Trying to figure out how all this has happened, we have to back up a few steps.
When Father Harrington was appropriately retired by the BOT in 2013, a new problem existed. Among Vincentian priests, a ready and willing qualified individual to replace him did not exist. The BOT took the bold step of hiring a layperson to assume the role. Though not a perfect hire by any means, Gempeshaw helped weather a financial storm which included a significant unanticipated drop in enrollment and a stock market correction hitting our endowment.
When Bobby G retired in 2020, the predictable hire would have been Father James Maher, at that point experienced enough after 4 years at Niagara, and a Vincentian at that. I don't know the details of whys and hows, but we were headed for another lay president, someone who checked certain boxes.
Instead the BOT made the most unusual move of reaching out to a priest of a different order, a Dominican who himself had just been fired. The reasons are worth discussing, but not here. Father Shanley was interested, experienced, and his order agreed to release him.
At 61, Shanley had gas in the tank, though his term would be shorter than most even if successful. He immediately set out to restore broken connections to big donors, which for universities, fuels a lot of development. A new health science building was backed by a low key major donor to the tune of $20 million, which included $5 million in scholarship. So humble and generous, that donor declined to put their family name on another building.
When yet another great red hope failed as men's basketball coach in 2023, the school under Shanley's direction, basically created two lists of candidates: tried and true winners, skys the limit talent; and up and coming mid major guys. Pitino was deemed off limits, but a Pitino disciple who was an nba coach with Providence ties (whose own job was in jeopardy) was a pie in the sky candidate. The rest is conjecture, but I believe when that guy turned us down, he strongly encouraged Shanley to consider CRP. Others reached out to Shanley to pitch Rick. The rest we know about.
The beverage king was also a pariah at that point but our former AD was the sole Johnny to keep a flicker of relationship alive. Shanley with new interest in Pitino, knew he needed the beverage king, who became greatly interested in helping st john's once his friend and HOF coach was hired. The stars aligned and the two formative pieces were in place.
Pitino as it has turned out, has shown us just how great a coach he is and why. He built a great infrastructure of talented assistants who are given specific roles to fulfill. His work ethic and passion even even 72 is unparalelled. He coaches x's and o's, he teaches, he does game prep. He promotes the hell out of the program, he engages donors. Oh yea, and he can sell sju and msg and the bright lights of nyc to transfers better than anyone.
So the staff, including all assistants and Matt, and our biggest donors, including a few megadonors, and the collectives are all on board.
Success begets success and in this era of open transfers, big NIL $$, as surely as the tide ruhes in and washes out, so will new and better players come in, and lesser players with eligibility wash out. Fact of life. Get over it, or find snother sport to root for.
But congrats as Mike says, to Shanley, and Rick, and every critical person that has figured out how to make this work st St John's. I suspect our success caused Nova to hire a winner who doesn't exactly fit Novas culture.
Right now we take a back seat to no one in terms of atteacting talent. With budgets soon to bust 8 figures at the wealthiest programs, we have a donor who spent $100 million on a racing stable, and that was before he bought and sold Pirate snack food or built and sold an even bigger beverage company. He now owns the future of our franchise, at a fraction of what Steve Cohen paid for the Mets.