Cragg and the SJU “Culture”

[quote="Beast of the East" post=336867]No one is denying that the season was a disappointment. No one is posturing that our staff deserves coach of the year or anything close to that even in our conference. No one denies we played like garbage. You don't have to point out those dozen things. You and others have done it again and again and again. Anyone who knows basketball can see those things.[/quote]

You must have me confused with someone else. I haven't been griping about how disappointing this season was, and it was. I'm merely pointing out the systemic problems that are obvious to anyone who bothers to take the red shaded glasses off for a minute and look at things objectively, and that slapping another coat of paint onto the old barn isn't going to cure the rot underneath at this point.

And that's not a knock on Mullin. I love the guy. He's the ONLY reason I'm a fan of this program. But if I let that affection blind my objectivity then I'm not a fan, I'm a cult member.

[quote="Beast of the East" post=336867]So now I'll tell you what you didn't see or feel:

When you walk into an arena for the NCAA's, it dawns upon you that your team is one of 68 teams playing for the national championship. I said this at the top notch pre-game that SJU hosted for students and alumni at the team's hotel before the game - said it to the very accessible Cragg, and repeated it to the very accessible Dr. Gempeshaw. 5 years earlier, walking up to the arena in Charlotte, they have this huge outdoors scoreboard where they posted every matchup for the NCAA's and I saw St. John's there. This is what we achieved this year, we go to the dance and played for the national championship in the only tournament that matters.[/quote]

Interesting. Candidly, I don't think we should have gotten an invitation. In my book you shouldn't be eligible for an invite if you aren't at least .500 in conference, but that's me.

Don't get me wrong... I'm really happy for the players that they got to dance. However, from my fan perspective, getting a HIGHLY questionable invite to the play in game, only to get smoked, feels more like we are the fat kid who made the all star game in Little League because his dad was the coach. We get to say we were there, but not on merit.

[quote="Beast of the East" post=336867]Thirty four years ago, waiting to enter Rupp arena, we watched a red carpet parade of some of the greatest coaches in history enter the arena (coaches had a meeting at the Final Four). All of a sudden us being at the Final Four - Bobby Knight, Al McGuire, Ray Meyer, John Wooden all strolled in to watch St. John's play for the championship, something that eluded all of those coaches who were active Yea, it was a long time ago and not relevant, but if you ever experienced that you wouldn't forget it - ever.[/quote]

34 years and only two memories you can't forget? (just kidding)

Saddly, for every great memory you have about post season play I could wax on about 5 more where we had to deal with the crushing disappointment of NOT even being a bubble team for the NCAA's, or even worse, getting snubbed by the NIT.

[quote="Beast of the East" post=336867]We got to the dance limping and sputtering, and didn't perform, not even a lick. We all know that. But if you think that firing Mullin will fix it, I doubt it. More than 25 years of frustration with few highlights, and we know just how tough it is to stay in the mix. Just look at all the programs once notable who are struggling - there are a ton of them - more than the dozen things you saw wrong with our team. [/quote]

This isn't about this years team, or how many other teams in the country are in similar or worse shape. Not even a lick. This is about the future of the program. You do a disservice to EVERY fan of this team to suggest that the status quo is acceptable just because we aren't the only program with problems. And the suggestion that you don't change what you are doing because there's no guarantee that a change will be an improvement is just ludicrous.

[quote="Beast of the East" post=336867]Why don't you do yourself a favor and try to come up with a dozen things that were right about this team. IF you are balanced it shouldn't be hard. If it is hard then you probably proved a point to yourself that you won't get.[/quote]

I tried. Here's how far I made it:

1) Made NCAA Tournament.
2) Kids seemed to be solid people with no arrests.
3)


Look, you are free to 'keep on keeping on'. That's great. I've been there.
I supported Jarvis on this site when others were on here complaining about him being at the track all day instead of recruiting, and when he told all the local HS coaches he was going to only recruit JUCO players because they are more prepared for the BE, and him running the weave.
I defended Norm from stupid attacks because he was building up from scratch and deserved a chance to turn things around. I felt you had to give him at least 4 years before you could assess his performance.
I didn't want Lavin because I knew he'd recruit athletes, not ball players and his teams wouldn't shoot well. They'd have huge wins when shots were falling and crushing defeats when they weren't.
I didn't want Mullin, but I haven't said a negative word about him in 4 years until this week. I was hoping Mullin would come in and be what he was on the court. A Gym rat who out worked everyone else. There's nothing more I'd like to see than him kill it here.

But he hasn't. No amount of warm fuzzy memories about a non championship 34 years, an uninspiring tournament appearance in his 4th season as HC or anything in between is going to change that fact.

I'm not one of those 'Ricky Bobby' fans who has unrealistic expectations. All I'm asking for is a healthy program with a good HC and a good staff that works its ass off and brings in BE level kids with the same mindset.

After 4 years of Jarvis anyone could see he wasn't going to deliver that.
After 4 years of Norm, anyone could see he wasn't going to deliver that.
After 4 years of Lavin, anyone could see he wasn't going to deliver that.
Here we are after 4 years of Mullin...tell me what you see... cause the rest of us can't help but feel like we've seen this movie before and it doesn't end well.
 
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Wow SJUFAN what a freakin awesome post that sums up pretty much everything I could say about this year and this program
 
[quote="Windy City Johnny Fan" post=336785][quote="Brian W." post=336780]Yes, 20 wins - if Simon, Heron and Figgy return. And if Cam Mack retains his commitment. Two more incoming transfers and an upgrade at the vacant assistant position. The sort of thing that the Mets and Yankees do every year. Constant churning of personell.

Many of the attacks by fans (basically since the disappointment of Felipe Lopez) have been ad hominem attacks meant to continue negativity, and nothing else. Rarely do you ever hear a positive spin on things. It's in the fanbase DNA now. It's a problem that turns players and talent away. It's been going on for far too long and it ought to change.[/quote]

I completely agree with this. This fan base is completely unreasonable all the time, always complaining. If it isn't wanting an NCAA tournament game win or to make the semi-finals in its own freakin conference tournament sometime during this Millennium, it's something else.[/quote]

17-14 next season, before the BET, but only if we get at least 2 new ACs, the roster doesn’t blow up, and Mullin listens to ‘some’ advice.
 
I really am going to read your whole post but i didn't want to quote it.

Agree we did not deserve a bid. But we got one, over other teams that did not deserve a bid

1) Jarvis could actually coach. Could have been the best X's and O's coach of all that we had Looie and forward. He developed a huge attitude after Jordan offered him the Charlotte Hornets job, which he had to turn down for lack of security. That was the beginning of the end
2) Norm - couldn't coach a lick. Everyone knew it, including Norm.
3) Lavin - don't know if he could coach or not, since we had 2 years old Dunlap and 2 years of Lavin. I do know he could recruit big time players better than anyone we had since Looie.
4) Chris - My guess is that at the high end, the best he would be as a coach is Lavin. BEtter than Norm who was just bad, not as good as Jarvis. We've got to get players in here, and depth, or else whoever is coaching is going to fail.

The only one out of the 4 you mentioned who I would say was a disaster was Norm.
 
[quote="Beast of the East" post=336890]I really am going to read your whole post but i didn't want to quote it.

Agree we did not deserve a bid. But we got one, over other teams that did not deserve a bid

1) Jarvis could actually coach. Could have been the best X's and O's coach of all that we had Looie and forward. He developed a huge attitude after Jordan offered him the Charlotte Hornets job, which he had to turn down for lack of security. That was the beginning of the end
2) Norm - couldn't coach a lick. Everyone knew it, including Norm.
3) Lavin - don't know if he could coach or not, since we had 2 years old Dunlap and 2 years of Lavin. I do know he could recruit big time players better than anyone we had since Looie.
4) Chris - My guess is that at the high end, the best he would be as a coach is Lavin. BEtter than Norm who was just bad, not as good as Jarvis. We've got to get players in here, and depth, or else whoever is coaching is going to fail.

The only one out of the 4 you mentioned who I would say was a disaster was Norm.[/quote]

Sorry but I believe each hire was a disaster.
Jarvis - Excellent Coach , stopped recruiting after 3rd season and the inmates ran the asylum , he became a huge embarrassment.
Norm - May not be a popular opinion but he could coach but could not recruit. He was coaching and recruiting against legends and was out of his league but ran a good program. A good man.
Lavin- Very good recruiter who like Jarvis stopped after his third season. Like Jarvis the inmates ran the asylum. We became so accustomed to bad news with Lavin, grades, suspensions, parking lot visits for transcripts, another embarrassment.
Mullin - while the team has improved from season to season we have clearly underperformed. It seems that there is a big communication problem as there are too many kids transferring who have not done better in their new home and who could have been an asset at SJU. In addition and far more disconcerting is the fact that Coach Mullin seems to have no interest in recruiting, Recruiting which we all know is the life blood of the program must be embraced at a school like SJU whose faults have been listed thousands of times on this board. If the head coach has no interest in recruiting we are doomed to mediocrity, it is very simple. But I can tell you that other former NBA stars who are Head coaches, like Ewing and Danny Manning do in fact recruit and even go to such far and away places like Canada and don’t leave it all to their staff. If our entire staff , and most importantly the head coach , does not start recruiting at 100 miles an hour the Mullin experience will be a disaster.
 
[quote="redmannorth" post=336920][quote="Beast of the East" post=336890]I really am going to read your whole post but i didn't want to quote it.

Agree we did not deserve a bid. But we got one, over other teams that did not deserve a bid

1) Jarvis could actually coach. Could have been the best X's and O's coach of all that we had Looie and forward. He developed a huge attitude after Jordan offered him the Charlotte Hornets job, which he had to turn down for lack of security. That was the beginning of the end
2) Norm - couldn't coach a lick. Everyone knew it, including Norm.
3) Lavin - don't know if he could coach or not, since we had 2 years old Dunlap and 2 years of Lavin. I do know he could recruit big time players better than anyone we had since Looie.
4) Chris - My guess is that at the high end, the best he would be as a coach is Lavin. BEtter than Norm who was just bad, not as good as Jarvis. We've got to get players in here, and depth, or else whoever is coaching is going to fail.

The only one out of the 4 you mentioned who I would say was a disaster was Norm.[/quote]

Sorry but I believe each hire was a disaster.
Jarvis - Excellent Coach , stopped recruiting after 3rd season and the inmates ran the asylum , he became a huge embarrassment.
Norm - May not be a popular opinion but he could coach but could not recruit. He was coaching and recruiting against legends and was out of his league but ran a good program. A good man.
Lavin- Very good recruiter who like Jarvis stopped after his third season. Like Jarvis the inmates ran the asylum. We became so accustomed to bad news with Lavin, grades, suspensions, parking lot visits for transcripts, another embarrassment.
Mullin - while the team has improved from season to season we have clearly underperformed. It seems that there is a big communication problem as there are too many kids transferring who have not done better in their new home and who could have been an asset at SJU. In addition and far more disconcerting is the fact that Coach Mullin seems to have no interest in recruiting, Recruiting which we all know is the life blood of the program must be embraced at a school like SJU whose faults have been listed thousands of times on this board. If the head coach has no interest in recruiting we are doomed to mediocrity, it is very simple. But I can tell you that other former NBA stars who are Head coaches, like Ewing and Danny Manning do in fact recruit and even go to such far and away places like Canada and don’t leave it all to their staff. If our entire staff , and most importantly the head coach , does not start recruiting at 100 miles an hour the Mullin experience will be a disaster.[/quote]. Not only does our head coach not recruit, but our associate head coach doesn’t recruit either. Big disadvantage and no excuse.
 
[quote="richard A Steinfeld" post=336928][quote="redmannorth" post=336920][quote="Beast of the East" post=336890]I really am going to read your whole post but i didn't want to quote it.

Agree we did not deserve a bid. But we got one, over other teams that did not deserve a bid

1) Jarvis could actually coach. Could have been the best X's and O's coach of all that we had Looie and forward. He developed a huge attitude after Jordan offered him the Charlotte Hornets job, which he had to turn down for lack of security. That was the beginning of the end
2) Norm - couldn't coach a lick. Everyone knew it, including Norm.
3) Lavin - don't know if he could coach or not, since we had 2 years old Dunlap and 2 years of Lavin. I do know he could recruit big time players better than anyone we had since Looie.
4) Chris - My guess is that at the high end, the best he would be as a coach is Lavin. BEtter than Norm who was just bad, not as good as Jarvis. We've got to get players in here, and depth, or else whoever is coaching is going to fail.

The only one out of the 4 you mentioned who I would say was a disaster was Norm.[/quote]

Sorry but I believe each hire was a disaster.
Jarvis - Excellent Coach , stopped recruiting after 3rd season and the inmates ran the asylum , he became a huge embarrassment.
Norm - May not be a popular opinion but he could coach but could not recruit. He was coaching and recruiting against legends and was out of his league but ran a good program. A good man.
Lavin- Very good recruiter who like Jarvis stopped after his third season. Like Jarvis the inmates ran the asylum. We became so accustomed to bad news with Lavin, grades, suspensions, parking lot visits for transcripts, another embarrassment.
Mullin - while the team has improved from season to season we have clearly underperformed. It seems that there is a big communication problem as there are too many kids transferring who have not done better in their new home and who could have been an asset at SJU. In addition and far more disconcerting is the fact that Coach Mullin seems to have no interest in recruiting, Recruiting which we all know is the life blood of the program must be embraced at a school like SJU whose faults have been listed thousands of times on this board. If the head coach has no interest in recruiting we are doomed to mediocrity, it is very simple. But I can tell you that other former NBA stars who are Head coaches, like Ewing and Danny Manning do in fact recruit and even go to such far and away places like Canada and don’t leave it all to their staff. If our entire staff , and most importantly the head coach , does not start recruiting at 100 miles an hour the Mullin experience will be a disaster.[/quote]. Not only does our head coach not recruit, but our associate head coach doesn’t recruit either. Big disadvantage and no excuse.[/quote]

Unfortunately Richard we don't have an associate head coach and now we have to hope whomever is left standing embraces recruiting and masters the skill of communicating with recruits.
 
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[quote="Jack Williams" post=336888]Wow SJUFAN what a freakin awesome post that sums up pretty much everything I could say about this year and this program[/quote]

Agreed. SJUFAN.....you may have just won Post Of The Year.
 
We haven't had a competent coach at St John's since Fran Fraschilla
Since then, it's been one disaster after another
 
If Cragg was brought here as a subordinate to Mullin, then what does that say about our program? Imagine a teacher overruling an administrator in a school or an aide overruling a teacher. It's just backwards. I thought the whole idea was to give Cragg real power to do what he sees fit. If Cragg wants to make changes, you have to let him from day 1. Why? Because being at Duke for so long in such a successful program, he would have a great idea of what needs to be changed coming to our program immediately. This is why companies hire outside consultants instead of using in-house staff. If you're in-house you may be biased or used to the mediocrity/failure. If you come from a place of success and enter an unsuccessful place, you will immediately see things that you know need to be fixed if it's to be successful. I know we don't have Duke money or resources, but let's be real there's a ton that can be done even with our budget.
 
[quote="Amaseinyourface" post=336783][quote="Mike Zaun" post=336772][quote="Amaseinyourface" post=336747][quote="Mike Zaun" post=336707]Omg...some are predicting 20 wins next year with Mullin back and losing one of our best players ever? We haven't even had within 1 game of a .500 season in conference play with guys like LoVett, Ponds, Heron, etc. What makes you think we will do any better? The Big East sucked this past year and still we went 8-10. We got blown out a ton. That was with us as one of the most talented teams! Next year literally every other team except maybe DePaul or SHU will be significantly better. If we finished anywhere better than 8th I'd be absolutely shocked. As long as we have 2 no-show jobs stealing our money, this will continue. But some of you throw up your hands because his last name is Mullin and Mitch was pretty good 30 years ago or something.[/quote]

1. We finished one game away from .500 just this past season. “No, we were 8-10 that’s 2 games!” I’ll let you struggle with that one.

2. You keep saying the BE was terrible this year, there wasn’t a bad team in the conference. No great teams but there wasn’t an easy out any where to be found. The B10, ACC, Pac12, SEC, AAC all had more than 1 team worse than any team in the BE.

3. How is nova, losing their 2 far and away best players, going to be significantly better? How is gtown losing its best player going to be significantly better? We have 5 new players, we have young guys returning, we have starters returning, to act like we can’t improve while saying definitively that others will is nonsense. Well actually it’s just par for the course.[/quote]

So 8-10 in a down conference year with our most talented team in decades...is ok with you? The point is Mullin never even reached .500 in conference play. With a real OOC schedule we wouldn't have even been close to a bid. Maybe 16-17 wins with SHU's. Beating up midgets isn't impressive...beating up on guys your own size is. I realize other power programs have some cupcakes too, but our OOC was still among the weakest in major hoops. Nova has a top 5 if not top 3 class coming in. So yeah, no chance we are better. They won the conference again while rebuilding. The Big East was crapped on in the NCAA tourney. Practically everyone was blown out immediately except for Nova and they got blown out in the 2nd round. So no, the conference was not strong nationally. Like it or not, that's how conferences are judged. Also got crapped on in the B1G challenge. I love this conference but it was a down year for sure. G'Town has Akinjo, McClung, and others returning along with some huge bodies coming in. They will be good.[/quote]

Mike I heard you on the seeing Red podcast (at least thought it was you but could be wrong) earlier in the year and I was impressed with how you came off. On here you speak in such negative absolutes that it makes it impossible to look past your biases.

Can’t you see the difference in just these two posts of yours? The big east sucked - vs BE was not strong nationally. Every team but SH and DePaul will be SIGNIFICANTLY better - vs there’s a chance the BE is tougher next year.

My advice, and feel free to ignore it, is to incoproate some brevity and some middle ground.[/quote]

I was on there, yes...my friend was too but I was the one who did most of the talking. Need to brush up on my public speaking skills, I definitely said "you know" too many times hah. Thanks for the compliment...brevity is a virtue and I'm guilty of novels here...I guess I just let my brain spill out and when it's flowing it can get a bit long. Anyway, sometimes I just vent on here because of the frustration...obviously I only want the best for the program but I just feel like I'm on a crusade against low expectations that seem to be too comfortable around our program. I don't think we will ever be at a blue blood level again unfortunately, but IMO there's no reason we can't do what SHU, PC, Butler, etc. do on a regular basis.
 
[quote="Mike Zaun" post=336971]If Cragg was brought here as a subordinate to Mullin, then what does that say about our program? Imagine a teacher overruling an administrator in a school or an aide overruling a teacher. It's just backwards. I thought the whole idea was to give Cragg real power to do what he sees fit. If Cragg wants to make changes, you have to let him from day 1. Why? Because being at Duke for so long in such a successful program, he would have a great idea of what needs to be changed coming to our program immediately. This is why companies hire outside consultants instead of using in-house staff. If you're in-house you may be biased or used to the mediocrity/failure. If you come from a place of success and enter an unsuccessful place, you will immediately see things that you know need to be fixed if it's to be successful. I know we don't have Duke money or resources, but let's be real there's a ton that can be done even with our budget.[/quote]

But we do not know "if Cragg was brought here as a subordinate to Mullin." Cragg did not have to move his family and take this job. He is bright and experienced. Jobs would come his way.

Let this play out. As we can see, there are still head coaching jobs available, and in major conferences no less.

Until the majority of those positions are filled, the hiring of assistants will have to wait.

And even with the coaching carousel, don't you think Cragg (and other schools) are having behind the scenes discussions, about who will be interested in what job and role?

Undoubtedly, this was one of the most frustrating seasons we have had to endure. There was so much promise. At least when they were bad, we expected to as much. But let's take a step away from the ledge. Cragg is a very capable person. I trust his judgement here.

At SJU, we never follow simple geometry, where the "shortest distance between two points is a straight line." This program zig zags way too much before getting somewhere.

Tom Petty even sang about "Waiting is the Hardest Part."
 
Agree with much of what you said Kranmars...I am firmly in the camp that Cragg is a very bright guy with good judgement. Spoke to him several times and he seems like the real deal. I trust him...my question is, will our administration allow Cragg to actually USE his expertise or simply defer to the program's favorite son over and over?
 
[quote="Mike Zaun" post=336981]Agree with much of what you said Kranmars...I am firmly in the camp that Cragg is a very bright guy with good judgement. Spoke to him several times and he seems like the real deal. I trust him...my question is, will our administration allow Cragg to actually USE his expertise or simply defer to the program's favorite son over and over?[/quote]

That is certainly a concern. But at this point, there is no need to pop a blood vessel, when we must let Cragg at least attempt to repair this mess.

Fingers crossed Cragg successfully installs a 455 engine in SJU, and make it run like a 1970 GTO.
 
[quote="Mike Zaun" post=336981] .......my question is, will our administration allow Cragg to actually USE his expertise or simply defer to the program's favorite son over and over?[/quote]
————
1. The terms of Coach Mullin’s preexisting contract supersedes the authority provided to Mr. Cragg.

2. Get Mr. Cragg $5M to deal with Mullin’s existing contract and he may be able to be more creative.
 
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Two questions:

1. I'm sure it's far more complicated than this in aggregate, but is there a component to the Slice situation where Mullin backed Matt, only to have Matt leverage for more money a year later and leave 2 years after that? Perhaps water under the bridge at this point but if so seems like yet another suboptimal layer to what seems to have been an exceptionally mismanaged situation that is still having ripple effects on the program 3 years later.

2. Somewhat related, is part of the staff issue - not just now, but from the start - that Mullin lacks an organic college basketball network? After almost 2 decades playing in the NBA, and another decade or so as an exec, he's clearly got a bigtime pro network. But curious if Mullin lacks college contacts and if that makes staffing more challenging.

Looking back to the beginning, he was able to make two of the better hires imaginable at the time in Slice (personal relationship, promotion) and Matt (alum, Hoiberg going to Bulls).

But even formally settling on a 3rd assistant took almost 6 months, which GSJ not getting announced until October 2015, which was odd at the time and only moreso in hindsight, especially since GSJ was at the time a ~24 year old from the west coast with no college coaching (and really no formal coaching, period) experience or any tangible connection to bigtime college basketball.

Since that time it has seemed like there is a lack of a coaching bench, lack of candidates either being groomed at lower levels of the staff or being kept warm in case something comes up, with the exception of Mike Rice. Contrasted against others, seems like many coaches have staff openings and are able to source candidates quickly from their own network, let alone who might be a general fit for the job.
 
[quote="otis" post=336984][quote="Mike Zaun" post=336981] .......my question is, will our administration allow Cragg to actually USE his expertise or simply defer to the program's favorite son over and over?[/quote]
————
1. The terms of Coach Mullin’s preexisting contract supersedes the authority provided to Mr. Cragg.

2. Get Mr. Cragg $5M to deal with Mullin’s existing contract and he may be able to be more creative.[/quote]

Regarding number one, I think it's unlikely that Mullin's contract does not identify who he reports to. If it is the AD, then Cragg can exercise authority. If it is the president, then Gempshaw can either supervise or delegate supervision to the AD.

What I am saying is I don't believe there are contractual constraints preventing St. John's from exercising control over their head men's basketball coach. Cragg does have some choices. The constraints are chiefly financial.
 
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[quote="Mike Zaun" post=336971]If Cragg was brought here as a subordinate to Mullin, then what does that say about our program? Imagine a teacher overruling an administrator in a school or an aide overruling a teacher. It's just backwards. I thought the whole idea was to give Cragg real power to do what he sees fit. If Cragg wants to make changes, you have to let him from day 1. Why? Because being at Duke for so long in such a successful program, he would have a great idea of what needs to be changed coming to our program immediately. This is why companies hire outside consultants instead of using in-house staff. If you're in-house you may be biased or used to the mediocrity/failure. If you come from a place of success and enter an unsuccessful place, you will immediately see things that you know need to be fixed if it's to be successful. I know we don't have Duke money or resources, but let's be real there's a ton that can be done even with our budget.[/quote]

Cragg is not subordinate to Mullin, and no one says that. But also be aware that in major college programs, with coaches making $1-10 million, do you really think the AD has the ability to hire and fire? Can you name the AD at Villanova, and do you think he could fire Jay Wright on his own? I would think most Athletic directors make $500K or less in most programs, and there are many others in a university who collaboratively make hire and fire decisions.

But also, when you hire someone in any organization, a great manager lets his subordinate staff in the manner they feel appropriate. If successful fine, but if not successful, they can either make recommendations, or move through appropriate channels to make changes.

In many schools, even the university president must move through appropriate channels. Myles Brand would have fired Bobby Knight at Indiana years before he did, but finally drummed up enough support on the board of trustees to make the move.

I'm pretty certain Cragg has discussed with Chris the vacancy created by Matt's departure. I'm guessing Chris will make the choice and Cragg will approve or voice his concerns. That doesn't make him subordinate to Chris.
 
[quote="JohnnyFan" post=336990][quote="otis" post=336984][quote="Mike Zaun" post=336981] .......my question is, will our administration allow Cragg to actually USE his expertise or simply defer to the program's favorite son over and over?[/quote]
————
1. The terms of Coach Mullin’s preexisting contract supersedes the authority provided to Mr. Cragg.

2. Get Mr. Cragg $5M to deal with Mullin’s existing contract and he may be able to be more creative.[/quote]

Regarding number one, I think it's unlikely that Mullin's contract does not identify who he reports to. If it is the AD, then Cragg can exercise authority. If it is the president, then Gempshaw can either supervise or delegate supervision to the AD.

What I am saying is I don't believe there are contractual constraints preventing St. John's from exercising control over their head men's basketball coach. Cragg does have some choices. The constraints are chiefly financial.[/quote]



Mike Zaun, you miss the point that Otis is making. I believe that he is referring to the 2 years 4 million dollars left on the contract. That is why he stated in #2, get Cragg 5 million and maybe things will change. As someone said earlier, let's just wait and see what happens. As for myself, I will continue to support St Johns and root for the Redmen.
 
[quote="SJU1512" post=336987]Two questions:

1. I'm sure it's far more complicated than this in aggregate, but is there a component to the Slice situation where Mullin backed Matt, only to have Matt leverage for more money a year later and leave 2 years after that? Perhaps water under the bridge at this point but if so seems like yet another suboptimal layer to what seems to have been an exceptionally mismanaged situation that is still having ripple effects on the program 3 years later.

2. Somewhat related, is part of the staff issue - not just now, but from the start - that Mullin lacks an organic college basketball network? After almost 2 decades playing in the NBA, and another decade or so as an exec, he's clearly got a bigtime pro network. But curious if Mullin lacks college contacts and if that makes staffing more challenging.

Looking back to the beginning, he was able to make two of the better hires imaginable at the time in Slice (personal relationship, promotion) and Matt (alum, Hoiberg going to Bulls).

But even formally settling on a 3rd assistant took almost 6 months, which GSJ not getting announced until October 2015, which was odd at the time and only moreso in hindsight, especially since GSJ was at the time a ~24 year old from the west coast with no college coaching (and really no formal coaching, period) experience or any tangible connection to bigtime college basketball.

Since that time it has seemed like there is a lack of a coaching bench, lack of candidates either being groomed at lower levels of the staff or being kept warm in case something comes up, with the exception of Mike Rice. Contrasted against others, seems like many coaches have staff openings and are able to source candidates quickly from their own network, let alone who might be a general fit for the job.[/quote]

1. The Slice situation was a debacle to begin with. When you really think about it, if Slice was considered so amazing by Calipari, Calipari could have jacked his salary to what SJU was offering or beyond. In terms of Matt, if you read the stuff he said about Hoiberg at the point of Hoiberg's departure from ISU, there should be no surprise that he departed as soon as Hoiberg became available. Nebraska also has virtually unlimited funds to jack Matt's salary, not to mention Matt's wife is a midwesterner, and the cost of living in Nebraska is far less than NY. I don't know the details of Matt and Slice's ascerbic relationship, but it was clear that however it played our Slice was at odds with Mullin the rest of the season and he had to go. In terms of mismanaged situation, as Associate Head coach, perhaps the crux of it was that Slice either had or did not have line authority over Matt.

2. You aren't wrong at this, and that was the risk of hiring someone with no college experience. Monte posted something about star players not having good track record as head coaches, but I think the main difficulty is that most college head coaches begin as assistant coaches and learn a lot along the way. Your point about having relationships in college is important, but every big time head coach and assistant knows who Chris is. I don't think Coach K, or any big time college coach knows a network of assistants. The main problem for Chris is lack of experience as a coach.

3. GSJ as everyone knows has a lifelong lineage in basketball. I once asked him if he ever saw Chris play, and his response was that he owns video of every game Chris ever played in the NBA. His NBA job was to break down video, and as a lower assistant on Chris' staff was probably a pretty good choice. I'm going to guess that with Slice's guaranteed contract looking heavy on a university already in financial duress from the changes in student loan laws that caused a drop in freshman enrollment of 500 (roughly causity a revenue shortfall of $20 million to the university), Mullin was asked if he could stand pat in year 2.

I'm not sure I understand your point about Mike Rice. My understanding is that Rice was never going to be added to Mullin's staff, and the rest was speculation largely generated here. Rice himself may have been sniffing around I don't know.
 
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