Mike Cragg Q & A, Duke Chronicle

[quote="MarkRedman" post=320202]Who can argue with the concept of developing a strategic plan?
But two questions immediately arise:

1. Will the higher administration support and be willing to implement the findings?
2. Does the university have the resources to implement the recommendations?

Many organizations have wonderful strategic plans sitting in binders on bookshelves
Why? Because one or both of the concerns listed above couldn't / didn't happen
Let's hope that we can finally move our program forward into the 21st century!![/quote]
I'd be happy if we move into the second half of the 20th century. :lol:
 
Good morning!

Been a while since an update on all of our activities but to say it has been a whirlwind of excitement - on and off the playing surfaces – would not even be adequately describing all of our fun times over the past few months. Yes – we are nearing the four-month mark here at St. John’s.

Am about to head into the inaugural steering committee meeting for our Master Facilities Planning process – and I wanted you to be aware of this new initiative along with our upcoming Strategic Planning work as well. The full press release and a Q&A with the student newspaper are below. We have engaged with the Beck Group and the PICTOR Group to guide us through these critical next steps towards building a championship level athletics department and to further help us articulate that vision for years to come.

Very excited to have my two most senior staff members head these initiatives – Senior Deputy AD Kathy Meehan will oversee the Strategic Plan and Deputy AD John Diffley will head up the Facilities Master Plan. These anticipated nine-month studies will have us learning from internal, external, peers, and national best practices – you name it.

Leading our on-court excitement is the men’s basketball team – now with a 17-6 overall record and in a third place tie in the Big East Conference race – the Red Storm have eight games left to clinch its first NCAA Tournament bid under head coach Chris Mullin. Most importantly, this team continues to improve, play hard, and get better every game. They are a pleasure to travel with and very impressive young men. Absolutely love being around them on a daily basis – just like all of our near 350 student-athletes on campus.

Our most recent, eight-day trip saw us take two crucial road wins but also an important trip to Durham and Duke University. While there, Paige and I hosted a tour of the athletic facilities and a dinner for about 40 donors, friends, staff, and Board members Friday night. That, along with the team practicing and eating in Cameron, and our staff going to the headquarters of our strategic partner Teamworks made for an engaging few days and an opportunity to not focus on just the final result. We absolutely got better as a department and as a program in going to Duke!

Speaking of, we also had our first ever Senior Staff offsite back in early January at the corporate offices in midtown NYC of Endeavor / IMG. It was actually on the day they announced the merger so there was a buzz in the air as we learned from each other, studied our department, and had lunch with Commissioner Val Ackerman.

And finally (most importantly), a salute to all of our sports in action – getting better. Our women’s basketball team continues to improve and will no doubt contend for Big East honors at the conference tournament, the fencing squads are in prime position for future NCAA successes, women’s indoor track is in full swing and full of promise, spring sports are going – golf, tennis, lacrosse (this Saturday), and baseball at UCLA in less than two weeks.

Needless to say - it’s an exciting time to be on campus – we invite you to come see us and get behind our student-athletes as they look to represent our University at the highest levels.

That’s it for this morning (told you there was a lot) … below are a couple most recent articles on our endeavors.

Best always –

Mike

Mike Cragg
 
Attached articles:

The new athletic director giving a speech in Carnesecca Arena
Brendan Myers, Sports Editor


What’s in store for the future of Carnesecca Arena?

Athletic director Mike Cragg refused to rule out any possibility, saying in a phone interview with The Torch, “without question, it certainly needs to be addressed.”

Improving the 58-year-old arena is among a series of new goals and initiatives regarding the future of St. John’s Athletics that Cragg unveiled Monday night in a press release.

“It’s the hub of St. John’s Athletics,” Cragg said. “Something needs to be done — insides, outsides, fan amenities.”

Cragg said The Beck Group, a Dallas-based real estate development company, will be tasked with working with Deputy Athletic Director John Diffley and looking for “facility improvement, renovation, replacement, and new construction over the next 10 years.”

The Beck Group is no stranger to Cragg, as the two worked together during his time as deputy athletic director at Duke in North Carolina. The development company was involved in several Duke projects including construction on football team’s practice facility and an enhancement to its basketball arena Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Any upgrade at Carnesecca Arena will be part of Cragg’s ambitious master plan.
The tasks he laid out for St. John’s Athletics involve upgrades to facilities, developing a new vision for the Athletic Department and improving the satisfaction of student-athletes that represent the Red Storm across the school’s 17 Division I athletic programs.

“Our student-athletes need to have a great experience,” Cragg said.

The University will be aided by two outside firms in order to help fulfill the goals laid out by Cragg. The Nevada based Pictor Group will be involved in researching industry trends to help lay out what the department is calling “The Strategic Plan for Red Storm Athletics.” This new plan will “reinforce the department’s mission and vision and establishes measurable goals and objectives,” according to the release.

Another facet of the new goals include facility renovations.

Cragg noted that he believes that St. John’s is behind in regards to facilities of their Big East competitors – such as Providence, where they are in the process of opening up a new practice facility, and DePaul, who opened a new basketball arena last season.

Cragg told The Torch he wanted to “articulate” the goals and visions that he has for the Athletic Department after the recent turnover that St. John’s Athletics has seen.
Former Director of Athletics Anton Goff left the University last June after just two years in charge. Kathy Meehan served as an interim athletic director during the span between Goff and Cragg’s hire in September, filling an interim role she also worked in prior to Goff.

The constant flux at the top of the department has made for a somewhat stagnant era in terms of tangible improvements for athletic facilities.

Cragg feels that the stabilization was necessary in order to make a plan and fix issues that arise along the way. He sees this as a big step so that St. John’s can continue to move forward with new initiatives to the program and keep all administrators on the same page regarding the future progression of athletics.

“It’s not a good methodology to to just pick and choose [as you go along],” Cragg said. “It’s important to state very clearly.”

With talk on facility upgrades at St. John’s comes curiosity from fans about Carnesecca Arena. The on-campus arena can hold up to 5,602 people and has hosted more Big East Conference games than Madison Square Garden has over the past few seasons.

It most recently underwent a $30-million renovation that took place over three years in which the lobby was expanded, new ticket windows were added and a new center-hung scoreboard was unveiled. The renovation was finished in 2008.

Some St. John’s fans have taken to social media to voice their complaints, saying that seating is uncomfortable and tight quarters make it difficult to purchase concessions. Cragg made it clear that it will be addressed but did not go into specifics.

While he remains committed to improving the quality of the experience for student-athletes, Cragg sees the importance of not forgetting about the Red Storm fans.

“This is a community that’s excited and very proud of their school,” he said.
After being hired in late September, Cragg says he’s been active in meeting with players and coaches across all the programs to gauge their opinions on how different aspects can be improved.

The new Athletic Director constantly says that he believes St. John’s can, and should be competing for Big East championships in every sport.

“[St. John’s] was in need of being able to articulate our goals,” Cragg said.

Cragg said the goals right now are bold, and results won’t be seen overnight, but he won’t let that stop him from making his visions for Red Storm Athletics appear.

“I can bring a lot,” he said. “I know what a championship program looks like.”


https://redstormsports.com/news/201...and-master-facilities-plans.aspx?path=general

St. John’s Athletics to Develop New Strategic and Master Facilities Plans

Athletic Department to Create Roadmap for Future of Red Storm Athletics

QUEENS, N.Y. – The St. John's Athletic Department announced Monday the launch of concurrent planning processes to establish a new strategic plan and master facilities plan that will serve as the blueprint for the future of Red Storm Athletics.

"This is an exciting time for St. John's Athletics," said Director of Athletics Mike Cragg. "It is important to establish a new vision for our department, one that helps guide our ambitious efforts to build a championship program and provide an unparalleled experience for our student-athletes."

Senior Deputy Athletics Director Kathy Meehan will serve as chair of the Strategic Planning Committee, a team consisting of administration, faculty and coaches that will work with The PICTOR Group (TPG) throughout the multiphase process. St. John's strategic planning initiative will feature broad-based participation through in-person interviews conducted by TPG with internal and external stakeholders, all of who will help shape the vision of the department.

Based out of Reno, Nev., The PICTOR Group is led by highly accomplished, respected and nationally recognized professionals who have held senior leadership positions in intercollegiate athletics and central campus administration. TPG specializes in strategic planning and visioning by utilizing decades of experience, expertise and knowledge from the team's background working in the highest ranks of collegiate athletics.

Over the next few months, the Strategic Planning Committee and TPG will conduct a thorough review of the athletic program, solicit extensive feedback and conduct a deep study of industry trends as well as analytic data that will serve as a foundation for establishing The Strategic Plan for Red Storm Athletics. In the near future, a finalized plan will be set in place that reinforces the department's mission and vision and establishes measurable goals and objectives, in line with the University's strategic priorities.

A facilities working group, charged with guiding the development of St. John's Athletics Master Facilities Plan, has also been established with a blend of internal and external representation. Chaired by Deputy Athletic Director John Diffley and with the assistance from advisors at The Beck Group, the facilities committee will create a vision for facility improvement, renovation, replacement, and new construction over the next 10 years.

Headquartered in Dallas, The Beck Group is an international architecture, construction, real estate development and sustainable design and consulting firm that has served a diverse range of industries, most notably education and sports. The Beck Group has extensive experience in construction and design projects for intercollegiate athletic programs, including numerous recent renovations over the past decade at Duke alongside Cragg during his tenure as an administrator at the University.

Overall, the master facilities plan will address the critical need for new and improved athletic facilities to enhance the student-athlete experience, increase player development opportunities, enhance recruiting and increase competitiveness of St. John's athletic teams. The plan will prioritize a hierarchy of potential projects across a range of scopes and scales, including short and long term solutions. Phasing diagrams and conceptual imagery will also be incorporated in order to visualize the future of Red Storm athletics.

"We know we have plenty of work ahead of us, but our entire team is inspired to facilitate positive change and lay the foundation for our future at St. John's," said Cragg.
 
[quote="jerseyshorejohnny" post=320951]Good morning!

Been a while since an update on all of our activities but to say it has been a whirlwind of excitement - on and off the playing surfaces – would not even be adequately describing all of our fun times over the past few months. Yes – we are nearing the four-month mark here at St. John’s.

Am about to head into the inaugural steering committee meeting for our Master Facilities Planning process – and I wanted you to be aware of this new initiative along with our upcoming Strategic Planning work as well. The full press release and a Q&A with the student newspaper are below. We have engaged with the Beck Group and the PICTOR Group to guide us through these critical next steps towards building a championship level athletics department and to further help us articulate that vision for years to come.

Very excited to have my two most senior staff members head these initiatives – Senior Deputy AD Kathy Meehan will oversee the Strategic Plan and Deputy AD John Diffley will head up the Facilities Master Plan. These anticipated nine-month studies will have us learning from internal, external, peers, and national best practices – you name it.

Leading our on-court excitement is the men’s basketball team – now with a 17-6 overall record and in a third place tie in the Big East Conference race – the Red Storm have eight games left to clinch its first NCAA Tournament bid under head coach Chris Mullin. Most importantly, this team continues to improve, play hard, and get better every game. They are a pleasure to travel with and very impressive young men. Absolutely love being around them on a daily basis – just like all of our near 350 student-athletes on campus.

Our most recent, eight-day trip saw us take two crucial road wins but also an important trip to Durham and Duke University. While there, Paige and I hosted a tour of the athletic facilities and a dinner for about 40 donors, friends, staff, and Board members Friday night. That, along with the team practicing and eating in Cameron, and our staff going to the headquarters of our strategic partner Teamworks made for an engaging few days and an opportunity to not focus on just the final result. We absolutely got better as a department and as a program in going to Duke!

Speaking of, we also had our first ever Senior Staff offsite back in early January at the corporate offices in midtown NYC of Endeavor / IMG. It was actually on the day they announced the merger so there was a buzz in the air as we learned from each other, studied our department, and had lunch with Commissioner Val Ackerman.

And finally (most importantly), a salute to all of our sports in action – getting better. Our women’s basketball team continues to improve and will no doubt contend for Big East honors at the conference tournament, the fencing squads are in prime position for future NCAA successes, women’s indoor track is in full swing and full of promise, spring sports are going – golf, tennis, lacrosse (this Saturday), and baseball at UCLA in less than two weeks.

Needless to say - it’s an exciting time to be on campus – we invite you to come see us and get behind our student-athletes as they look to represent our University at the highest levels.

That’s it for this morning (told you there was a lot) … below are a couple most recent articles on our endeavors.

Best always –

Mike

Mike Cragg[/quote]
In addition to other assets, Mike Cragg obviously is an excellent communicator.
 
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TORCH Editorial re Strategic Plans:

Flames of the Torch: On the University’s responsibility to allocate funds appropriately

Torch Staff

February 6, 2019

Opinion

This week, the new Athletics Director Mike Cragg told the Torch that he has big plans for the university’s staple: Carnesecca Arena.
After 58 years of the Lou Carnesecca-dedicated arena being built, and 11 years since its last renovation, it’s safe to say Cragg’s ambition to renovate the Queens campus arena — which has hosted more Big East Conference games than Madison Square Garden has over the past few seasons — is an understandable one.

Our Sports Editor Brendan Myers’ article details how over the next 10 years, St. John’s Deputy Athletic Director John Diffley will work with the Dallas-based real estate development company, The Beck Group, to foresee “facility improvement, renovation, replacement, and new construction.”

We believe it is of the utmost importance that the university maintains a level of transparency when it comes to the resources that are dedicated to this athletics project.

The cost of a college education is at astronomical levels. Meanwhile, with enrollments dropping nationwide, the cost of doing business for universities is rising, too. Every dollar for everyone involved is at a premium. That’s why the optics are imperative.

At a time when students face issues such as power outages in the Townhouses and or flooding from a water main break on campus, this news serves as a reminder that we hope that the university has its eyes on ways to improve the decades-old infrastructure everywhere.
There’s no doubt about it, St. John’s athletics program is a huge part of the campus culture — but the reason the university thrives is also thanks to the students who come to learn.
 
Spoke to St. John’s AD Mike Cragg today. He said #sjubb will be hosting a Big East-Big 12 challenge game at the Garden in December. Team is also looking to schedule a high major non-con opponent there early in the year, pending interested teams.

Per Kieran_Lynch
 
[quote="Paultzman" post=322912]Spoke to St. John’s AD Mike Cragg today. He said #sjubb will be hosting a Big East-Big 12 challenge game at the Garden in December. Team is also looking to schedule a high major non-con opponent there early in the year, pending interested teams.

Per Kieran_Lynch[/quote]

Think I read on here the game will be vs WVU. Any truth to that?

Villanova vs Kansas
Creighton vs Oklahoma
Marquette vs Kansas St
Providence vs Texas

Knowing this, and taking into account geography, WVU seems the only Big 12 team fit to play at MSG.
 
The job that Mike Cragg signed up for at St. John's is very different then the one he had at Duke. An executive at Procter and Gamble will not necessarily be as successful as the CEO of a start up. I give him a lot of credit for taking this job but I am not expecting any miracles.
 
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[quote="Andrew" post=324874]The job that Mike Cragg signed up for at St. John's is very different then the one he had at Duke. An executive at Procter and Gamble will not necessarily be as successful as the CEO of an a start up. I give him a lot of credit for taking this job but I am not expecting any miracles.[/quote]

Fair point. I think it's also important for us to realize that, even if Cragg pushes all the right buttons, a true transformation will take several years.
 
[quote="Andrew" post=324874]The job that Mike Cragg signed up for at St. John's is very different then the one he had at Duke. An executive at Procter and Gamble will not necessarily be as successful as the CEO of a start up. I give him a lot of credit for taking this job but I am not expecting any miracles.[/quote]

Agreed I don't expect "miracles" either, but he brings a lot more to the table than previous AD's as far as thinking out of the box. So I do expect some or more progress, which so far I sense he's moving in the right direction.
 
[quote="Paultzman" post=322912]Spoke to St. John’s AD Mike Cragg today. He said #sjubb will be hosting a Big East-Big 12 challenge game at the Garden in December. Team is also looking to schedule a high major non-con opponent there early in the year, pending interested teams.

Per Kieran_Lynch[/quote]

I've heard from a few different people it will be West Virginia.
 
Since the day he was hired Mike Cragg has continually spoken about raising the men's bb program profile. This must indicate the people who hired Mike are in agreement. Step one appears to be to,schedule more games vs better competition at MSG. This he believes will attract better recruits to the program.
Then the SJU staff has to take over and reel the recruits in and coach them to success. An AD can only do so much.
 
I hope he brings back the Lapchick Invitational.
 
[quote="Knight" post=324992]I hope he brings back the Lapchick Invitational.[/quote]
Think it was called the Lapchick Classic. Some people used to say St. John's invites 3 teams they know they can beat and calls it a classic. If I remember correctly we were like 40-0 until someone beat us and then we ended it (Mahoney was the coach?).
 
[quote="bamafan" post=324994][quote="Knight" post=324992]I hope he brings back the Lapchick Invitational.[/quote]
Think it was called the Lapchick Classic. Some people used to say St. John's invites 3 teams they know they can beat and calls it a classic. If I remember correctly we were like 40-0 until someone beat us and then we ended it (Mahoney was the coach?).[/quote]

Wasn't it a random UC school? Like UC Irvine or something similar.
 
[quote="Mario DiMaria" post=324953][quote="Andrew" post=324874]The job that Mike Cragg signed up for at St. John's is very different then the one he had at Duke. An executive at Procter and Gamble will not necessarily be as successful as the CEO of a start up. I give him a lot of credit for taking this job but I am not expecting any miracles.[/quote]

Agreed I don't expect "miracles" either, but he brings a lot more to the table than previous AD's as far as thinking out of the box. So I do expect some or more progress, which so far I sense he's moving in the right direction.[/quote]
Andrew, I know we've all been frustrated by the "mom & pop" approach our Athletic Department has taken for far too long, but to compare the long and storied history of our basketball program to that of a "start-up company" is, I think, a bit much.
 
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[quote="redken" post=325604][quote="Mario DiMaria" post=324953][quote="Andrew" post=324874]The job that Mike Cragg signed up for at St. John's is very different then the one he had at Duke. An executive at Procter and Gamble will not necessarily be as successful as the CEO of a start up. I give him a lot of credit for taking this job but I am not expecting any miracles.[/quote]

Agreed I don't expect "miracles" either, but he brings a lot more to the table than previous AD's as far as thinking out of the box. So I do expect some or more progress, which so far I sense he's moving in the right direction.[/quote]
Andrew, I know we've all been frustrated by the "mom & pop" approach our Athletic Department has taken for far too long, but to compare the long and storied history of our basketball program to that of a "start-up company" is, I think, a bit much.[/quote]

Never been great with analogies and I didn’t intend to take a shot at the program. My point was that it’s much easier for many to be a part of a successful organization then it is to have to build things on your own. I believe Cragg’s has the tools to be successful here but it is far from a guarantee.
 
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