State's Bobby Hurley is expected to be the lead candidate to replace Mullin, per Rothstein.
Chris Mullin is out as the head coach at St. John's, and will be bought out soon, according to sources.
Jon Rothstein of CBSSports.com first reported the news via Twitter.
St. John's is expected to target Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley, the Jersey City, N.J. native and former Duke legend, sources confirmed. Hurley, 47, makes about $2.4 million, per USA Today, and his current contract at Arizona State runs through 2022. Arizona State may have to come up with an extension to keep him and fend off St. John's. One source said it could go "either way."
Iona coach Tim Cluess could also be an option, as could Duke assistant Jon Scheyer.
Mike Cragg, the school's new AD who came to St. John's from Duke, declined to give Mullin a contract extension, multiple sources said. Mullin, 55, has two years and about $4 million remaining on his deal. He would have been a lame duck after next season without an extension.
"Let me be clear and I said from the start, Coach Mullin is our head coach and we are not looking for another head coach," Cragg said on Saturday in a statement that has marked his only comments on the matter.
Mullin, meantime, has not spoken publicly since the end of the season, and did not respond to text messages seeking comment.
Mullin went 59-73 with one NCAA Tournament appearance at St. John's. The Red Storm lost to Hurley and Arizona State, 74-65, on March 20.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamza...-hurley-expected-to-be-targeted/#66956cbf40aa
Lead them to a winning season and to the tournament in his 4th yr I think he did a good job despite not able to recruit the top local talents
No top recruit wants to play for any of the local schools so it's not his fault he's playing with the lack of top tier talent
One of his players about to get drafted to the NBA that's big
No top recruit wants to play for any of the local schools so it's not his fault he's playing with the lack of top tier talent
One of his players about to get drafted to the NBA that's big
Surprising.
Surprising.
very
Right.
Same reason schools like DePaul aren’t, and likely will never be, at the levels of the 70s and 80s teams; as you said; local kids have nationwide options and audiences now and schools on ESPN six nights a week wearing the latest Nike’s or Adidas’; plus every school from around the nation is coming in to pluck them so what’s left for the hometown school is the 1, 2 and 3 stars; the hometown sentiment is a bygone era.
I’ll be interested to see what Penny Hardway can do at Memphis because they are near that “can the city school get the national talent” line.
Mullin: 'Emotional decision' to leave St. John's
4:42 PM ET
After a week of rumblings, Chris Mullin has stepped down as the men's basketball head coach at St. John's, it was announced Tuesday.
"This has been an extremely emotional decision, but after a recent personal loss, I took time to reflect upon my true values and believe this is the right time to make a change," Mullin said in a statement issued by the school. "I am extremely grateful to the administration, which has supported me and our basketball program on every level.
"I've been amazed by our coaches, trainers, managers and staff who work relentless hours, which enables this team to grow and thrive. I've been honored to coach the young men who are the heart and soul of this program. It's a job I will always cherish."
His brother, Rod, died after a battle with cancer in early March.
Mullin, the greatest player in St. John's basketball history, took over as head coach in 2015, replacing Steve Lavin. Mullin struggled in his first three years at the helm, going a combined 38-60 and failing to finish above .500 in any of his first three seasons.
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This season, St. John's had one of the most talented rosters in the Big East and made the NCAA tournament, but it stumbled down the stretch, losing five of its final six games. The Red Storm lost to Arizona State in the First Four, finishing the season 21-13.
Speculation surfaced this week amid reports of contentious meetings between Mullin and athletic director Mike Cragg, who issued a statement of support on Saturday.
"The past four years at St. John's University have been one of the most thrilling and challenging points of my career," Mullin said in the statement. "... I am proud of our accomplishments. NCAA Tournament Selection Sunday will be a lifetime memory. I am forever grateful to St. John's for giving me the opportunity to hear Carnesecca Arena and Madison Square Garden roar again for college basketball and especially for our players."
Mullin, a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, had no coaching experience before he took the job. He worked in the Golden State Warriors' front office for five years as the executive vice president of basketball operations. He also spent time working as an adviser in the Sacramento Kingsorganization.
The top target for St. John's is expected to be Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley, sources told ESPN on Monday. Hurley played at Duke, where Cragg spent 31 years before being hired at St. John's in September.
Another name expected to be considered is Iona coach Tim Cluess, who played at St. John's for two seasons and has coached in the New York area his entire career.
Whomever replaces Mullin will have a roster in flux. Leading scorer Shamorie Ponds turned pro after the season ended, and Marvin Clark was a senior. The Red Storm's top recruit, highly touted junior college point guard Cam Mack, recently requested his release from the school, and four-star junior Nate Tabordecommitted Monday night. There are no 2019 or 2020 prospects currently committed to St. John's.
There is a solid core on the roster, though. Mustapha Heron (14.6 PPG), LJ Figueroa (14.4 PPG) and Justin Simon (10.4 PPG) all have eligibility left. Transfers Eli Wright (Mississippi State), David Caraher (Houston Baptist) and Ian Steere (NC State) sat out this past season.
4:42 PM ET
Jeff BorzelloESPN Staff Writer
After a week of rumblings, Chris Mullin has stepped down as the men's basketball head coach at St. John's, it was announced Tuesday.
"This has been an extremely emotional decision, but after a recent personal loss, I took time to reflect upon my true values and believe this is the right time to make a change," Mullin said in a statement issued by the school. "I am extremely grateful to the administration, which has supported me and our basketball program on every level.
"I've been amazed by our coaches, trainers, managers and staff who work relentless hours, which enables this team to grow and thrive. I've been honored to coach the young men who are the heart and soul of this program. It's a job I will always cherish."
His brother, Rod, died after a battle with cancer in early March.
Mullin, the greatest player in St. John's basketball history, took over as head coach in 2015, replacing Steve Lavin. Mullin struggled in his first three years at the helm, going a combined 38-60 and failing to finish above .500 in any of his first three seasons.
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This season, St. John's had one of the most talented rosters in the Big East and made the NCAA tournament, but it stumbled down the stretch, losing five of its final six games. The Red Storm lost to Arizona State in the First Four, finishing the season 21-13.
Speculation surfaced this week amid reports of contentious meetings between Mullin and athletic director Mike Cragg, who issued a statement of support on Saturday.
"The past four years at St. John's University have been one of the most thrilling and challenging points of my career," Mullin said in the statement. "... I am proud of our accomplishments. NCAA Tournament Selection Sunday will be a lifetime memory. I am forever grateful to St. John's for giving me the opportunity to hear Carnesecca Arena and Madison Square Garden roar again for college basketball and especially for our players."
Mullin, a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, had no coaching experience before he took the job. He worked in the Golden State Warriors' front office for five years as the executive vice president of basketball operations. He also spent time working as an adviser in the Sacramento Kingsorganization.
The top target for St. John's is expected to be Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley, sources told ESPN on Monday. Hurley played at Duke, where Cragg spent 31 years before being hired at St. John's in September.
Another name expected to be considered is Iona coach Tim Cluess, who played at St. John's for two seasons and has coached in the New York area his entire career.
Whomever replaces Mullin will have a roster in flux. Leading scorer Shamorie Ponds turned pro after the season ended, and Marvin Clark was a senior. The Red Storm's top recruit, highly touted junior college point guard Cam Mack, recently requested his release from the school, and four-star junior Nate Tabordecommitted Monday night. There are no 2019 or 2020 prospects currently committed to St. John's.
There is a solid core on the roster, though. Mustapha Heron (14.6 PPG), LJ Figueroa (14.4 PPG) and Justin Simon (10.4 PPG) all have eligibility left. Transfers Eli Wright (Mississippi State), David Caraher (Houston Baptist) and Ian Steere (NC State) sat out this past season.
bonus...
Opinion: UCLA missed its chance to get the best available coach – Rick Pitino
Dan Wolken, USA TODAYPublished 1:47 p.m. ET April 9, 2019
CLOSE
Asked what he said to his players following their national championship loss, Texas Tech coach Chris Beard had to fight back tears at press conference. USA TODAY Sports
CONNECTTWEETLINKEDINCOMMENTEMAILMORE
There was one surefire way out of this train wreck of a UCLA coaching search that ended Tuesday with the hire of Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin, one move that could have erased the incompetence of the last 90 days as displayed by a group of college athletics bureaucrats who clearly had no idea what they were doing.
UCLA could have had Rick Pitino, who was practically begging for the job. Instead, it settled on someone who was at best a fifth choice and has only been to the NCAA Tournament’s second weekend once in his career.
That’s not to say Cronin can’t do well at UCLA. He’s built a solid track record at Cincinnati by employing a grinding defensive style, and if he can tap into Southern California recruiting the way any competent UCLA coach should, he will see the Sweet 16 sooner rather than later.
College basketball's way-too-early preseason top 25
NBA DECISIONS: Breaking down each Kentucky basketball player's stay-or-go decision
But nobody needed him more than UCLA, a program that decided early in this search it was too high and mighty to be rescued by a college basketball pariah.
News flash: They’re not. Or, at least, they shouldn’t be.
Because once you conduct a coaching search that has bounced from getting rebuffed by Washington’s Mike Hopkins to offering Kentucky’s John Calipari less money than he’s currently making to deciding Jamie Dixon’s $8 million buyout was too much to then deciding that Rick Barnes’ $5 million buyout was OK, only to get an 11th hour stiff arm because athletics director Dan Guerrero couldn’t close the deal, can you really claim there was a bottom to the embarrassment?
BY SUB-ZERO, WOLF, AND COVE
Kitchen inspiration is closer than you think.
See more →
Here’s how it would have played out if UCLA hired Pitino: An immediate rush of Twitter snark about strippers and Italian restaurants, a few days worth of tsk-tsk columns from sportswriters, and then a lot of wins.
And make no mistake: Pitino would win really, really big. Given the current muddled state of college basketball, where even its biggest cheerleaders have essentially accepted that it’s corrupt to the core, what exactly is the point of steering away from Pitino because of allegations that still have not directly tied him to knowledge about Adidas’ deal to steer Brian Bowen to Louisville?
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Admittedly, this is a turn for me. I thought Pitino wouldn’t and shouldn’t coach in college again after Louisville fired him in in October 2017 given the nature of the problems that piled up on his watch.
Though I never believed Pitino knew of or endorsed the escort and stripper parties that led to Louisville vacating the 2013 national title, I had no problem holding him responsible for hiring bad assistants and not having proper oversight of his program.
The same could be said of the Bowen fiasco. Even if Pitino never explicitly said, “Hey Adidas, help me get this player,” he should have known that a top-50 recruit Louisville hadn’t been involved with previously falling into his lap in June was too good to be true.
“In my 40 years of coaching, this is the luckiest I’ve been,” Pitino said in a radio interview, before the FBI uncovered that it wasn’t luck at all but rather a $100,000 scheme engineered by Adidas executives Jim Gatto and Merl Code along with Christian Dawkins, a creation of the basketball underworld who helped facilitate deals between prospects and a sports agent.
To this day, Pitino has denied his involvement in any of the wrongdoing and protested the idea that Louisville should have fired him, which is of course ridiculous.
Understand, with Pitino, he is never going to make it easy to like or forgive him. So be it.
But if UCLA was watching the Final Four closely last Saturday, it would have seen what a future with Pitino might look like as Bruce Pearl led Auburn to within a whisper of the national championship game.
You can pretty much divide college sports fans into two groups when it comes to wrongdoing and a track record tied to NCAA infractions. Half of them are in on the joke and don’t really care, and the other half genuinely believes there’s a place for second chances. They will buy whatever brand of baloney you sell them as long as it tastes good.
People like Pearl and Pitino satisfy that appetite, and if you’re UCLA, you should have seriously reconsidered the entire track of the search after whiffing on Barnes and started thinking about whether Pitino’s baggage was worth it.
Make no mistake, UCLA hired a good coach Tuesday. But there was one great coach available, who wouldn’t have just taken the job but probably would have done it at a discount.
Getting Pitino at this point in his career, hungry and motivated to restore his reputation, was a once-in-a-generation opportunity for UCLA. The Bruins were foolish to let it fly by. But given the way they conducted the search from start to finish, that can’t be much of a surprise.
Opinion: UCLA missed its chance to get the best available coach – Rick Pitino
Dan Wolken, USA TODAYPublished 1:47 p.m. ET April 9, 2019
CLOSE
Asked what he said to his players following their national championship loss, Texas Tech coach Chris Beard had to fight back tears at press conference. USA TODAY Sports
CONNECTTWEETLINKEDINCOMMENTEMAILMORE
There was one surefire way out of this train wreck of a UCLA coaching search that ended Tuesday with the hire of Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin, one move that could have erased the incompetence of the last 90 days as displayed by a group of college athletics bureaucrats who clearly had no idea what they were doing.
UCLA could have had Rick Pitino, who was practically begging for the job. Instead, it settled on someone who was at best a fifth choice and has only been to the NCAA Tournament’s second weekend once in his career.
That’s not to say Cronin can’t do well at UCLA. He’s built a solid track record at Cincinnati by employing a grinding defensive style, and if he can tap into Southern California recruiting the way any competent UCLA coach should, he will see the Sweet 16 sooner rather than later.
College basketball's way-too-early preseason top 25
NBA DECISIONS: Breaking down each Kentucky basketball player's stay-or-go decision
But nobody needed him more than UCLA, a program that decided early in this search it was too high and mighty to be rescued by a college basketball pariah.
News flash: They’re not. Or, at least, they shouldn’t be.
Because once you conduct a coaching search that has bounced from getting rebuffed by Washington’s Mike Hopkins to offering Kentucky’s John Calipari less money than he’s currently making to deciding Jamie Dixon’s $8 million buyout was too much to then deciding that Rick Barnes’ $5 million buyout was OK, only to get an 11th hour stiff arm because athletics director Dan Guerrero couldn’t close the deal, can you really claim there was a bottom to the embarrassment?
BY SUB-ZERO, WOLF, AND COVE
Kitchen inspiration is closer than you think.
See more →
Here’s how it would have played out if UCLA hired Pitino: An immediate rush of Twitter snark about strippers and Italian restaurants, a few days worth of tsk-tsk columns from sportswriters, and then a lot of wins.
And make no mistake: Pitino would win really, really big. Given the current muddled state of college basketball, where even its biggest cheerleaders have essentially accepted that it’s corrupt to the core, what exactly is the point of steering away from Pitino because of allegations that still have not directly tied him to knowledge about Adidas’ deal to steer Brian Bowen to Louisville?
NEWSLETTERS
Get the Sports newsletter delivered to your inbox
Sports news, no matter the season. Stop by for the scores, stay for the stories.
Delivery: Daily
Admittedly, this is a turn for me. I thought Pitino wouldn’t and shouldn’t coach in college again after Louisville fired him in in October 2017 given the nature of the problems that piled up on his watch.
Though I never believed Pitino knew of or endorsed the escort and stripper parties that led to Louisville vacating the 2013 national title, I had no problem holding him responsible for hiring bad assistants and not having proper oversight of his program.
The same could be said of the Bowen fiasco. Even if Pitino never explicitly said, “Hey Adidas, help me get this player,” he should have known that a top-50 recruit Louisville hadn’t been involved with previously falling into his lap in June was too good to be true.
“In my 40 years of coaching, this is the luckiest I’ve been,” Pitino said in a radio interview, before the FBI uncovered that it wasn’t luck at all but rather a $100,000 scheme engineered by Adidas executives Jim Gatto and Merl Code along with Christian Dawkins, a creation of the basketball underworld who helped facilitate deals between prospects and a sports agent.
To this day, Pitino has denied his involvement in any of the wrongdoing and protested the idea that Louisville should have fired him, which is of course ridiculous.
Understand, with Pitino, he is never going to make it easy to like or forgive him. So be it.
But if UCLA was watching the Final Four closely last Saturday, it would have seen what a future with Pitino might look like as Bruce Pearl led Auburn to within a whisper of the national championship game.
You can pretty much divide college sports fans into two groups when it comes to wrongdoing and a track record tied to NCAA infractions. Half of them are in on the joke and don’t really care, and the other half genuinely believes there’s a place for second chances. They will buy whatever brand of baloney you sell them as long as it tastes good.
People like Pearl and Pitino satisfy that appetite, and if you’re UCLA, you should have seriously reconsidered the entire track of the search after whiffing on Barnes and started thinking about whether Pitino’s baggage was worth it.
Make no mistake, UCLA hired a good coach Tuesday. But there was one great coach available, who wouldn’t have just taken the job but probably would have done it at a discount.
Getting Pitino at this point in his career, hungry and motivated to restore his reputation, was a once-in-a-generation opportunity for UCLA. The Bruins were foolish to let it fly by. But given the way they conducted the search from start to finish, that can’t be much of a surprise.
Toxic Rick Pitino campaigns for St. John’s job with a NY demand
By Zach Braziller
April 9, 2019 | 3:26pm
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Rick PitinoEPA
SEE ALSO
What we know about St. John’s: Mullin goes dark, bankroller found
MINNEAPOLIS — Rick Pitino, the Hall of Fame coach from Long Island ensnared by off-court issues, would have interest in the St. John’s coaching position, but only if he was granted an apology and cleared publicly by the Southern District of New York.
Now coaching in Greece, the 66-year-old Pitino was fired with cause in September 2017 by Louisville following allegations of a pay-for-play scandal involving five-star recruit Brian Bowen that was part of the FBI investigation into corruption in college basketball. Also under his watch was the escort scandal, in which players and recruits were being entertained by strippers and prostitutes, as organized by former Pitino staffer Andre McGee. Pitino was issued a five-game suspension for that.
Pitino has staunchly maintained his innocence in both scenarios and believed the SDNY dragged him through the mud and ruined his reputation by including his name in a complaint.
“My point is I have great respect for St. John’s, and in order to be in that environment, people would have to know the truth,” he said in a phone interview Tuesday, regarding his interest in potentially replacing Chris Mullin. “I’ve never, ever in 40-plus years of coaching ever given $5 for a player to come play for me. You can ask Donovan Mitchell, Derek Anderson, Antoine Walker, all the guys I recruited.
MORE ON:
ST. JOHN'S RED STORM
'Extremely emotional decision:' Chris Mullin's time at St. John's is officially over
What we know about Chris Mullin's status as St. John's coach
Chris Mullin proves sometimes you can't go home again
The candidates St. John's could hire to replace Chris Mullin
“There wasn’t a shred of evidence except for a con artist mentioning my name and they never rectified it, never came out and offered me an apology. Southern District of New York just says you’re collateral damage and says the hell with you.”
Pitino denied he reached out to St. John’s on Monday to express interest in the job, as a source indicated. Taking the situation with the SDNY away, Pitino said he doesn’t believe St. John’s has interest in him and believes athletic director Mike Cragg will focus on Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley, whom Cragg knows from their days at Duke together.
“I think the AD is a Duke man and Bobby Hurley was a great Duke player, and I think he would be an excellent choice,” he said.
But Pitino has no doubt he could excel at St. John’s, despite the program’s problems the last two decades. It hasn’t won an NCAA Tournament game in 19 years and is without a point guard for next season at the moment after Shamorie Ponds announced his intentions to enter the NBA draft and Cam Mack, junior college point guard top recruit, requested his release from his National Letter of Intent. He reached the Final Four with three programs — Kentucky, Louisville and Providence — and won titles with the first two schools, though the latter one was vacated.
“I don’t think St. John’s would be any different,” he said. “Same plan, same strategy. But I think it’s all conjecture. I don’t think anything will happen.”
By Zach Braziller
April 9, 2019 | 3:26pm
Enlarge Image
Rick PitinoEPA
SEE ALSO
What we know about St. John’s: Mullin goes dark, bankroller found
MINNEAPOLIS — Rick Pitino, the Hall of Fame coach from Long Island ensnared by off-court issues, would have interest in the St. John’s coaching position, but only if he was granted an apology and cleared publicly by the Southern District of New York.
Now coaching in Greece, the 66-year-old Pitino was fired with cause in September 2017 by Louisville following allegations of a pay-for-play scandal involving five-star recruit Brian Bowen that was part of the FBI investigation into corruption in college basketball. Also under his watch was the escort scandal, in which players and recruits were being entertained by strippers and prostitutes, as organized by former Pitino staffer Andre McGee. Pitino was issued a five-game suspension for that.
Pitino has staunchly maintained his innocence in both scenarios and believed the SDNY dragged him through the mud and ruined his reputation by including his name in a complaint.
“My point is I have great respect for St. John’s, and in order to be in that environment, people would have to know the truth,” he said in a phone interview Tuesday, regarding his interest in potentially replacing Chris Mullin. “I’ve never, ever in 40-plus years of coaching ever given $5 for a player to come play for me. You can ask Donovan Mitchell, Derek Anderson, Antoine Walker, all the guys I recruited.
MORE ON:
ST. JOHN'S RED STORM
'Extremely emotional decision:' Chris Mullin's time at St. John's is officially over
What we know about Chris Mullin's status as St. John's coach
Chris Mullin proves sometimes you can't go home again
The candidates St. John's could hire to replace Chris Mullin
“There wasn’t a shred of evidence except for a con artist mentioning my name and they never rectified it, never came out and offered me an apology. Southern District of New York just says you’re collateral damage and says the hell with you.”
Pitino denied he reached out to St. John’s on Monday to express interest in the job, as a source indicated. Taking the situation with the SDNY away, Pitino said he doesn’t believe St. John’s has interest in him and believes athletic director Mike Cragg will focus on Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley, whom Cragg knows from their days at Duke together.
“I think the AD is a Duke man and Bobby Hurley was a great Duke player, and I think he would be an excellent choice,” he said.
But Pitino has no doubt he could excel at St. John’s, despite the program’s problems the last two decades. It hasn’t won an NCAA Tournament game in 19 years and is without a point guard for next season at the moment after Shamorie Ponds announced his intentions to enter the NBA draft and Cam Mack, junior college point guard top recruit, requested his release from his National Letter of Intent. He reached the Final Four with three programs — Kentucky, Louisville and Providence — and won titles with the first two schools, though the latter one was vacated.
“I don’t think St. John’s would be any different,” he said. “Same plan, same strategy. But I think it’s all conjecture. I don’t think anything will happen.”
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