Coaching Staff

[usguard]

Don't see any reason for people to be critical of players/coaching staff. First it was the defense that was a major concern, 1 week later it's the offense.

Some of us were hopeful the team would exceed expectations this season but in reality whether or not that happens is absolutely irrelevant. It took Jay Wright 4 years to get to the NCAA tournament at Nova I believe. This staff is in it for the long haul, and have a plan to build the program 1 recruiting class at a time for sustained success. Anyone who has their doubts this early is over-reactionary IMO.

You absolutely nailed it; great post

As I said, I FOR ONE AM NOT BEING CRITiCAL OF STAFF ONLY SAYING THEY HAVE TO BE ACCOUNTABLE for progress from day 1 and yes players are better but we are still losing,and yes they are young but they are playing as if they do not have a coach or perhaps do not listen or a game plan when things go south. Just saying what if we wind up with the same record as last yr what changes do we make not of personnel but how we are approaching games namely after each loss what we then do differently? Do not see a difference from game one other than we some how are shooting and passing and defending is worse THINK WE ALL AGREE NEXT YR WE HOPE will be the yr we make a big move But until then was expecting more from this team .I hope they determine what has been going wrong.
We all knew Sima and Yawke were not offensive players then sure be more domimate in every game regarding stop drives ,blocks and rebounding. We had games when our 6 foot guards did more off the glass I just want to see our team go forward each game learn from the previous and progress. We are so soft up front can not see them turn from lambs too tigers The change can be accomplished but will probably take the rest of the yr

 

[Mean Gene]

Truth be told. Still too early to judge staff one way or another.

Not necessarily Rich. Just look at their porous defense, especially allowing the guards to penetrate and shoot from 3 feet out.. And as far as x & o's we look like a freelance and school yard offense.

Absolutely amazing we hung with 4 pretty good (not great) teams with just an abysmal team and coaching staff. Dumb luck?? No offense or defense, how did we possibly do it?

Michigan State, VCU and ODU. Agree good teams but probably will not finish in top 25.

Izzo will keep this team in the Top 25. They are young and they will improve as the year goes on. VCU has been a high quality program for a while now and ODU is much better than people think. We had the lead on all these teams and played them tough. Talk to me about this St. Johns team in February. That's when we will really know how much we are improving. All I know is last year we get totally blown out in all of these games. The 3pt shot is the great equalizer in college basketball, We have four guys who can hit them in Lovett, Ponds, Mussini and Ahmed. We have three guys underneath who can block shots and protect the rim to a certain extent in Sima, Yakwe and Owen. this means that we will not get blown out od any games this year. The issue is that we are young and now have to learn to put it together for 40 minutes and close out games. I think if we have Simon, Clark and Brown we win all four of these games. Give it time. How many years did it take Coach K and Jay Wright?

 

[otis]

Give it time. How many years did it take Coach K and Jay Wright?

Not sure about the relevancy of your references to Coach K and Jay Wright.

Both K & Wright made a post season tournament their first year at their respective colleges.

Neither K nor Wright inherited rosters with the level of depleted talent as Mullin inherited from the TV Announcer. Duke was in the Elite 8 with a 24 - 9 record the year prior to K taking over. Wright inherited an that had finished 18 - 13 and had played in the post season. Mullen inherited just 3 practice players (non starters) when the TV Announcer was fired.

 

[austour]

And both K and Wright had head coaching experience before getting hired so their were known quantities. Personally I just hope Mullin doesn't get discouraged like Drexler did and quit after two years since they'll have about the same amount of wins after two years. Fare more valid comparison.

 

[boo haarvey]

Give it time. How many years did it take Coach K and Jay Wright?

Not sure about the relevancy of your references to Coach K and Jay Wright.

Both K & Wright made a post season tournament their first year at their respective colleges.

Neither K nor Wright inherited rosters with the level of depleted talent as Mullin inherited from the TV Announcer. Duke was in the Elite 8 with a 24 - 9 record the year prior to K taking over. Wright inherited an that had finished 18 - 13 and had played in the post season. Mullen inherited just 3 practice players (non starters) when the TV Announcer was fired.

That's an interesting fact about Duke. I had always thought that Coach K had resurrected the program. Apparently the previous year's team was pre-season ranked number 3 in the country and was even ranked number 1 at one point in the season.

 

[Joeche]

Hahaha!

 

[redmannorth]

Many of you are very quick to knock the coaching staff and expect a minimum of 16 wins or more this season with our very young roster which returns 1 starter , a very raw Yankuba Sima.
Well in 1988 we were in a very similiar situation. Our hall of fame coach started 3 freshman , a junior who sat out his freshman season due to proposition 48 and a fifth year senior who had rarely played.
That team won 15 games, 15 games.
They started top 100 recruit Jayson Williams who had a very good NBA career.
MCAA freshman Malik Sealy , one of the best players to ever play for St. John's who had a good NBA career until he was killed by a drunk driver.
MCAA freshman Robert Werdan who had an injury plagued career at St. John's but who did play in the NBA.
Freshman Jason Buchanan who we were able to pry from hometown Syracuse at the last minute as we had way more pt to offer after Harvey and Porter were ruled ineligible, who had a very solid 4 year career.
And fun's all time favourite Matt Brust , a transfer from North Carolina.
My point being that team had 3 NBA players plus Billy Singleton, etc. They had a hall of fame coach and far more talent which I think everyone will acknowledge.
They finished 8th in the big east and won a total of 15 games after the big east tournament had ended.
So please calm down and appreciate what we have and the progress that is being made.
As a side note in those days 15 wins got the home town team into the NIT , where we won 5 straight , so after the post season we had 20 wins

 

[Mean Gene]

Many of you are very quick to knock the coaching staff and expect a minimum of 16 wins or more this season with our very young roster which returns 1 starter , a very raw Yankuba Sima.
Well in 1988 we were in a very similiar situation. Our hall of fame coach started 3 freshman , a junior who sat out his freshman season due to proposition 48 and a fifth year senior who had rarely played.
That team won 15 games, 15 games.
They started top 100 recruit Jayson Williams who had a very good NBA career.
MCAA freshman Malik Sealy , one of the best players to ever play for St. John's who had a good NBA career until he was killed by a drunk driver.
MCAA freshman Robert Werdan who had an injury plagued career at St. John's but who did play in the NBA.
Freshman Jason Buchanan who we were able to pry from hometown Syracuse at the last minute as we had way more pt to offer after Harvey and Porter were ruled ineligible, who had a very solid 4 year career.
And fun's all time favourite Matt Brust , a transfer from North Carolina.
My point being that team had 3 NBA players plus Billy Singleton, etc. They had a hall of fame coach and far more talent which I think everyone will acknowledge.
They finished 8th in the big east and won a total of 15 games after the big east tournament had ended.
So please calm down and appreciate what we have and the progress that is being made.
As a side note in those days 15 wins got the home town team into the NIT , where we won 5 straight , so after the post season we had 20 wins

+1

 

[mjmaherjr]

Many of you are very quick to knock the coaching staff and expect a minimum of 16 wins or more this season with our very young roster which returns 1 starter , a very raw Yankuba Sima.
Well in 1988 we were in a very similiar situation. Our hall of fame coach started 3 freshman , a junior who sat out his freshman season due to proposition 48 and a fifth year senior who had rarely played.
That team won 15 games, 15 games.
They started top 100 recruit Jayson Williams who had a very good NBA career.
MCAA freshman Malik Sealy , one of the best players to ever play for St. John's who had a good NBA career until he was killed by a drunk driver.
MCAA freshman Robert Werdan who had an injury plagued career at St. John's but who did play in the NBA.
Freshman Jason Buchanan who we were able to pry from hometown Syracuse at the last minute as we had way more pt to offer after Harvey and Porter were ruled ineligible, who had a very solid 4 year career.
And fun's all time favourite Matt Brust , a transfer from North Carolina.
My point being that team had 3 NBA players plus Billy Singleton, etc. They had a hall of fame coach and far more talent which I think everyone will acknowledge.
They finished 8th in the big east and won a total of 15 games after the big east tournament had ended.
So please calm down and appreciate what we have and the progress that is being made.
As a side note in those days 15 wins got the home town team into the NIT , where we won 5 straight , so after the post season we had 20 wins

That was my freshman year. Coincidentally my parents were cleaning out more stuff from the house today and found more old redmen stuff from when I was in school. One was a shirt from that year that said NIT champs and had redmen on the sleeves and 2 redmen hats that I now can replace with the 1 that flew off my head in the ocean off the coast of Peru a couple months ago. Ironically I just bought a freaking redmen hat that was never used on eBay this past week

 

[Class of 72]

One of the keys to getting the team to gel is getting the players to play to their individual strengths. That means players like Sima should not be taking 15 foot shots. The staff has to recognize that although Ellison is 6'6 that is where any comparison ends to Lonzo Ball. Malik is not a heads up player nor a dead eye shooter. He is simply playing too many minutes that are filled with wasted possessions. I think once Bashir Ahmed calms down and commits fewer fouls we will see less of Malik. Like it or not, this is a three man team offensively. However the coaches need to find plays for Sima and Yakwe inside. Adding a couple of more offensive threats next year will get more players involved in the offense but we can't expect 3 star players to have any impact with rookie coaches. Alibegovic, Ellison, Williams, Freudenberg, Sima, Mussini and Yakwe likely would not be starters on most other Big East teams. Five have started at St. John's at one point so the depth is just not there yet. While recruiting has been good, it actually needs to be a little better for an inexperienced staff.

 

[SJU1512]

One of the keys to getting the team to gel is getting the players to play to their individual strengths. That means players like Sima should not be taking 15 foot shots. The staff has to recognize that although Ellison is 6'6 that is where any comparison ends to Lonzo Ball. Malik is not a heads up player nor a dead eye shooter. He is simply playing too many minutes that are filled with wasted possessions. I think once Bashir Ahmed calms down and commits fewer fouls we will see less of Malik. Like it or not, this is a three man team offensively. However the coaches need to find plays for Sima and Yakwe inside. Adding a couple of more offensive threats next year will get more players involved in the offense but we can't expect 3 star players to have any impact with rookie coaches. Alibegovic, Ellison, Williams, Freudenberg, Sima, Mussini and Yakwe likely would not be starters on most other Big East teams. Five have started at St. John's at one point so the depth is just not there yet. While recruiting has been good, it actually needs to be a little better for an inexperienced staff.

Great point. I think you can be generally optimistic about the trajectory of the program under this staff and want to see incremental improvement from them (and the team) at the same time. With respect to the latter, I don't know if there is lower hanging fruit for the coaches than to better define roles for players and to get players playing within those roles more consistently. Way too many low percentage plays that borderline amount to turnovers being made on the offensive end, and it's little more than players attempting plays (sometimes way) outside of what they do as you described in a few examples above. This is about definition and discipline and should be a relatively easy fix in comparison to some of the other things we have going on.

 

[Red.Fans]

we've seen flashes of great things against good and bad teams beyond just individual stats. we've also seen them collapse on both offense and defense. lack of discipline is both obvious and expected. how much that is on the staff I think will be better judged at the end of the season when we can gauge incremental progress which is what you want from Freshmen and Sophs. IMHO the defense has definitely improved.

ODU btw not a horrible team but with a veteran coach with strong ACC history, that plays a very disciplined style. Pretty much a perfect (S) storm for our young guys with tired legs playing for last place.

maturity ---> discipline

 

[MainMan]

we've seen flashes of great things against good and bad teams beyond just individual stats. we've also seen them collapse on both offense and defense. lack of discipline is both obvious and expected. how much that is on the staff I think will be better judged at the end of the season when we can gauge incremental progress which is what you want from Freshmen and Sophs. IMHO the defense has definitely improved.

ODU btw not a horrible team but with a veteran coach with strong ACC history, that plays a very disciplined style. Pretty much a perfect (S) storm for our young guys with tired legs playing for last place.

maturity ---> discipline

My eyes get a little misty each time a read a measured, well-reasoned assessment of a St. John's team.

 

[beast of the east]

When we speak about this staff, I really don't think it's fair to relate it to wins or losses. My high water mark for this team was .500 overall, with anything above that really promising. I hoped for 13-14 wins, and felt that left than 13 would be a disappointment. That being said, wins and losses relative to our talent gaps is one thing. The ability to actually be competent coaches is another.

You don't measure a coaches ability by a winning record, and you don't necessarily judge him on a losing record.

However, the comments here that talent will solve everything are misguided. Long time D1 coaches, even the mediocre to fair ones, have a baseline of basketball ability and in game coaching ability. They see the game within the game and make adjustments constantly to try to negate opponent's advantages or correct something not going right on the court. You can do that when you are winning by 25, and you can do that when you are losing by 25 - both when the outcomes are not seriously in doubt.

It's actually more than fair for guys who really understand basketball to be both supportive of in game coaching, or critical of in game coaching even if our team is not going to be very good this season. I'm not a big fan of thinking time will automatically make our coaches better coaches, or that better players will make them better. If I see something I don't like, it's fair to comment.

I've always been uncomfortable with the lack of experience on Mullin's staff. Matt appears to be a workhorse of a recruiter, and Ponds and Lovett are great finds, but wasn't Lovett an SL recruit? Until guys come here and prove they can play, they are just nice recruits, not nice players. The rest of the staff? Well, I don't mind St. Jean on staff, but certainly not as the basketball brains of the operation. Richmond? Well maybe if Richmond played here and we had an experienced head coach would I give him bench space, but certainly not an important, high paying role when our HC has no experience. I mean geez, since when does an entry level coach hire an entry level assistant. I don't buy for one second how making the NBA HOF credentials you as a coach. If that were the case, we should have hired Jordan and be done with it. The Yankees would have hired Babe Ruth and won 55 World Champsionships, etc, etc etc.

Mullin is getting a great shot to coach a big time program, which I was certainly the biggest cheerleader for. There are certainly worrisome signs that he may not possess coaching acumen in his bag of talents. Certainly bickering with refs when you should be coaching is something guys (like me) did when they had nothing serious to offer in the huddle or sidelines. I mean, everyone can bitch that it wasn't travelling or a foul, right?

I have a friend from SJU who believe it or not was a damned cheerleader. Pretty awful athlete and basketball player. I mean I never even saw him in a pickup game at Alumni Hall. He wanted to be a coach, though, went to a zillion clinics, made contacts, and eventually got a D2 job where did lasted 20+ years and was pretty respected by his peers. I hope Mullin is doing the same, but it's really hard for a high profile HOFer coaching a very visible D1 program to go to a clinic to learn how to coach.

I guess like the rest of us I have no choice to wait and see if more talent will make this staff look a lot better. Until then, the jury will be out with all sorts of conjecture as to whether CM can get the job done.

While I wouldn't bet against it, at this point, I also wouldn't bet for it. I just haven't seen enough good things to give me the warm and fuzzies.

 

[bamafan]

When we speak about this staff, I really don't think it's fair to relate it to wins or losses. My high water mark for this team was .500 overall, with anything above that really promising. I hoped for 13-14 wins, and felt that left than 13 would be a disappointment. That being said, wins and losses relative to our talent gaps is one thing. The ability to actually be competent coaches is another.

You don't measure a coaches ability by a winning record, and you don't necessarily judge him on a losing record.

However, the comments here that talent will solve everything are misguided. Long time D1 coaches, even the mediocre to fair ones, have a baseline of basketball ability and in game coaching ability. They see the game within the game and make adjustments constantly to try to negate opponent's advantages or correct something not going right on the court. You can do that when you are winning by 25, and you can do that when you are losing by 25 - both when the outcomes are not seriously in doubt.

It's actually more than fair for guys who really understand basketball to be both supportive of in game coaching, or critical of in game coaching even if our team is not going to be very good this season. I'm not a big fan of thinking time will automatically make our coaches better coaches, or that better players will make them better. If I see something I don't like, it's fair to comment.

I've always been uncomfortable with the lack of experience on Mullin's staff. Matt appears to be a workhorse of a recruiter, and Ponds and Lovett are great finds, but wasn't Lovett an SL recruit? Until guys come here and prove they can play, they are just nice recruits, not nice players. The rest of the staff? Well, I don't mind St. Jean on staff, but certainly not as the basketball brains of the operation. Richmond? Well maybe if Richmond played here and we had an experienced head coach would I give him bench space, but certainly not an important, high paying role when our HC has no experience. I mean geez, since when does an entry level coach hire an entry level assistant. I don't buy for one second how making the NBA HOF credentials you as a coach. If that were the case, we should have hired Jordan and be done with it. The Yankees would have hired Babe Ruth and won 55 World Champsionships, etc, etc etc.

Mullin is getting a great shot to coach a big time program, which I was certainly the biggest cheerleader for. There are certainly worrisome signs that he may not possess coaching acumen in his bag of talents. Certainly bickering with refs when you should be coaching is something guys (like me) did when they had nothing serious to offer in the huddle or sidelines. I mean, everyone can bitch that it wasn't travelling or a foul, right?

I have a friend from SJU who believe it or not was a damned cheerleader. Pretty awful athlete and basketball player. I mean I never even saw him in a pickup game at Alumni Hall. He wanted to be a coach, though, went to a zillion clinics, made contacts, and eventually got a D2 job where did lasted 20+ years and was pretty respected by his peers. I hope Mullin is doing the same, but it's really hard for a high profile HOFer coaching a very visible D1 program to go to a clinic to learn how to coach.

I guess like the rest of us I have no choice to wait and see if more talent will make this staff look a lot better. Until then, the jury will be out with all sorts of conjecture as to whether CM can get the job done.

While I wouldn't bet against it, at this point, I also wouldn't bet for it. I just haven't seen enough good things to give me the warm and fuzzies.

We waited for Mahoney. FF axed after year 2. Jarvis had program on downward trajectory. We waited for Roberts. Lavin had us on a downward trajectory. Now we wait for Mullin with nothing close to assurances he will be successful. Been a long 25 years since Louie being a St. John's fan. When will it be our turn? Will it ever be our turn again? Some of us ain't getting any younger.

 

[ras]

When we speak about this staff, I really don't think it's fair to relate it to wins or losses. My high water mark for this team was .500 overall, with anything above that really promising. I hoped for 13-14 wins, and felt that left than 13 would be a disappointment. That being said, wins and losses relative to our talent gaps is one thing. The ability to actually be competent coaches is another.

You don't measure a coaches ability by a winning record, and you don't necessarily judge him on a losing record.

However, the comments here that talent will solve everything are misguided. Long time D1 coaches, even the mediocre to fair ones, have a baseline of basketball ability and in game coaching ability. They see the game within the game and make adjustments constantly to try to negate opponent's advantages or correct something not going right on the court. You can do that when you are winning by 25, and you can do that when you are losing by 25 - both when the outcomes are not seriously in doubt.

It's actually more than fair for guys who really understand basketball to be both supportive of in game coaching, or critical of in game coaching even if our team is not going to be very good this season. I'm not a big fan of thinking time will automatically make our coaches better coaches, or that better players will make them better. If I see something I don't like, it's fair to comment.

I've always been uncomfortable with the lack of experience on Mullin's staff. Matt appears to be a workhorse of a recruiter, and Ponds and Lovett are great finds, but wasn't Lovett an SL recruit? Until guys come here and prove they can play, they are just nice recruits, not nice players. The rest of the staff? Well, I don't mind St. Jean on staff, but certainly not as the basketball brains of the operation. Richmond? Well maybe if Richmond played here and we had an experienced head coach would I give him bench space, but certainly not an important, high paying role when our HC has no experience. I mean geez, since when does an entry level coach hire an entry level assistant. I don't buy for one second how making the NBA HOF credentials you as a coach. If that were the case, we should have hired Jordan and be done with it. The Yankees would have hired Babe Ruth and won 55 World Champsionships, etc, etc etc.

Mullin is getting a great shot to coach a big time program, which I was certainly the biggest cheerleader for. There are certainly worrisome signs that he may not possess coaching acumen in his bag of talents. Certainly bickering with refs when you should be coaching is something guys (like me) did when they had nothing serious to offer in the huddle or sidelines. I mean, everyone can bitch that it wasn't travelling or a foul, right?

I have a friend from SJU who believe it or not was a damned cheerleader. Pretty awful athlete and basketball player. I mean I never even saw him in a pickup game at Alumni Hall. He wanted to be a coach, though, went to a zillion clinics, made contacts, and eventually got a D2 job where did lasted 20+ years and was pretty respected by his peers. I hope Mullin is doing the same, but it's really hard for a high profile HOFer coaching a very visible D1 program to go to a clinic to learn how to coach.

I guess like the rest of us I have no choice to wait and see if more talent will make this staff look a lot better. Until then, the jury will be out with all sorts of conjecture as to whether CM can get the job done.

While I wouldn't bet against it, at this point, I also wouldn't bet for it. I just haven't seen enough good things to give me the warm and fuzzies.

We waited for Mahoney. FF axed after year 2. Jarvis had program on downward trajectory. We waited for Roberts. Lavin had us on a downward trajectory. Now we wait for Mullin with nothing close to assurances he will be successful. Been a long 25 years since Louie being a St. John's fan. When will it be our turn? Will it ever be our turn again? Some of us ain't getting any younger.

I like Mitch. But, I agree he does not compliment Mullin well. I also would have liked to see exp. Mike Rice would have been a good compliment to Mullin. IMO.

 

[rcatalano]

When we speak about this staff, I really don't think it's fair to relate it to wins or losses. My high water mark for this team was .500 overall, with anything above that really promising. I hoped for 13-14 wins, and felt that left than 13 would be a disappointment. That being said, wins and losses relative to our talent gaps is one thing. The ability to actually be competent coaches is another.

You don't measure a coaches ability by a winning record, and you don't necessarily judge him on a losing record.

However, the comments here that talent will solve everything are misguided. Long time D1 coaches, even the mediocre to fair ones, have a baseline of basketball ability and in game coaching ability. They see the game within the game and make adjustments constantly to try to negate opponent's advantages or correct something not going right on the court. You can do that when you are winning by 25, and you can do that when you are losing by 25 - both when the outcomes are not seriously in doubt.

It's actually more than fair for guys who really understand basketball to be both supportive of in game coaching, or critical of in game coaching even if our team is not going to be very good this season. I'm not a big fan of thinking time will automatically make our coaches better coaches, or that better players will make them better. If I see something I don't like, it's fair to comment.

I've always been uncomfortable with the lack of experience on Mullin's staff. Matt appears to be a workhorse of a recruiter, and Ponds and Lovett are great finds, but wasn't Lovett an SL recruit? Until guys come here and prove they can play, they are just nice recruits, not nice players. The rest of the staff? Well, I don't mind St. Jean on staff, but certainly not as the basketball brains of the operation. Richmond? Well maybe if Richmond played here and we had an experienced head coach would I give him bench space, but certainly not an important, high paying role when our HC has no experience. I mean geez, since when does an entry level coach hire an entry level assistant. I don't buy for one second how making the NBA HOF credentials you as a coach. If that were the case, we should have hired Jordan and be done with it. The Yankees would have hired Babe Ruth and won 55 World Champsionships, etc, etc etc.

Mullin is getting a great shot to coach a big time program, which I was certainly the biggest cheerleader for. There are certainly worrisome signs that he may not possess coaching acumen in his bag of talents. Certainly bickering with refs when you should be coaching is something guys (like me) did when they had nothing serious to offer in the huddle or sidelines. I mean, everyone can bitch that it wasn't travelling or a foul, right?

I have a friend from SJU who believe it or not was a damned cheerleader. Pretty awful athlete and basketball player. I mean I never even saw him in a pickup game at Alumni Hall. He wanted to be a coach, though, went to a zillion clinics, made contacts, and eventually got a D2 job where did lasted 20+ years and was pretty respected by his peers. I hope Mullin is doing the same, but it's really hard for a high profile HOFer coaching a very visible D1 program to go to a clinic to learn how to coach.

I guess like the rest of us I have no choice to wait and see if more talent will make this staff look a lot better. Until then, the jury will be out with all sorts of conjecture as to whether CM can get the job done.

While I wouldn't bet against it, at this point, I also wouldn't bet for it. I just haven't seen enough good things to give me the warm and fuzzies.

Good post Beast! I agree we just need to wait and see! Although I would can Richmond and go out and hire the best assistant money can buy preferably a former D1 coach who has Dunlop like qualities as far an understanding of the game!

 

[bk8664]

None of you have any idea what Richmond brings or doesn't bring to the table... similar to Mullin, frankly. We just don't know.

LoVett is a far better outside shooter than probably anyone could have anticipated. Why couldn't that be all because of work that Richmond did with him? It's impossible to know.

Frankly, I like the pitch to recruits about having two awesome offensive hall of famers on the bench. It must make it much easier in recruiting kids out of highschool. I much prefer to wait to judge the coaches until the end of next season.

Some of your are just so short-sighted sometimes. Let the recruiting develop. Let the talent develop. (I personally don't think Yakwe and Sima will get to meet the high expectations many had because they are so late to learning the game).

We have two hall of famers on our bench. TWO!!! After the lousy coaches this program has had for the last 20 years, you guys are ready to throw a hall of famer out for an X's and O's coach? Because the X's and O's coach would make Sima have a softer touch around the rim? Yeah, right.... Or because an X's and O's coach would help freshman & sophomores better execute, when all the big men are just frankly not great right now... No!

The coaches might be disasters, or might be great. We won't know for another two seasons. Give it time.

 

[ras]

None of you have any idea what Richmond brings or doesn't bring to the table... similar to Mullin, frankly. We just don't know.

LoVett is a far better outside shooter than probably anyone could have anticipated. Why couldn't that be all because of work that Richmond did with him? It's impossible to know.

Frankly, I like the pitch to recruits about having two awesome offensive hall of famers on the bench. It must make it much easier in recruiting kids out of highschool. I much prefer to wait to judge the coaches until the end of next season.

Some of your are just so short-sighted sometimes. Let the recruiting develop. Let the talent develop. (I personally don't think Yakwe and Sima will get to meet the high expectations many had because they are so late to learning the game).

The coaches might be disasters, or might be great. We won't know for another two seasons. Give it time.

You make a good point. But teaching shooting is Mullins strength. I am suggesting having a coaching staff w different skill sets may have been a better approach.I also agree w you that it is too early in the season to judge.

 

[beast of the east]

None of you have any idea what Richmond brings or doesn't bring to the table... similar to Mullin, frankly. We just don't know.

LoVett is a far better outside shooter than probably anyone could have anticipated. Why couldn't that be all because of work that Richmond did with him? It's impossible to know.

Frankly, I like the pitch to recruits about having two awesome offensive hall of famers on the bench. It must make it much easier in recruiting kids out of highschool. I much prefer to wait to judge the coaches until the end of next season.

Some of your are just so short-sighted sometimes. Let the recruiting develop. Let the talent develop. (I personally don't think Yakwe and Sima will get to meet the high expectations many had because they are so late to learning the game).

The coaches might be disasters, or might be great. We won't know for another two seasons. Give it time.

You make a good point. But teaching shooting is Mullins strength. I am suggesting having a coaching staff w different skill sets may have been a better approach.I also agree w you that it is too early in the season to judge.

Certainly Richmond and Mullin bring HOF cache to recruiting and that can't hurt. That doesn't mean either of them are great salesmen, which is what recruiting is all about. What kids want to know when they are recruited is how that staff and school are going to get them to the NBA. Neither Mullin nor Richmond has gotten anyone to the NBA (yet) so their HOF resumes can easily be counteracted by a D1 coach who has 5 or 6 guys in the NBA over a dozen years. More than anything, the recruiting end of things involve sales ability, and as we know, there are AAU coaches with their hands out wondering what's in it for them for delivering a kid. It's a seedy business that the Calipariis of the world are great at.

To speculate that Richmond and Mullin may be great teachers is fine, but there really isn't a lot of evidence that suggests that in sports the best players are the best teachers. There is a traditional path in readying yourself to coach at the high D1 level which includes head coaching at lower levels (D3, D2) then a mid major. Even with phenomenal HS coaching success, Cluess followed this formula and proved himself every step of the way, justifying the current bump to Iona. Mullin and Richmond are a huge risk because they never coached anywhere. You can speculate all you want about player development or translating their NBA experience into winning in-game strategy but until there is real evidence of that, it's just wishful thinking on your part.

To be clear, this IS a wait and see thing, but unless they field a very strong roster next season, the odds of this not being a successful try on the part of SJU will continue to increase. Don't get me wrong - this hire was clearly a case of risk-reward, clouded by the huge aura Mullin left on us after 4 great seasons as a player. The entire narrative of your greatest basketball legend coming home to NY and to campus to resurrect the once highly regarded program is so intoxicating, so story-book in its making that it is hard for any SJU fan (myself included) to resist taking a shot at. That is especially true since the past 25 years have not yielded a single coaching candidate that had all the attributes to build and sustain a winning tradition - 5 coaches, not a single defection - all fired. So, SJU gave in to the obvious temptation - hire a guy who IS SJU, who represents athletic success better than anyone who ever played a sport here (and that's a pretty high honor considering guys like Artest, Viola, Franco, and many others).

When you lose 4 in a row of your first real tests, it's easy to either blame the coaches in part for the caliber of play or absolve the coaches by pointing to the lack of talent or inexperience. Somewhere in that analysis is the truth - that we are either too short on talent, high on inexperience, or there are coaching deficiencies - maybe all of the them. But it's just plain silly to try to shut down that analysis or dialogue by adopting a wait and see approach. Either the signs of improvement are there, or there are signs of things not going to well. We are here to discuss these things, and to try to take a "glass half full" approach to prove you are on a higher ground than other fans is just ridiculous.

For the record, I sat in the 6th row behind the SJU bench for all 4 Mullin years for every single home game and many away games, and I don't remember Mullin being "chirpy" or anything like his bench personna in challenging refs. Curious if anyone else remembers Mullin constantly lambasting refs as a player.