New Coach

Ask Pat Lyons at Seton Hall (ex-Iona  AD) about him. He gave Cluess the Iona job. Looks like he was right. Cluess did a better job than Willard at Iona. The guy is a winner. That’s the bottom line with him. He wins.

He'll lose out on local talent but it's also essential that st johns recruit at a nation wide level.  The local hs coaches can support Cluess all they want but I sincerely doubt the head coach at Oak Hill Academy has any idea who Tim Cluess is or how successful he was in the maac.

That's BS, the local coaches all support him, well would Molloy have sent Moses Brown or CTK Alkins? Hell no. Yes they will send their 3 stars to go to SJU when their best offer is Manhattan College.

If the staff is Hsu Borman Cluess and evenb GSJ I will give it a chance LOL   

The most important hire was Lou's replacement and we messed that up and pretty much messed up every once since

Fran
Jarvis
Roberts
Lavin
Mullin 

A variety of things happened on each hire but none really have worked out.

the one good thing about Mahoney is that he could recruit.  Lopez, Hamilton, Turner he just had no clue how to coach.  Fran was by far the best of them all and sadly his tenure was short

the one good thing about Mahoney is that he could recruit.  Lopez, Hamilton, Turner he just had no clue how to coach.  Fran was by far the best of them all and sadly his tenure was short

Mahoney brought in the talent and only David Cain saved his ass one year. Felipe and Zendon made one NCAA appearance and I think lost to Detroit in Chicago. I was there.

Fran was the most complete coach. Jarvis was the best x and o guy. Norm was the worst package. 

The point of showing that list is to point out that actually the majority weren't recruited by the coach you're on here pimping. Out of the top ten of your programs shitty recruiting history only 1, recruited almost a decade ago, was a high schooler recruited by cluess and his rank was 311th in the nation.

If we aren't getting 4 star level talent we will not be competitive in the big east.

So I'm not pimping the guy.  No one on here has the ability to hire him.  I tried to answer some questions.  I do wish him well.

Also you have to remember, what's most important about recruiting is finding players who fit what you do, have a good motor, and are coachable.  The numbers of stars next to their name by this recruiting service and that recruiting service, etc. are nice but don't tell the whole story.  As I said Machado had two stars and he's in the Laker organization now.  I hope it works out for you guys.  All the best.

So I'm not pimping the guy.  No one on here has the ability to hire him.  I tried to answer some questions.  I do wish him well.

Also you have to remember, what's most important about recruiting is finding players who fit what you do, have a good motor, and are coachable.  The numbers of stars next to their name by this recruiting service and that recruiting service, etc. are nice but don't tell the whole story.  As I said Machado had two stars and he's in the Laker organization now.  I hope it works out for you guys.  All the best.

Thanks for your input and sharing your experiences with us

Not saying Cluess is a bad choice, but if sju was going to go with a caretaker of sorts to stabilize things for 7 years or so, it should have hired Mckillop 4 years ago

Not saying Cluess is a bad choice, but if sju was going to go with a caretaker of sorts to stabilize things for 7 years or so, it should have hired Mckillop 4 years ago

Agree and he coaches at a higher level than Cluess

I remember when folks were calling for Bob Mckillop during the Norm era.  He was about 60 years old and was thought of as a successful coach who is a lifer as BB coach starting in HS on LI.  Cluess is almost a carbon copy of McKillop with a similar record at the mid major level and making post season.  Maybe Cluess should be considered in the same light.

Well that's the thing. If you want to hit a single and get to one, maybe two brief NCAA Tournament appearances and 3 NITs in the next 7 years then Cluess will probably be a solid hire.

Every coach since Lou including Mahoney (except Roberts) met the occasional 'brief NCAA tournament appearance and 3 NIT' criteria. Lavin delivered that and so would have Mullin. Other than DePaul - who also stinks - there's not a program in the conference that changes coaches the way St John's does. Either they retain coaches who are good enough (SH, Creighton) or they change only when forced to because their coaches move on (Butler, X, MU). Villanova has had three coaches since 1973 and one of those was Steve Lappas. I don't think there's no correspondence there. I loathed Steve Lavin but SJ would be better off today if he'd been retained five years ago and in five years SJ I'd bet would have been better off had Mullin been.

I reject this idea that it's tough to win at SJU. It's not. The school just hasn't hired a good coach in a quarter century. That said, I'm not delusional to think we can or will ever become a Villanova type power.

You can reject it but history says otherwise. SJU is a tough sell. It's not exactly an academic powerhouse, the facilities are antediluvian, Jamaica is a shit hole, the program has been for 20 years a laughingstock and the fan base is delusional. Half of me thinks no one should come here, recruit or coach, and I love the place. As much as I love anything anyway.   

But there's no reason why we can't experience Xavier level success over the span of a decade.

Again, middling programs like X and Butler that have had good enough success have had it because they make reasoned decisions about their staffing and once they make those reasoned decisions trust their reasoning. St John's makes hey look a squirrel decisions. Mickey Rooney showed more fidelity to his wives than St John's shows to its coaches. That's a problem and maybe the main one.

I understand where SJU is in the landscape of college basketball. I want a coach that will leave us for a better job after 6 years here.

I understand the sentiment but I don't. I'm too old to rebuild every five years.

Fran Frashchilla on coaching at St. John’s:

“There’s a lot of behind-the- scenes things about coaching at St. John’s that I wouldn’t wish on anybody.”

That would be our donors and so called insiders. This was essentially pre-internet too. It’s only become worse.

Fran Frashchilla on coaching at St. John’s:

“There’s a lot of behind-the- scenes things about coaching at St. John’s that I wouldn’t wish on anybody.”

That would be our donors and so called insiders. This was essentially pre-internet too. It’s only become worse.

Fran thinks it's bad here? I'm sure its 10x worse at the blue chip schools.  The whole state of Kentucky talks Wildcats basketball, and their alumni all think Calipari owes them something. Do alumni boosters not meddle at Georgetown?   I'm sure they do.
He needs to get over it.

Cragg got played

Cragg got played

Understatement of the year. He is an incompetent buffoon.

5 year extension for Hurley...

no Hurley lol

fire cragg immediately unless he pulls a rabbit out of his ass and gets Pitino (no chance)

Fran thinks it's bad here? I'm sure its 10x worse at the blue chip schools.  The whole state of Kentucky talks Wildcats basketball, and their alumni all think Calipari owes them something. Do alumni boosters not meddle at Georgetown?   I'm sure they do.
He needs to get over it.

It doesn't matter if UK's situation is worse, has nothing to do with SJU. There is a reason why we have sucked for last 20 years and its not all on the coaches. The culture here has to be a big part of the problem. I don't know who is behind the scenes outside of Gempshaw and Cragg, but they are killing this program. Cragg can't change it a few months, takes years to do it. Cluess should stay at Iona, this place will eat him up too.

Understatement of the year. He is an incompetent buffoon.

Trust the process.

Wow...we just got rid of Chris Mullin to hire Tim f'ing Cluess.

This is beyond pathetic. I guess we can finally embrace being a mid-major and nothing more.