Is Cragg the right AD for the job?

Johnny Rapper said:
Again, my big issue with Cragg is not that he hired Anderson or even that he spoke well of him when hired so much, the big issue, which reeks of incompetence, is that after two years on the job, Cragg gives Anderson a contract extension without Anderson having accomplished a single post season invite, not to mention almost an entire team transferring out. I mean come on now, where was Anderson going? Were there other schools hot on his tail? Cragg has now put the school in a perilous financial bind which may limit what the school has to spend on an actual competent new coach and staff. Does anyone really not see a major issue with this?
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Not sure I've heard you make this exact point before. Are you saying Cragg is incompetent and you want him gone? Just need to confirm.
 
room112 said:
Not sure I've heard you make this exact point before. Are you saying Cragg is incompetent and you want him gone? Just need to confirm.
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Obviously he’s not going to resign but if you prioritize his duties in his current job, the enhancement of the hoops program should be his biggest concern. Since has has potentially hampered the schools future in this effort, I believe he needs to go, voluntarily or otherwise.
 
My take is Cragg wanted longer term stability which in turn could make the job more appealing down the line to more candidates. Having to hire a new coach every 4 years is contributing to SJU being a dead end job.

To be clear, I did not agree with it.
 
Let's just say he is doing a lot of homework now.

This hire is going to be his legacy. He inherited Mullin and then less than a year as AD Mullin steps down.

But this is now all him, he hired CMA and he will be given the task of trying to find his successor.

If it is not Pitino then he better find someone who he can really sell to the fan base and donors.

Especially if Pitino goes somewhere else like another BE school and kills it for a few years.

Again this hire will be his legacy.
 
Every SJU game from now to the end of the season will be mainly a loss and this will just make Cragg look dumber and dumber. Even the not into it SJU fan wonders what did Anderson accomplish to merit an extension and buy out.
It also makes Father Shanley and the board of trustees look the same. A total program disaster.
 
GardenCity62 said:
Every SJU game from now to the end of the season will be mainly a loss and this will just make Cragg look dumber and dumber. Even the not into it SJU fan wonders what did Anderson accomplish to merit an extension and buy out.
It also makes Father Shanley and the board of trustees look the same. A total program disaster.
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The extension was given after year 2 when he won COY and SJU was projected with Champ and Posh coming back as a top 4 BE team for the next year. Calm down for crying out loud. There was nothing strange about that, he thought Mike had it going in the right direction and so did a lot of people and he wanted to lock it up. Obviously it doesn't look great now but for crying out loud are you saying he and others should have always seen this coming?

Brian Mahoney got COY in his first year and SJU ripped up his initial contract and gave him a big extension. Then they had to fire him 3 years later.

It didn't work out but not everybody can have a crystal ball and see what 20/20 hindsight fans are always able to see. Especially when you are not the AD and are not able to spend other people's money.
 
fordham96 said:
The extension was given after year 2 when he won COY and SJU was projected with Champ and Posh coming back as a top 4 BE team for the next year. Calm down for crying out loud. There was nothing strange about that, he thought Mike had it going in the right direction and so did a lot of people and he wanted to lock it up. Obviously it doesn't look great now but for crying out loud are you saying he and others should have always seen this coming?

Brian Mahoney got COY in his first year and SJU ripped up his initial contract and gave him a big extension. Then they had to fire him 3 years later.

It didn't work out but not everybody can have a crystal ball and see what 20/20 hindsight fans are always able to see. Especially when you are not the AD and are not able to spend other people's money.
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I get what you are saying and agree.

But to play devils advocate for a minute... Yes Mike Anderson won COY that season and we had a good year. But the extension was inked in May, after the season was over.

There were some red flags in the few week stretch after Mike A won COY that I think should have been a cause for concern for someone thinking about signing the guy to an extension.

We flamed out in the BET, and we did not have one of our key players for the game for reasons I still don't really get. So we miss the tournament. Then, so many guys on the roster had one foot out the door that we made it clear we would not be participating in the NIT. Idk that is kind of a red flag to me. To have this successful season that, to be frank, ended with mass exodus... is a red flag to me. And I feel like that could have been a reason Cragg could wait before thinking extension.

Thats just how I feel about it. I liked the job Mike A did that year but the way things ended with that group left a really bad taste in my mouth, which made the extension not feel as right to me when it was announced
 
fordham96 said:
The extension was given after year 2 when he won COY and SJU was projected with Champ and Posh coming back as a top 4 BE team for the next year. Calm down for crying out loud. There was nothing strange about that, he thought Mike had it going in the right direction and so did a lot of people and he wanted to lock it up. Obviously it doesn't look great now but for crying out loud are you saying he and others should have always seen this coming?

Brian Mahoney got COY in his first year and SJU ripped up his initial contract and gave him a big extension. Then they had to fire him 3 years later.

It didn't work out but not everybody can have a crystal ball and see what 20/20 hindsight fans are always able to see. Especially when you are not the AD and are not able to spend other people's money.
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I think the issue is that Anderson had little leverage in this situation to warrant the extension at that time. You sign guys to extensions like that when you fear they might leave for a better school in the next year or two, like what Alabama just did with Oats once the Texas job opened and they knew he would be one of their top targets. What job was Anderson going to leave for that was going to be able to pay him close to what his salary is here? No SEC schools were going to offer him their job. Tulsa? USF? Who exactly was Cragg scared of that might try to poach Anderson?
 
A
fordham96 said:
The extension was given after year 2 when he won COY and SJU was projected with Champ and Posh coming back as a top 4 BE team for the next year. Calm down for crying out loud. There was nothing strange about that, he thought Mike had it going in the right direction and so did a lot of people and he wanted to lock it up. Obviously it doesn't look great now but for crying out loud are you saying he and others should have always seen this coming?

Brian Mahoney got COY in his first year and SJU ripped up his initial contract and gave him a big extension. Then they had to fire him 3 years later.

It didn't work out but not everybody can have a crystal ball and see what 20/20 hindsight fans are always able to see. Especially when you are not the AD and are not able to spend other people's money.
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Anderson had just been fired 2 years previously. Where was he going? Who else was going to sign him up for 6 years at $2.5 million/year? His agent smelled blood in the water in the form of a rookie AD and took full advantage of it.
 
MugCostanza said:
I think the issue is that Anderson had little leverage in this situation to warrant the extension at that time. You sign guys to extensions like that when you fear they might leave for a better school in the next year or two, like what Alabama just did with Oats once the Texas job opened and they knew he would be one of their top targets. What job was Anderson going to leave for that was going to be able to pay him close to what his salary is here? No SEC schools were going to offer him their job. Tulsa? USF? Who exactly was Cragg scared of that might try to poach Anderson?
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You don't know what leverage he had or not. A job down South could have opened with significantly more resources and looked at him especially if he had a big 3rd year.

Again many of you are using the last 2 years that actually happened vs what he was expected to do especially in year 3. Of course if Cragg knew he would go 8-11 in year 3 he would've not given extension the YEAR BEFORE but what if he goes 13-6 instead and SJU makes NCAA easily. Who knows what may become available for him? Maybe Ole Miss comes calling, Miss St etc.
 
Alumni Hall said:
Cragg started out at Duke as an Assistant SID, then moved up to Head SID. From there he was the DOBO (like Chris Huey now). He oversaw most aspects of the Duke basketball program, but your correct Coach K made most, if not all of the decisions pertaining to his program. After that stint, he moved over to the Iron Duke fundraising area and also chaired most of the athletic facility improvements . Because of his fundraising at Duke basketball (which at Duke, the $$$ roll in with each yearly achievement in the hundred of millions along with hefty NCAA and ACC revenue) and his vision for facility upgrades and improvements there were probably two of the main reasons he was hired at SJU. What he accomplished at Duke, with all of the money available was amazing.
Now fast forward to SJU, where athletic fundraising has always been poor, our NCAA revenue is only small shares from the Big East units, gate revenue has dropped along with season ticket money. When Cragg first arrived, he hired an outside athletic architect and design company to completely remodel and redesign each and every athletic facility on campus. It was a major project, lasting over 12 months and costing upwards of $200K. The total final cost of all these projects, many completely reconstructed, amounted to between 200-300 million (that price take was 4 years ago, might be 4-500 mil now with inflation) and it would have brought SJU from the bottom of Conference school facilities to near the top! Work would be completed in stages over a 3-5 year period. It was approved by athletics senior staff and presented to BOT where they approved the project, BUT held off on financing this project. I was told Cragg had to fundraise the majority of the project. Then came Covid and it completely, like everything else in the world, shut down the project. SJU has been left with only small facility improvements like new lax team room and a few other small cosmetic upgrades. I do feel sorry for Cragg as he did come here with great vision for athletics, but between Covid and continued poor athletic performances, has hindered his attempt to get us out of the doldrums we are now in. He must be frustrated to no end. He is well aware of our basketball facility shortcomings as well, and in his eyes, unexpected poor performance both with Anderson and the team he assembled. I’m sure by now he was expecting a few NCAA’s, sold out Carnesecca Arena and 10k plus attendance at each MSG game. Not sure if he can right the ship, or rusting battleship, or whatever our program was recently call on ESPN.
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thank you “Alumni Hall” for a well reasoned and thoughtful post.

Perhaps if Mullin‘s exit had not been unexpected then a different coach would now be at St.John’s rather than CMA. Perhaps if COVID had not occurred then Carnesecca Hall would have been upgraded. Money cures most problems. St. John’s falls short on the available money front.

iMO AD Mike Cragg is merely playing the short hand dealt to him at St.John’s where things are not as easy as some of the posters in this thread believe.

Count me as a Mike Cragg supporter. I believe that he has brought a never before known professionalism to the Athletic department and believe that things would be a whole lot worse Had he not come to St. John’s.
 
Cragg knew the condition of the basketball program when he signed on and spoke about improving facilities and even mentioned expanding CA. Nothing done in those areas and he has also bears responsibility downgrading the basketball schedule.
He also is watching the baseball and lacrosse programs deteriorate. Maybe there are some achievements in his hat that I am unaware of but can anybody say the SJU sports programs are in better shape than when he arrived?
 
I think that Cragg is in an unenviable position. He has tried to upgrade Alumni and he has no doubt tried his best to do what he was given.

Unfortunately, the CBB is in the largest media center in the world and playing some home games at "the World's most famous arena".

These should be major selling points to coaches and we need someone who will embrace the spotlight instead of looking for coaches in the bushes.

He needs to sell the program. Period.
 
GardenCity62 said:
Cragg knew the condition of the basketball program when he signed on and spoke about improving facilities and even mentioned expanding CA. Nothing done in those areas and he has also bears responsibility downgrading the basketball schedule.
He also is watching the baseball and lacrosse programs deteriorate. Maybe there are some achievements in his hat that I am unaware of but can anybody say the SJU sports programs are in better shape than when he arrived?
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The baseball program has declined precipitously, from the class of the Big East to an also-ran. I'm not familiar enough with any other sport to comment.

But men's basketball trumps everything - and his biggest job is to find the right coach. He's 0 for 1 so far (although in fairness I was thrilled when Anderson was hired, and like many of us was very pleased through the end of year 2). He will likely get a second chance soon - and he better not miss again.
 
The extension was a joke. Absolutely never should have been given. Can’t defend Cragg on that. There was zero interest from any Power 5 program in hiring Mike Anderson after his COY. Yes he did exceed preseason expectations but he didn’t make the NCAA. That’s the only reason to give a coach an extension. COY isn’t a metric that should dictate extensions. You get picked 8th and you come in 4th but miss the tournament…it doesn’t add up. Team success comes first before individual awards. Maybe if you have a hot young coach you really wanna keep but Anderson wasn’t that.

Ewing extension was terrible as well in terms of money but he did at least win a BET. Although that was probably more due to covid circumstances than anything else.

Personally, I don’t mind Cragg getting another crack. But I seriously hope he’s ready for the next few weeks because last time he was looking for a coach it was amateur hour. We had Capel picking our coach. Do better! He should already have a list and be doing the back channeling.
 
SJUhoopNUT said:
The extension was a joke. Absolutely never should have been given. Can’t defend Cragg on that. There was zero interest from any Power 5 program in hiring Mike Anderson after his COY. Yes he did exceed preseason expectations but he didn’t make the NCAA. That’s the only reason to give a coach an extension. COY isn’t a metric that should dictate extensions. You get picked 8th and you come in 4th but miss the tournament…it doesn’t add up. Team success comes first before individual awards. Maybe if you have a hot young coach you really wanna keep but Anderson wasn’t that.

Ewing extension was terrible as well in terms of money but he did at least win a BET. Although that was probably more due to covid circumstances than anything else.

Personally, I don’t mind Cragg getting another crack. But I seriously hope he’s ready for the next few weeks because last time he was looking for a coach it was amateur hour. We had Capel picking our coach. Do better! He should already have a list and be doing the back channeling.
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Sorry the “Ask the AD” Twitter exchange was cancelled.
 
Wasn't there a legitimate rumor a couple of years ago that CMA has some interest in going back to Tulsa? I seem to remember many on this board did not want to lose him.
 
room112 said:
Wasn't there a legitimate rumor a couple of years ago that CMA has some interest in going back to Tulsa? I seem to remember many on this board did not want to lose him.
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If you asked those posters today, you would probably get a different response.
 
room112 said:
Wasn't there a legitimate rumor a couple of years ago that CMA has some interest in going back to Tulsa? I seem to remember many on this board did not want to lose him.
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That was end of last season. After we basically figured out Anderson was not taking us anywhere near the NCAA tourney. I have no idea if that was ever real or had legs. I thought that was started by Andersons camp to basically try to stay one step ahead of being fired again. But no confirmation.
 
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