Cluess

[quote="SJU1512" post=340654][quote="Monte" post=340633]

All valid points, but the reality is that few of us know what went on with CM and MC between the end of the year and when CM left. Maybe he asked for a few weeks to let the dust settle and for him to deal with the loss of his brother before discussing the future with MC? Maybe what CM asked for blindsided MC? Who really knows? Furthermore who’s to say that MC hasn’t been making inquiries to other coaches only to be rebuffed? On the surface this seems poorly handled, but again we don’t know what lays beneath the surface. We also don’t know where things stand at the moment with options besides Cluess. Hoping there’s a better candidate still being considered, but if Cluess turns out to be our new HC I’m ok with that[/quote]

Agree 100%, Monte. The issue I'm struggling with is coming up with a hypothetical scenario (since we don't know) where this couldn't have been handled better. We started getting jockeying on social media at about this time last week, so much so that the next day - on a Saturday, so clearly not planned - Cragg released a statement expressing support for Mullin. So at a minimum at that point he's on notice something is brewing. Even if Cragg was completely blind-sided by the Rothstein report and/or anything Mullin did as of Monday night, two things should have immediately occurred in my view:

1. Player's meeting at 8am Tuesday morning with Cragg to address with them completely the coaching situation, whatever it was at the time. Not doing so immediately was bordering on negligent.

2. Whether Bobby was or wasn't target #1, they needed to do something to pump the brakes in the media on it. It was literally Rothstein's next tweet that Bobby was the guy. They didn't control that narrative effectively at all, and at this point even if they GET Bobby it looks messy. This story was getting coverage, there are multiple CBB reporters willing to report leaks, there are ways savvy school administrators could have handled this fairly routinely.

Both of these things should have been done by Tuesday, and it was a massive 0-2 from Cragg. Clearly created player angst on 1, and made us look all or nothing on Bobby on 2 (which likely isn't even true). Very poor job and again even if this was reactive - which Cragg can't control - his reaction is within his control and doesn't seem he put SJU in position to maximize response.[/quote]
As s guy who has lauded Cragg frequently, I concur with your critique. The process was clearly flawed and worthy of criticism. I also do wonder if the hiring process ends with Tim Cluess.
 
Let me begin by saying that I have no inside knowledge, and I do not know any of the parties involved personally - not Mullin, Cragg, Cluess, Pitino - none of them. So this is just the opinion of one long-time Johnnies fan (I've been a fan since I was in HS and first watched almost those great Mullin/Berry/Wennington teams).

I feel badly Mullin had to go, and like almost everyone I wanted so badly for him to be a great coach here. I thought Lavin was never going to get us much past where he was his last few years - 20 or so wins, on one side or other of the bubble. Never bad teams, but never very good teams either. So we took a chance on the Crown Prince of St. John's basketball, betting that his HoF status, his NYC hoops legend, and legendary work ethic would get us where we all want to go. And what did we get when we finally had his most talented team with all his own players? Basically a Lavin season - 21-13, barely sneak into the Dance and then an early exit. Mullin simply saw the job differently than the way most coaches see it - and his delegating, NBA style is not conducive to the current college game.

Personally, I love the idea of Tim Cluess as the next coach.

1. He's a NY hoops lifer. He lives and breathes NYC basketball. Mullin has some of that as well, but he'd been away so long, his local ties were mostly by reputation only. Cluess knows the locals - and they know him.

2. He's already a successful head coach. Records don't lie - this guy knows what he's doing. And for those of us on this board who talk about the MAAC like it's Division III, ask Providence how they like Ed Cooley, and ask Iowa how they like Fran McCaffrey? We all think the Hall has the right coach - and where did Willard come from? How many times have those former MAAC coaches been to the Dance?

3. Most importantly, HE WANTS TO COACH HERE. This isn't going to be Fran who was looking for his next job from Day One he stepped on campus. It's not Jarvis, who always had an eye out for his next gig. Every coach says that their current job is their "dream job" and most of them are lying. But with Cluess don't you get the sense that this actually will be his dream job?

4. His teams plays an exciting brand of basketball. His players get up and down the floor, they cut and move the ball, and they score points. Today's players love that style of play. His lack of emphasis on defense will bother me sometimes, but I'll get over it. Do you know who else plays that exact style? Roy Williams at Carolina. When was the last time you watched Carolina and came away thinking, boy that's a great defensive team? Let me guess... Never. It appears Tar Heel fans have learned to live with it.

Given everything going on with his program, I say hire Tim Cluess today, get him two good assistants who will recruit their asses off for him, and let this man do his job.
 
[quote="Beast of the East" post=340668][quote="MCNPA" post=340665][quote="Section3" post=340661][quote="kranmars" post=340647]What I fear most if Cluess is the choice, is he will not get a honeymoon period. It wil not be his fault of course, but he will take the bullets from an angry alum/fanbase.

And I normally give coaches here time to put their stamp on the program before giving my opinion.

But admittedly, I will be one of the frustrated with a Cluess hire, and will have work cut out to in order to keep my composure.[/quote]
If it happens, most will get on board. But, there will not be much patience for lack recruiting and on court performance. Tough position for new coach, but it comes with gig.

The crux of the problem is we will not growing off of our end of year position....chances are we will be effectively starting over...fans don’t want to start over and can’t blame them. I hope I am wrong, but I just don’t see TC coming in and creating a recruiting buzz which is absolutely what we needed in addition to putting those pieces into a system that wins against the type of competition we will face.[/quote]

Recruiting buzz?? Our last staff didn’t even recruit!! Not one of em except Matt. It takes work to land recruits, not a buzz. Buzz has little to do with it.[/quote]

overexaggeration. GSJ did a limited amount of recruiting.[/quote]

He landed nobody. That’s not recruiting. FWIW I like GSJ. I have no problem with keeping him on staff.
 
[quote="RedStormNC" post=340328]Wonder if Cragg even knew who Tim Cluess was before he came to NY.

Just odd to me that the only names being tossed around are one Dookie from NJ and a local success w/ connections to school. Not that they are bad options, but would have hoped we'd be thinking broader. Must really be a tough job to fill.[/quote]

Doubtful. I spoke with a bunch of Duke, UNC, and NC State fans that are rabid college basketball fans and they laughed and said who when I mentioned Cluess.
 
[quote="MCNPA" post=340638][quote="sjc88" post=340632]I don’t see how hiring Cluess helps the recruiting problem. Let’s say you are a good PG. Not blue blood good but good. You are being recruited by Providence, Seton Hall and Georgetown. Who are you going with? Cooley, Willard, Ewing or Cluess? Most people don’t have a clue (no pun intended) who the hell Cluess is. Given the fact he is 60 year old coach he has been operating in relative obscurity he is basically unknown to kids and families. Even a massive effort is not going to close that gap.[/quote]

No recruits know who Nate Oats formerly of Buffalo is either. Cluess’ ties to NYC are very strong and all the coaches and players know who he is. What you’re saying is patently untrue. Willard was a nobody before he took the Hall job. Players come to play for good coaches period. It also takes an eye for talent which Cluess has. Some strong recruiting assistants and we will be landing players.[/quote]
You are way too optimistic. Please name the big recruits Cluess took from SJU? So what your saying is that before we even hire him he needs strong recruiting assistants? Is SJU willing to spend there as well? Last time we did that we ended up with the legendary Slice. I hope you are right but “we will be landing players” hasn't exactly been an SJU strength.
 
Here's my issue with Cluess - yes, he's won everywhere, but he's always had the most talented team (or close to it). I don't think that will be anywhere near the case at St. John's. Will he win enough here, with less talented players, to be able to bring in more talented players?
 
Hey Paultz, does your avatar mean that SJU just selected a new pope?

I think the university may have surrendered the coaching search and tried something easier.
 
Just playing devils advocate but what kind of players would you expect cluess to recruit to Iona? How bout the ones that are good enough to win the conference on a consistent basis.

And if your stance is that he’s always had the best players, well shit we’re gonna hold that against him too?
 
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Interesting exchange between Dick Vitale--who apparently is a fan of both Cluess AND Pitino--and Tim Brando, the Fox analyst who covered many of our games:

Dick Vitale‏Verified account @DickieV
The more I think of the @StJohnsBBall job TIM CLUESS would be a solid choice / he has taken Iona to @marchmadness 6 times ! Would bring PASSION & PRIDE as the leader of the Red Storm .@MikeVacc


Howie Schwab‏Verified account @howieschwab 13h13 hours ago
Replying to @DickieV @StJohnsBBall and
Nope

Tim Brando‏Verified account @TimBrando 13h13 hours ago
I’m with you Howie, to force Mullin out they @StJohnsBBall needed a home run hire. Tim’s a good Coach, but this is a tough sell.
 
Brilliant post and agree 100%

[quote="RedmanMike" post=340675]Let me begin by saying that I have no inside knowledge, and I do not know any of the parties involved personally - not Mullin, Cragg, Cluess, Pitino - none of them. So this is just the opinion of one long-time Johnnies fan (I've been a fan since I was in HS and first watched almost those great Mullin/Berry/Wennington teams).

I feel badly Mullin had to go, and like almost everyone I wanted so badly for him to be a great coach here. I thought Lavin was never going to get us much past where he was his last few years - 20 or so wins, on one side or other of the bubble. Never bad teams, but never very good teams either. So we took a chance on the Crown Prince of St. John's basketball, betting that his HoF status, his NYC hoops legend, and legendary work ethic would get us where we all want to go. And what did we get when we finally had his most talented team with all his own players? Basically a Lavin season - 21-13, barely sneak into the Dance and then an early exit. Mullin simply saw the job differently than the way most coaches see it - and his delegating, NBA style is not conducive to the current college game.

Personally, I love the idea of Tim Cluess as the next coach.

1. He's a NY hoops lifer. He lives and breathes NYC basketball. Mullin has some of that as well, but he'd been away so long, his local ties were mostly by reputation only. Cluess knows the locals - and they know him.

2. He's already a successful head coach. Records don't lie - this guy knows what he's doing. And for those of us on this board who talk about the MAAC like it's Division III, ask Providence how they like Ed Cooley, and ask Iowa how they like Fran McCaffrey? We all think the Hall has the right coach - and where did Willard come from? How many times have those former MAAC coaches been to the Dance?

3. Most importantly, HE WANTS TO COACH HERE. This isn't going to be Fran who was looking for his next job from Day One he stepped on campus. It's not Jarvis, who always had an eye out for his next gig. Every coach says that their current job is their "dream job" and most of them are lying. But with Cluess don't you get the sense that this actually will be his dream job?

4. His teams plays an exciting brand of basketball. His players get up and down the floor, they cut and move the ball, and they score points. Today's players love that style of play. His lack of emphasis on defense will bother me sometimes, but I'll get over it. Do you know who else plays that exact style? Roy Williams at Carolina. When was the last time you watched Carolina and came away thinking, boy that's a great defensive team? Let me guess... Never. It appears Tar Heel fans have learned to live with it.

Given everything going on with his program, I say hire Tim Cluess today, get him two good assistants who will recruit their asses off for him, and let this man do his job.[/quote]
 
[quote="Paultzman" post=340674][quote="SJU1512" post=340654][quote="Monte" post=340633]

All valid points, but the reality is that few of us know what went on with CM and MC between the end of the year and when CM left. Maybe he asked for a few weeks to let the dust settle and for him to deal with the loss of his brother before discussing the future with MC? Maybe what CM asked for blindsided MC? Who really knows? Furthermore who’s to say that MC hasn’t been making inquiries to other coaches only to be rebuffed? On the surface this seems poorly handled, but again we don’t know what lays beneath the surface. We also don’t know where things stand at the moment with options besides Cluess. Hoping there’s a better candidate still being considered, but if Cluess turns out to be our new HC I’m ok with that[/quote]

Agree 100%, Monte. The issue I'm struggling with is coming up with a hypothetical scenario (since we don't know) where this couldn't have been handled better. We started getting jockeying on social media at about this time last week, so much so that the next day - on a Saturday, so clearly not planned - Cragg released a statement expressing support for Mullin. So at a minimum at that point he's on notice something is brewing. Even if Cragg was completely blind-sided by the Rothstein report and/or anything Mullin did as of Monday night, two things should have immediately occurred in my view:

1. Player's meeting at 8am Tuesday morning with Cragg to address with them completely the coaching situation, whatever it was at the time. Not doing so immediately was bordering on negligent.

2. Whether Bobby was or wasn't target #1, they needed to do something to pump the brakes in the media on it. It was literally Rothstein's next tweet that Bobby was the guy. They didn't control that narrative effectively at all, and at this point even if they GET Bobby it looks messy. This story was getting coverage, there are multiple CBB reporters willing to report leaks, there are ways savvy school administrators could have handled this fairly routinely.

Both of these things should have been done by Tuesday, and it was a massive 0-2 from Cragg. Clearly created player angst on 1, and made us look all or nothing on Bobby on 2 (which likely isn't even true). Very poor job and again even if this was reactive - which Cragg can't control - his reaction is within his control and doesn't seem he put SJU in position to maximize response.[/quote]
As s guy who has lauded Cragg frequently, I concur with your critique. The process was clearly flawed and worthy of criticism. I also do wonder if the hiring process ends with Tim Cluess.[/quote]

For a guy with so much experience, Cragg has really botched this big time
I don't think Hurley ever had an interest in St John's but used us to get more ASU $$$
In the interim, we lost players and still may lose more due to lack of communication
And we still don't have a coach in place
This wouldn't have happened at Duke
 
"I also do wonder if the hiring process ends with Tim Cluess" this from the sly and discreet Paultz, plus the Iona statement may portend that there's something else afoot.. But...?.
 
[quote="Paultzman" post=340674]

As s guy who has lauded Cragg frequently, I concur with your critique. The process was clearly flawed and worthy of criticism. I also do wonder if the hiring process ends with Tim Cluess.[/quote]

I'm right there with you Paultz re: Cragg. Seemed he was doing superb job and supported Mullin move. First crack for me was the player communication. Just struck me as odd as that's blocking and tackling. Second was no effective control of media narrative re: Bobby. Slightly more challenging but also not overly complicated for seasoned administrator. Now it seems same is happening again with Cluess.

Still time for him to right the ship and wash stink off this volatile week. Media narrative can be important but means nothing if you make the right hire. I'm just hoping lack of controlling it isn't reflective of being in over head. More importantly unfortunately don't get a re-do on player communication. That was awful. But mistakes happen and really rooting for him to get this right and demonstrate he's polished leader we thought we were getting.
 
Iona statement translated......

"Hey St. John's, you know this stuff is all over the internet, how about having the decency to pick up the phone and let us know you're interested in our coach. Not sure if you're aware, but he is under contract so you'll eventually be going through us anyway".
 
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To say that Cragg mishandled this situation is a huge understatement. To make it worse, I’m told that it was Cragg and not Mullin’s camp that told Rothstein about Mullin’s plan to step down contrary to what was previously assumed. Yet another miscalculation on Cragg’s part.

Some of this stuff can be chalked up to inexperience on his part, but other aspects were foreseeable to even a complete novice. As a previous poster just opined, failing to control the narrative on his obsession over Hurley was bizarre. It’s human nature for the object of that kind of sudden attention to step back. It also led ASU to make an aggressive push to defend its employee. Again, human nature.

I don’t know about other posters but some combination of bias, naivety, and personal experience has kept me from fully realizing just how inferior Big East jobs are to even second tier state schools. That reality was thinly veiled, but Cragg ripped off that veil and left no doubt to the rest of college basketball.

It’s one thing to fail with schmucks like Wegrzyn leading the way or a having a president completely unqualified in athletics making the hire, but Cragg is supposed to be a legit administrator. Nope.
 
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