I think Logen's oft expressed statement re Wright & Coach K struggling several years at Duke &Nova is more than fair. To me the difference is they were early in their career and devoted many years to building a sustainable foundation. Not to inspire further angst, but I never felt Chris would be here more than 5 or 6 years. If that transpires, I hope he hands the reins of a solid program to someone capable of continuing success. Hopefully my gut is wrong, which is often the case. In fairness to Chris, this is a tough and frustrating job out of the gate.
Paultz - I always remember Mullin's introductory quote. I see him here for his contract period and not more. That means the clock is ticking for him to build program up by year 3 (4 latest) to have 2-3 solid years depending if he is committed for 5-6 years (and stays that long by choice or President/AD decision)
I think he'll get this right but we're still lacking the right players. It's headed right but Matt A needs to land some more big body killers beyond Zach Brown question mark and Clark Jr.
Naz Reid would be nice and I guess we'll be pissed if we don't land him which is highly possible.
The quote :
On getting the program back to consecutive NCAA Tournaments:
"We are going to get this program back to those days and have it consistent. It's going to be a process. It's not going to happen overnight. It's going to take patience and a lot of hard work. I want to get it to where Coach [Carnesecca] had it and then hand it off to someone else so we have consistency."
This doesn't make any sense to me - what's he going to do after 5 or 6 years? Is he hoping to coach in the NBA? Otherwise he is going to coach 5 or 6 years then retire - doesn't make sense when it is at least a 2 or 3 year rebuilding effort. If his plan was only to stay around 5 years I think we should of went a different route. You need a coach to stay longer then that otherwise we are going to be looking for a new coach 3 or 4 years from now?
At St. John's 6 years IS a long range plan!
It will be interesting to see if Mullin can come close to duplicating the much despised Steve Lavin in the 4 years he actually coached at St.John's. It seems almost unimaginable but Steve had 3 twenty plus winning seasons and 4 post season appearances in those 4 years (2 NCAA and 2 NIT's ). Many made light of his cancer and even his dad's passing but those things seemingly had an affect on his ability to coach and recruit. His aloofness in recruiting local players and in closing the deal on his biggest targets were his ultimate downfall.
We all know Chris Mullin was a huge gamble and that a younger more experienced coach such as Danny Hurley would have made more sense, especially with recruiting local kids. But Mullin provides a big marquee name to entice upper tier kids and I think after year three with some coaching experience under his belt he will be able to be evaluated on par with more experienced coaches. If, in years 3, 4, 5 and 6 we are an NCAA team then he will have succeeded and surpassed Steve Lavin, another marquee name. If he has only Lavinesque success then we may have hired a reluctant bride with a prenuptial not worth the investment.
If, like Steve Lavin, he starts to lose interest in recruiting hard and fails to sign his top targets, then the two Vincention schools may be better off in the A10, or a lesser conference. If you can make it in New York you can make it anywhere but, like hiring an AD, we seem to lack commitment and common sense, then just focus on creating a better academic institution.
