New Coach

I’m voting for Bobby Hurley.

He isn’t perfect, but I think he has the work ethic to succeed here.

And if St.John’s still wants to swoon over a great college player, they could do a lot worse than Bobby Hurley.

I'm going with Hurley, followed by Pitino as a very long shot.

Let's be honest.  Hurley is no upgrade over Mullin.  Not worse...but no upgrade.  At some point we'll be criticizing him for spending too much time reading tout sheets and going to the track.  You can bank on it.  His recruiters will be blamed for their inability to bring four and five star players to what's essentially been a mid major program in like, forever.  Look at UCONN in its mid-major conference.  We are...

Pitino.  This is the kind of slam dunk we need...and would never get.  If reports are true...Gempshaw didn't want Mike Rice here as an assistant because of "bad public relations".  Rice is John Wooden compared to Pitino.

Cluess.  He's won everywhere...but won what?  He's a mid-major success story and we're mid-major.  I get the sense that the delusional here and on the other site believe we can be another Villanova.  Once Wright leaves, the Big East will become an Atlantic 10 wannabe.

Mark Jackson.  We had two hall of famers in Mullin and Richmond to give the illusion we were "big time".  The problem is neither of them wanted to lower themselves to beg 16 year olds to come here.  Mark Jackson fits that profile.

...and please, no Duke types who want to be here until coach K is wheeled off the court with chest pains.

Rick Pitino and it's not even fugging close.

He didn't murder anyone.

It's definitely a long shot, but I'd be most excited with Pitino. He's bitter about being ousted at Louisville, and has something to prove. St. John's is no longer below him.

I think Cragg would want him to, if there is mutual interest. He's the only guy who I'd be confident in saying could lead us to where we want to be.

I'd be satisfied with Hurley or Jackson as well. Please no Cluess, Pecora, etc.

I'll take Lav again, Pitino, Mark Jackson (who I wanted first time) or Hurley. No Cluess and no Pecora. Proven winners in NBA or high college. Build the program in all regards- win, get recruits and sell out MSG. More income means better facilities and raising our profile again. Get there by winning, flashy recruits and star power. And yes get GOOD staff around you too.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm just ready to win in a consistent level. Whoever it takes to do that they should bring in. We can win with 4 and 3 stars if the coaching is there. All three of the new big East programs have had more success than us since entering the league, and that just shouldn't be. We're a high major program in NYC for Christ sake. We play in the Garden. If we build a winning culture, we will land five stars every year it's that simple. We need a legit coach who can win with what we can get at the moment. Once we do that we'll be big time again. I say hire Pitino, just get it done. What he did is in the past, and he deserves a second chance. Besides we're a Catholic School if anyone should give him a second chance it's us.

Let's be honest.  Hurley is no upgrade over Mullin.  Not worse...but no upgrade.  At some point we'll be criticizing him for spending too much time reading tout sheets and going to the track.  You can bank on it.  His recruiters will be blamed for their inability to bring four and five star players to what's essentially been a mid major program in like, forever.  Look at UCONN in its mid-major conference.  We are...

Pitino.  This is the kind of slam dunk we need...and would never get.  If reports are true...Gempshaw didn't want Mike Rice here as an assistant because of "bad public relations".  Rice is John Wooden compared to Pitino.

Cluess.  He's won everywhere...but won what?  He's a mid-major success story and we're mid-major.  I get the sense that the delusional here and on the other site believe we can be another Villanova.  Once Wright leaves, the Big East will become an Atlantic 10 wannabe.

Mark Jackson.  We had two hall of famers in Mullin and Richmond to give the illusion we were "big time".  The problem is neither of them wanted to lower themselves to beg 16 year olds to come here.  Mark Jackson fits that profile.

...and please, no Duke types who want to be here until coach K is wheeled off the court with chest pains.

The Duke job will be Chris Collins or Wojo's to turn down at this point. For years people thought it was Johnny Dawkins but that is not happening.

The next St. John's coach will come from the Duke tree and I am excited about that. Like him or not Coach K is one of the 5 best ever - his teams always play hard and they are always prepared. Having a coach who learned the college game from him would be a great thing for the St. John's program

Pitini is a pipe dream and I think he would only get a sniff if they get turned down by a couple of people.

The ship be sinking.  Looks like another rebuild unless we hire Pitino.  Pitino would give us instant credibility on the recruiting trail and he could be a bridge to a younger coach in 5 or 6 years.  Hire anyone else and we can look forward to 2-3 years of misery at a minimum.

Mario Cuomo who loved Saint John’s and was a great representive for the school, was never embraced because of his pro choice stance...Rick Pitnio who has been mired in corruption and involved by an abortion scandal will be welcomed here with open arms?

Why would Mark Jackson come back to Queens with subpar facilities, answer to a AD, and than have to recruit a bunch of teenagers and babysit them. Some of the criticism of Mullin was that he was not engaged enough. You can’t treat these kids as professionals, Wouldn’t that annoy Jackson. His past would come up, would he want to deal with that.

Gempesaw is also under a lot of pressure. His contract is coming up, has there been any word of him getting extended? He burnt a lot of money with the Mullin experiment, as he cut everywhere else.

Cragg was hired for a reason but it would be a difficult hire that have to also no be controversial with outside of basketball exploits.

I don’t get why everyone is spending time talking about pitino.  It’s the issues with adidas and the recruiting violations at Louisville that are completely disqualifying...the chili’s incident and fallout may also be disqualifying but you never even need to consider it since the violations disqualify him immediately.

The Duke job will be Chris Collins or Wojo's to turn down at this point. For years people thought it was Johnny Dawkins but that is not happening.

The next St. John's coach will come from the Duke tree and I am excited about that. Like him or not Coach K is one of the 5 best ever - his teams always play hard and they are always prepared. Having a coach who learned the college game from him would be a great thing for the St. John's program

Pitini is a pipe dream and I think he would only get a sniff if they get turned down by a couple of people.

Agree that wojo and Collins are more likely than Hurley - hurley never coached under coach k.

That said I disagree about Dawkins.  If K retires in the next couple of years I could see Johnny come in with the hope that 5-10 years later wojo or Collins or someone else would be more ready for duke.

But if coach K retired tomorrow, I think the job is Capel’s.

I get the sense that the delusional here and on the other site believe we can be another Villanova.  Once Wright leaves, the Big East will become an Atlantic 10 wannabe.

Outside of Villanova being a better school, why can't St. John's be as good as Villanova. When Steve Lappas was there, St. John's was regularly better than Villanova and for the first 5 years of Wright's time at Nova. St. John's was the better program...  Jay is an amazing coach, great recruiter but don't forget, his seat was on fire at Nova in year 4...

St. John's had a better program for decades and Villanova has only emerged as a national power program because of Jay Wright.

The right hire can do that for St. John's.

I always liked Fran Frascilla!

Let's be honest.  Hurley is no upgrade over Mullin.  Not worse...but no upgrade.  At some point we'll be criticizing him for spending too much time reading tout sheets and going to the track.  You can bank on it.  His recruiters will be blamed for their inability to bring four and five star players to what's essentially been a mid major program in like, forever.  Look at UCONN in its mid-major conference.  We are...

Pitino.  This is the kind of slam dunk we need...and would never get.  If reports are true...Gempshaw didn't want Mike Rice here as an assistant because of "bad public relations".  Rice is John Wooden compared to Pitino.

Cluess.  He's won everywhere...but won what?  He's a mid-major success story and we're mid-major.  I get the sense that the delusional here and on the other site believe we can be another Villanova.  Once Wright leaves, the Big East will become an Atlantic 10 wannabe.

Mark Jackson.  We had two hall of famers in Mullin and Richmond to give the illusion we were "big time".  The problem is neither of them wanted to lower themselves to beg 16 year olds to come here.  Mark Jackson fits that profile.

...and please, no Duke types who want to be here until coach K is wheeled off the court with chest pains.

This is one of the worst posts I have ever seen on here

I don’t get why everyone is spending time talking about pitino.  It’s the issues with adidas and the recruiting violations at Louisville that are completely disqualifying...the chili’s incident and fallout may also be disqualifying but you never even need to consider it since the violations disqualify him immediately.

its the only way hes affordable. If you want nothing less than a guarantee winning program, you give him another change. F it man. Swing for the fences.  Within 3 years, we will be final 4 contenders. 



"But if college basketball has taught us anything, it’s that you can’t keep a shameless man down. With 351 programs in Division I alone, there was always the chance Pitino would be hired by a small-name program despite his history. Jim Harrick lied to NCAA investigators at UCLA and was hired at Rhode Island a year later. He got hit with a “show-cause” designation after creating fake classes for his players at Georgia, but still found his way onto Cal State Northridge’s staff for 2018.

Bruce Pearl got his own three-year show-cause penalty at Tennessee in 2011 and was coaching Auburn by 2014. Isiah Thomas ran the CBA and the Knicks into the ground while sexually harassing a coworker in New York and still got to coach Florida International for three excruciating years."

Rothstein on WFAN basically saying it's Hurley at the top of the list and Cluess right behind. So nothing that we didn't know basically but he's pretty adamant that Cluess would be right in the thick of it if Hurley somehow doesn't end up here

Mario Cuomo who loved Saint John’s and was a great representive for the school, was never embraced because of his pro choice stance...Rick Pitnio who has been mired in corruption and involved by an abortion scandal will be welcomed here with open arms?

Why would Mark Jackson come back to Queens with subpar facilities, answer to a AD, and than have to recruit a bunch of teenagers and babysit them. Some of the criticism of Mullin was that he was not engaged enough. You can’t treat these kids as professionals, Wouldn’t that annoy Jackson. His past would come up, would he want to deal with that.

Gempesaw is also under a lot of pressure. His contract is coming up, has there been any word of him getting extended? He burnt a lot of money with the Mullin experiment, as he cut everywhere else.

Cragg was hired for a reason but it would be a difficult hire that have to also no be controversial with outside of basketball exploits.

Good  points here but on the abortion thing- Pitino admitted to paying 3K to the woman, but believed it was for counseling, health insurance and medical care he did not actually admit it was directly for abortion despite the reports. That red flag is very significant as a Catholic school though. No tolerance for personal facilitation of abortion. That needs further investigation. I think thats more important than the dirty recruiting to be honest.

Mark Jackson- I think the HS kids would look up to him. He started the GS rise and that commands respect. He can also get away with strict discipline etc whereas thats tougher in pros. He knows his Xs and Os too and knows the area. Jackson may think this is a good opportunity to get his name back in a position more suitable for his talents.

With Dr. Gempesaw this is interesting part- I do not know about contract extensions, but I heard the school wanted to one day install Fr. Maher as Prez (who is now Prez at SJU sister school Niagara) once the books were in order like Gempesaw was to do. Anyone else hear that?

This is one of the worst posts I have ever seen on here

Would you care to expand on that?

Can't see forcing out CM to bring in Cleuss who is a good coach at at the mid major level but would at best be average at BE level IMO. If not Hurley maybe another with Dookie connections?