mike cragg

[Beasts of the East]

Cragg knew what had to be done at StJ’s but was handicapped in doing so by a lack of money.

Here is my story: 2 or so years ago StJ’s was looking for a head men’s lacrosse coach. I am friends with a retired D1 men’s head lacrosse coach who had won a handful of NCAA national championships. The friend told me he was not necessarily interested in the StJ’s job but was intrigued by the opportunity and would agree to be interviewed if StJ’s would like to do so. I called Cragg to inform him of the willingness of the blue chip coach to be interviewed. Cragg told me that he would respectfully pass on the blue chip candidate because he said that his StJ’s budget would not allow him to hire anyone except a “young up and comer”.

The point being that Mike knew what should be done (hire an experienced winning coach) but the financial limitations he was required to work prevented him from doing so.

This is pretty much the story of St. John's. Yours and Alumni Hall's post is accurate in my opinion.

Since Shanley was hired, every single Dean has left, and some of those were highly regarded and had elevated their schools. For the college of pharmacy position I advocated to the school that they hire internally because an outside hire would quickly become frustrated by the lack of resources at St. John's. They made a great hire IMO, because the outside hire was on faculty here long ago and understood that.

In Cragg's case coming to St. John's after 3 decades at Duke was like going from the Ritz Carlton to Ramada Inn, with the goal of competing against the best hotels for athletic success.

Pre-NIL, when a recruit made an official visit, they would take them to MSG, show them our practice court in Tafner, but carefully avoid showing them the decrepit parts of our athletic facility. Immediately Cragg knew ours were the worst in the Big East and he sought to fix that, for all athletes and not just basketball.

As AH noted, a basketball only facility will help one program, but the larger problem of athletic facilities remain. Rick can be myopic because his needs will be met. Shanley, who turns 66 in a few weeks, almost certainly will leave that problem for the next president to fix. For Shanley, retirement will likely be at 70 and he will be a lame duck by 69 in just 3 years.

Who will be the next AD? My uninformed guess is that if Repole bankrolls the basketball facility, Kull will be the next AD, or at the least Repole gets a major say. My understanding is that Kull would jump at the opportunity and there are plenty of signs he is the guy.

Beyond that, Diffley could be a low budget choice who won't make waves or a lot of major decisions. He is a great guy, very smart with an EdD, and I would love it if he got the job if they aren't going to spend for a top not experienced AD.

As AH noted, who would come here given the lack of resources and lack of freedom to build a strong athletic infrastructure? Too many headwinds and the pricetag would be too high. What would a competent AD do that Cragg didn't attempt? Unfortunately, the way SJU is run is not a secret.

It takes a broad vision and a lot of energy to rebuild our brand beyond mens basketball. Unfortunately I don't see that happening anytime soon.

The good news is in the immediate basketball should be fine and with strong NIL will be competitive regardless of who they hire.

 

[Spocky Ramone]

Whoever Craggs replacement Keep Women’s Volleyball

And move the home games to Jones Beach!

 

[SJU85]

You make '$$'s & cents' too, '85.

I just wouldn't cut one of St.John's' more storied programs.

I'd make cuts elsewhere, and hope $$$'s could be raised to minimize program eliminations.

I don’t like cutting any sports. They already cut one I held near and dear (football) which has a pretty good Alumni Group and cutting Baseball would hurt/disappoint me just as much.

Disclaimer or Public Announcement:

No one is saying this will happen, just a discussion on the message board and should not be take as gospel.

 

[redmanwest]

I don’t like cutting any sports. They already cut one I held near and dear (football) which has a pretty good Alumni Group and cutting Baseball would hurt/disappoint me just as much.

Disclaimer or Public Announcement:

No one is saying this will happen, just a discussion on the message board and should not be take as gospel.

Isn't baseball maybe the third most successful sport program we have, behind basketball and soccer? Wy would that ever be on the chopping block?

 

[mjmaherjr]

Isn't baseball maybe the third most successful sport program we have, behind basketball and soccer? Wy would that ever be on the chopping block?

It’s June and it’s slow here that’s why

 

[kranmars]

It’s June and it’s slow here that’s why

You know your response can be mistaken as baseball is on the chopping block because it is June and slow here.

Which is great for keeping June busy.

 

[MainMan]

Excellent points by all.

Invaluable analysis of the current landscape.

But I think something is missing. The core principle that will truly elevate the program.

For St. John's to turn the corner, the players have to put the ball in the basket more times than their opponents.

-FIN-

 

[rcatalano]

College World Series only 6 times and that was 45-50 years ago. We might have had 38 appearances lifetime.

I stand corrected! I thought winning your conference tournament automatically invited you to the College World Series!

 

[SJU85]

Isn't baseball maybe the third most successful sport program we have, behind basketball and soccer? Wy would that ever be on the chopping block?

Please read the disclaimer.

The discussion started when it was pointed out that all of our other sports suffer in terms of losing money, poor facilities and other issue. Another post suggested that we should disband those sports and repurpose their playing facilities until it was pointed out that would leave us below the eligibility requirements for the basketball programs to remain D1. Side conversations mentioned baseball not being a candidate due to its history while one pointed out this is not the uncommon in the Northeast. No one suggested it is actually happening but it was also mentioned that Louisville is making major cuts across their athletic department.

Again this is not even speculation just discussion on a low June week

Whew!

 

[kranmars]

Please read the disclaimer.

The discussion started when it was pointed out that all of our other sports suffer in terms of losing money, poor facilities and other issue. Another post suggested that we should disband those sports and repurpose their playing facilities until it was pointed out that would leave us below the eligibility requirements for the basketball programs to remain D1. Side conversations mentioned baseball not being a candidate due to its history while one pointed out this is not the uncommon in the Northeast. No one suggested it is actually happening but it was also mentioned that Louisville is making major cuts across their athletic department.

Again this is not even speculation just discussion on a low June week

Whew!

So what you are saying essentially is SJU is not throwing out the Baseball baby with the Cragg bath water.

 

[classof2010]

Baseball is a staple not happening. Personally wish we would add hockey. I look at a school like a Quinnipiac and what they’ve done. That’s a school known for polling. Have an amazing law school now, solid athletics hockey included. They’ll be in the A-10 soon.

 

[Knight]

University finances are worse than I imagined. Do we not receive money from foreign sources like so many of the richer schools in the country?

 

[Alumni Hall]

Baseball is a staple not happening. Personally wish we would add hockey. I look at a school like a Quinnipiac and what they’ve done. That’s a school known for polling. Have an amazing law school now, solid athletics hockey included. They’ll be in the A-10 soon.

We had varsity ice hockey back in the 80’s and 90’s. SJU had the opportunity to have an outside community youth hockey group completely finance and build a nice arena on campus where the softball field sits now. Our hockey coach Buzz DesChamps brokered the deal. The deal was that we could use the ice time for our varsity team, the outside group would get it for 6 hrs a day, and the rest of the time SJU could either rent it out for profit or use it as student rec time. Of course we turned it down!

At the time, the University had an attorney on campus that gave Cahill and Harrington legal advice. He was under the misguide and wrong legal opinion that anything we did on campus which turned a profit would jeopardize out tax exempt status. So for years we turned down every request from film makers and corporations that wanted to film commercials on our beautiful campus. What a shame. So they all went to Hofstra and filmed many commercials and print advertisements there!

 

[ProudJohnnie]

Very sad to see Mike go. Class act! I'd love to see us look upstate and to Binghamton University for our next Athletic Director. Gene Marshall has had a great deal of success since he took over. He is a Basketball guy which Pitino would love and he also understands the NY metro area. He was the AD at Iona when Cluess was the head coach and had extreme success. Bottom line he has had success wherever he has been. Let's get him to Queens!

 

[SJU85]

We had varsity ice hockey back in the 80’s and 90’s. SJU had the opportunity to have an outside community youth hockey group completely build a nice arena on campus where the softball field sits now. Our hockey coach Buzz DesChamps brokered the deal. The deal was that we could use the ice time for our varsity team, the outside group would get it for 6 hrs a day, and the rest of the time SJU could either rent it out for profit or use it as student rec time. Of course we turned it down!

At the time, the University had an attorney on campus that gave Cahill and Harrington legal advice. He was under the misguide and wrong legal opinion that anything we did on campus which turned a profit would jeopardize out tax exempt status. So for years we turned down every request from film makers and corporations that wanted to film commercials on our beautiful campus. What a shame. So they all went to Hofstra and filmed many commercials and print advertisements

“There’s the right way, the wrong way and the St. John’s way indeed!!!!!

Talk about your Mom and Pop operation.

 

[classof2010]

We had varsity ice hockey back in the 80’s and 90’s. SJU had the opportunity to have an outside community youth hockey group completely finance and build a nice arena on campus where the softball field sits now. Our hockey coach Buzz DesChamps brokered the deal. The deal was that we could use the ice time for our varsity team, the outside group would get it for 6 hrs a day, and the rest of the time SJU could either rent it out for profit or use it as student rec time. Of course we turned it down!

At the time, the University had an attorney on campus that gave Cahill and Harrington legal advice. He was under the misguide and wrong legal opinion that anything we did on campus which turned a profit would jeopardize out tax exempt status. So for years we turned down every request from film makers and corporations that wanted to film commercials on our beautiful campus. What a shame. So they all went to Hofstra and filmed many commercials and print advertisements there!

Wow, that’s crazy I feel hockey would work now. I remembered being in HS when they did away with football. The team was trying to garner support during the holiday fest outside MSG. More ppl watching Giants-Eagles in the hallway then Johnnies-Tarheels.

 

[SJU85]

I stand corrected! I thought winning your conference tournament automatically invited you to the College World Series!

That gets you an invite to the NCAA Regionals (64 teams) and you must win that to get to the Super Regionals (16 Teams). Win your Super Regional and you’re one of the eight teams to go to the College World Series.

The last Northeast team to make it to the CWS was Stony Brook in 2012. We were knocked out in the Super Regionals that year by eventual National Champions Arizona (swept us 2 games to none).

The last Northeast team to win the CWS was Holy Cross in the early 1950’s.

 

[kranmars]

We had varsity ice hockey back in the 80’s and 90’s. SJU had the opportunity to have an outside community youth hockey group completely finance and build a nice arena on campus where the softball field sits now. Our hockey coach Buzz DesChamps brokered the deal. The deal was that we could use the ice time for our varsity team, the outside group would get it for 6 hrs a day, and the rest of the time SJU could either rent it out for profit or use it as student rec time. Of course we turned it down!

At the time, the University had an attorney on campus that gave Cahill and Harrington legal advice. He was under the misguide and wrong legal opinion that anything we did on campus which turned a profit would jeopardize out tax exempt status. So for years we turned down every request from film makers and corporations that wanted to film commercials on our beautiful campus. What a shame. So they all went to Hofstra and filmed many commercials and print advertisements there!

On the bright side of things, all of these wrong-headed decisions mean that outsiders will make business deals with SJU. All it takes is to hire the correct people to make them happen.

 

[paultzman]

On the bright side of things, all of these wrong-headed decisions mean that outsiders will make business deals with SJU. All it takes is to hire the correct people to make them happen.

We still trail Boeing in some respects hopefully

 

[Andrew]

I stand corrected! I thought winning your conference tournament automatically invited you to the College World Series!

The NCAA tournament. The College World Series is the final eight.

How the Men's College World Series works

Here is how the Men's College World Series works, including how teams make the MCWS, the format and the schedule.

www.ncaa.com

It's almost impossible for a Northeast program to make it the way college baseball operates today regardless of facilities. The last to do it was StonyBrook in 2012 I believe.