Please Take A Deep Breath ... Keep an Open Mind ... Give the Guy a Chance

O

otis

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OK ... when this drama began to unfold Tim Cluess was not my first choice to become the new St. John's coach however as events unfolded it became evident that AD Mike Cragg has been playing the cards dealt to him. His options were limited by financial considerations.

Pretty near everyone on this site agrees that it would have been a mistake to provide Coach Mullin with a contract extension. so Cragg elected not to extend him so the separation occurred with Mullin owed an estimated $4.4M. Like it or not StJohn's was not prepared to pay Mullin's $4.4M+/- plus another $5M+/- for his replacement for those same 2 upcoming season which leads us to Coach Tim Cluess.

Many of the repetitive negative posts from Coach Cluess' critics come from posters who were Mullin's biggest boosters. Yeah, these posters were willing to give Mullin the benefit of the doubt despite the fact that he did not have a day of head coaching experience yet those same posters are unwilling to give that same benefit to Cluess who is an experienced head coach who has built a solid record.

I have no idea whether Cluess will be a success at StJohn's but then no one knows if any coach will succeed. What I do like about Tim Cluess is that he is said to be a hard- hard worker who really wants to be the head men's basketball coach at StJohn's University. The factor of hard work has allegedly been lacking for the pretty near every one of the coaches who have succeeded Louie.

The point I am attempting to make is that like it or not Cragg's options were limited by financial terms and given these options Cluess will (likely) be named head men;s basketball coach on Monday. He wasn't my first choice but I sure as hell hope that he succeeds.

I ask my fellow Redmen.comers to keep an open mind, and give Cluess a chance.
 
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We need to support whoever is named head coach. As long as he has experience and is a hard worker, I'm all in.
 
The 4 yrs has been a failure any coach will be better and morale will be up Cluess will be a hard worker and a better recruiter Of cause I liked Petino but clues I hope does a great job
 
I agree that Cluess would be a great hire given all our financial restraints (multiple buyouts). I hope we can get this done and welcome him on Monday. I'd be much more excited with him at the helm than had Mullin returned.
 
Good luck Otis :)
[attachment=856]41E338B8-E904-4E79-AC0F-2E06562B7077.gif[/attachment]
 
I can get behind hiring Cluess given the circumstances with not having a major guy locked up before this whole mess started. He at least knows how to run a program and can recruit solid 3 star kids. It will just take a long time to rebuild and the team won’t do much on defense.

I would rather they took a chance on Odom, or hire 400 win Randy Bennett
 
I will be very patient and judge Cragg's performance by the result. Isn't a good look so far I have to say.
 
I’m not happy but I’m not going to start killing him either. My anger is more at the school. They suck
 
We violated the dominant working theorem of the Ages: We hired a guy we couldn't 'fire'.
I think the Board's building 'distaste' with Cragg is misplaced.
Seems to me, MC was going to keep Mullin as HC at least into next year (perhaps a 'reluctant' but 'inevitable' decision given Mullin's celebrity) and was thrown from the horse when Mullin sought a guaranteed extension.
That sparked a short 'face-off' whereby Mullin sought relief from President Gempesaw, was rebuffed and 'stepped down'.
Meanwhile, once Matt left, the roster began to spring leaks.
Cragg reached into his Duke file, called BH, probably also compiled a list of other prospects, but opted to pursue Bobby as Candidate 1, sensing a quick turnaround.
Meanwhile the roster took more hits, BH declined
This forced Cragg to prioritize Cluess, his fallback option.
I've got no clue if there are still other candidates being considered or not, but unless they pass various levels of due diligence and can be inked fast, given our roster predicament and our recruiting needs, Cluess is probably our next HC.
And I think he deserves our support.
 
[quote="Chicago Days" post=341053]We violated the dominant working theorem of the Ages: We hired a guy we couldn't 'fire'.
I think the Board's building 'distaste' with Cragg is misplaced.
Seems to me, MC was going to keep Mullin as HC at least into next year (perhaps a 'reluctant' but 'inevitable' decision given Mullin's celebrity) and was thrown from the horse when Mullin sought a guaranteed extension.
That sparked a short 'face-off' whereby Mullin sought relief from President Gempesaw, was rebuffed and 'stepped down'.
Meanwhile, once Matt left, the roster began to spring leaks.
Cragg reached into his Duke file, called BH, probably also compiled a list of other prospects, but opted to pursue Bobby as Candidate 1, sensing a quick turnaround.
Meanwhile the roster took more hits, BH declined
This forced Cragg to prioritize Cluess, his fallback option.
I've got no clue if there are still other candidates being considered or not, but unless they pass various levels of due diligence and can be inked fast, given our roster predicament and our recruiting needs, Cluess is probably our next HC.
And I think he deserves our support.[/quote]

On a positive note they can cancel that consulting firm they are paying big dollars to, hopefully get their money back, cause that is history
 
That’s just so ridiculous. CM who I loved as a player was done here. It just wasn’t in him to do the job for whatever reason. And here is a guy who’s wanted to coach here for decades who may finally get his shot shot at his dream job. And is known as a tireless worker. A coach’s coach. Winner everywhere on every level. A good recruiter for the situations he’s been in. Runs a fun offense to watch tho hopefully he coaches some D too. Guy with great connections with and respect from all the NYC hoops people.

Yeah let’s wish we had CM back. That makes NO sense.

[quote="oldschool Redmen" post=341032]If it really is cluess then i regrets ever wanting Chris to go[/quote]
 
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[quote="redmanwest" post=341058]That’s just so ridiculous. CM who I loved as a player was done here. It just wasn’t in him to do the job for whatever reason. And here is a guy who’s wanted to coach here for decades who may finally get his shot shot at his dream job. And is known as a tireless worker. A coach’s coach. Winner everywhere on every level. A good recruiter for the situations he’s been in. Runs a fun offense to watch tho hopefully he coaches some D too. Guy with great connections with and respect from all the NYC hoops people.

Yeah let’s wish we had CM back. That makes NO sense.

[quote="oldschool Redmen" post=341032]If it really is cluess then i regrets ever wanting Chris to go[/quote][/quote]

Give me odom or moser is we gotta go cheap, not cluess, you get to nc games with defense, just look at the teams who made it, defense!!!!!
Cragg said he wants us to be elite, hope he means it.
 
[quote="tom bradley" post=341055][quote="Chicago Days" post=341053]We violated the dominant working theorem of the Ages: We hired a guy we couldn't 'fire'.
I think the Board's building 'distaste' with Cragg is misplaced.
Seems to me, MC was going to keep Mullin as HC at least into next year (perhaps a 'reluctant' but 'inevitable' decision given Mullin's celebrity) and was thrown from the horse when Mullin sought a guaranteed extension.
That sparked a short 'face-off' whereby Mullin sought relief from President Gempesaw, was rebuffed and 'stepped down'.
Meanwhile, once Matt left, the roster began to spring leaks.
Cragg reached into his Duke file, called BH, probably also compiled a list of other prospects, but opted to pursue Bobby as Candidate 1, sensing a quick turnaround.
Meanwhile the roster took more hits, BH declined
This forced Cragg to prioritize Cluess, his fallback option.
I've got no clue if there are still other candidates being considered or not, but unless they pass various levels of due diligence and can be inked fast, given our roster predicament and our recruiting needs, Cluess is probably our next HC.
And I think he deserves our support.[/quote]

On a positive note they can cancel that consulting firm they are paying big dollars to, hopefully get their money back, cause that is history[/quote]

Meaning, you think we're doomed if we hire Cluess?
Do you 'like' anybody other than Pitino?
Just curious.
My mantra is, I'm fine with 'alternatives' if they pass muster and we can finalize it by early next week.
 
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Mind is open for any new hire at coach, but the case on Cragg is closed.

His biggest decision at Duke in 30 years was picking out amenities with the architectural firm who did their renovations. After that it was what hotel to send the team to on road trips.
 
Wake me up when this is over. My first two questions will be........

1. Who is our new coach?

2. Did we keep LJ?
 
[quote="Chicago Days" post=341067][quote="tom bradley" post=341055][quote="Chicago Days" post=341053]We violated the dominant working theorem of the Ages: We hired a guy we couldn't 'fire'.
I think the Board's building 'distaste' with Cragg is misplaced.
Seems to me, MC was going to keep Mullin as HC at least into next year (perhaps a 'reluctant' but 'inevitable' decision given Mullin's celebrity) and was thrown from the horse when Mullin sought a guaranteed extension.
That sparked a short 'face-off' whereby Mullin sought relief from President Gempesaw, was rebuffed and 'stepped down'.
Meanwhile, once Matt left, the roster began to spring leaks.
Cragg reached into his Duke file, called BH, probably also compiled a list of other prospects, but opted to pursue Bobby as Candidate 1, sensing a quick turnaround.
Meanwhile the roster took more hits, BH declined
This forced Cragg to prioritize Cluess, his fallback option.
I've got no clue if there are still other candidates being considered or not, but unless they pass various levels of due diligence and can be inked fast, given our roster predicament and our recruiting needs, Cluess is probably our next HC.
And I think he deserves our support.[/quote]

On a positive note they can cancel that consulting firm they are paying big dollars to, hopefully get their money back, cause that is history[/quote]

Meaning, you think we're doomed if we hire Cluess?
Do you 'like' anybody other than Pitino?
Just curious.
My mantra is, I'm fine with 'alternatives' if they pass muster and we can finalize it by early next week.[/quote]

Cluess is a hard working good coach. This is SJU and historically other traditional powerhouse programs have a much greater level of respect for our history than most of our fans unfortunately. Why do you think Cragg came here? So I am going to keep Cragg to his word. He wants this to be an elite level program playing for championships. So Pitino aside who checks all the boxes, I would take Richard Pitino w/ his dad as special assistant if Rick doesnt pass the smell test, which is stupid.
 
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