As mentioned on Redmen by newsman13 and fun - there's no ultimatum in what Monasch said. Just an expectation. I think Monasch might duck the interview in that scenario; but I don't think there's anything for Monasch to be "bound" by.
I'm interested in how this plays out, though. St. John's COULD win a number of games in the Big East this year. There are teams that are good that will have off nights or won't fare well in a wrestling match against Sean Evans; I think the first week of BE play has been nice and won't tell the whole story. Last year, with the exception of Georgetown's beating U Conn and then getting too drunk to play team ball, the league was kind of static. There were the haves, the have nots, and Providence. You could have called, with some accuracy, the finish in the league.
I don't know if you can do that this year. Doesn't mean the Red Storm will get to 9-9, but it does mean there is talent parity. Rutgers looks like kind of a tough out if they can figure out what to do without Echinique. Unfortunately, St. John's doesn't have size to contend with... that game might be tougher than we'd originally think.