Message from Coach Anderson

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[quote="sjc88" post=351795]I don’t know how but this thread went from a nice gesture from our new Coach to tempering expectations that don’t exist.
I won’t speak (or pretend to) for everyone but most posts I read have been a debate about if we can get to .500 and possibly 6 or 7 BE wins. I have no delusions that next year isn’t going to be tough. I think that was true even if nothing changed from last season. I don’t recall any big recruits coming in to save the day.
I will say that I hope to be pleasantly surprised. Then again I say that every year. I am also hoping that Coach MA is given a fair shake. Lord knows he had nothing to do with the 30 fruitless years since I graduated from SJU (give or take a surprise or two). Maybe it’s me but he deserves are support until he proves otherwise. It’s all I got.[/quote]

For some “fans” a nice gesture is somehow viewed as a** kissing. Every thread needs to be a rehash of the last 30 years and any post suggesting we are anything but doomed is to be challenged. Any post not completely negative is viewed as unconditionally rosy and optimistic. Every player we recruit is a bum and to suggest otherwise is blasphemous. I can’t name a non-negative poster who has posted anything that reflects more than hope for success and optimism about the way Anderson and co. have worked at it to start. But evidently we should be demanding 5 star recruits or bust two months into the new regime. Maybe we should all just demand Anderson be let go, obviously he is a failure.
 
[quote="newsman13" post=351793]I'm tempering expectations for the gee whizzers who under the mistaken belief that Nolan Richardson is in the house. Coach Anderson is bringing in two and three star recruits and already there are dozens of you humping his leg. Can we at least wait until next season?
[/quote]

You are going to have to be specific please. I haven't seen anyone on this site who has been that affectionate towards our new coach so it shouldn't be that hard to point out the posters you think are overly enthusiastic by your standards. Failing that, you are only spewing hyperbolic nonsense at self generated straw men to justify what could easily be construed to be an overly negative perspective on our new coach. "Can't we at least wait until next season" for that?
 
[quote="newsman13" post=351766]I guess this is another chance to take a shot at Mullin. To me, he was a great representative of what has been a long time mediocre program. He couldn't fix it. No one has been able to. Not him; not Lavin; not Jarvis. Coach Anderson has shown himself to be a class act...but if you think he can do better than these gentlemen, you're in for a rude awakening.

I watched Arkansas play a "classic" game last night against Mississippi State. It was from this past season. Arkansas was coming off a six game losing streak in conference. They eked out a win by a point. Here's what I saw...

Here's a universal...you need good players to win. His players were only okay...maybe two and three star types. I can't say they were coached up because I didn't know what their skill sets were when they got to Arkansas.

The announcers said Anderson... much as anyone else these days...was unable to hold on to his players with many of the good ones leaving early. It's a trend he hasn't been able to buck.

Anderson was far from animated. He was glued to his seat for most of the game.

Coach ran the huddle. The players were into the game.

Anderson seemed to use most of his bench. I couldn't really tell because I don't know the players.

There was no "40 minutes of hell" unless you count what the fans were going through.

Here's hoping..[/quote]

Newsman, your assessment of CMA's record last year seems harsh and unfair.
One of the Arkansas guys on the Board has said CMA had the 2nd youngest team in the country last year and I think opined that he probably did his best coaching in awhile.
He played 7 freshmen and 4 sophomores good chunks of the game and finished 18-6 and 8-10 in a very tough SEC, and went 1-1 in the NIT.
Plus, CMA and his Staff seem to work 24/7.
I see the glass half-full and am looking forward to the season, despite the challenges.
 
[quote="Knight" post=351767]The performance of CMA and staff, thus far, is running rings around the previous staff.[/quote]

Using the last staff is a poor example. It took them 4 years just to have a winning season. My money is that CMA has at least a 500 season his first year and wins every year thereafter.
 
[quote="Class of 72" post=351710][quote="oldschool Redmen" post=351706][quote="redstorm89" post=351670][quote="Paultzman" post=351664]Refreshing & nice touch.[/quote]

generic but appreciate the message from coach Anderson. He is definitely more open to communication then mullin. I was surprised chris never had a twitter account.[/quote]

Not to Mullin bash, but do you think he really cared to reach out to the fans?
CMA approach is refreshing.[/quote]

In his first year Mullin was all over NYC and local events. Then two things happened the following summer. He blackballed Slice and he sold his Long island home and his wife and daughter moved back to California.
The rest is history.[/quote]

I think your post is a perfect example of taking facts and not telling the full story that I'm completely aware that you know, distort the person. To me, Mullin is the same guy who led us to our highest success, the same polite guy who in his final game at Alumni Hall, took a curtain call after the game when fans refused to leave the arena and instead brought the entire team out with him and applauded the fans.

So for those of you who do not know the full story, here is the context. Mullin fully intended to apply his 100% best effort to restore this program. He bought a house close to campus in Manhasset, and moved his wife and teenaged daughter with him to the East Coast. As a young high schooler, being away from her friends and familiar surroundings was just too much from her, and very likely to type A mentality that exists in wealthier towns on LI. She had a gigantic meltdown during Mullin's first season, and Chris and his wife made the very difficult family decision to be apart, with his daughter and wife moving back to California. When asked about that arrangement, Chris said it was only temporary, and when it was time for her to go to college, she would likely remain on the West Coast for school and his wife would rejoin him in NY. Without his family with him, he sold the big house in Manhasset, and I presume he took an apartment, possibly closer to where his older sons live in NYC (they had grown to love NY) Prior to this happening, he had no need to travel to California with any frequency, and I presume that to see his wife and kid made periodic trips back to the bay area,

Then as we all know his brother took mortally ill. Chris described him as "my first sports hero" a guy he was extremely close to in all ways. Still with you and our fans knowing this, we took pot shots at his effort, integrity, honesty, and character. What happened to Chris? Life happened to him, and I believe that it prevented him from having the focus and time to put 150% into coaching, because frankly family always comes first.

Yea, he never became a great coach, or even a good coach for that matter. Yea, he made mistakes - rookie mistakes that most guys who succeed have made in obscure places at lower levels where 100 fans show up at a game, and not in front of thousands at CA and the Garden, and millions watching on TV. Yes, he was terminated, and on performance it was justified, and the "experiment ended".

But that doesn't mean Chris had changed, or that he deliberately short changed St. John's. He took on something in the full public eye, as a novice, that few of us would dare to do, and somehow managed to go from 1-17 in year one in conference to an NCAA bid in year four. He may have gotten a second bid in year three if Lovett didn't bounce. But that's old news, as is his departure.

If we really are going to go with the half baked narrative that his reputation as a player and St. John's icon is untarnished, we really have to stop the narrative that Chris somehow acted improperly as coach here. BAsed on what I know, I'd have done exactly the same thing in terms of family first.
 
Chris Mullin is the best and has been, arguably, St. John's best ever. I will always remember his first game or one of this first at Alumni Hall - I think he scored about 14 points (I am not going to google the exact number) but he hit a sweet jump shot from the corner. I said to myself "wow" and "he's the real deal".
He will always be special. I hope he enjoys a good long life with his family - I hope he does not suffer more than the normal man or more than he already has.
Blessings.
 
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