Repole

[quote="Beast of the East" post=398436][quote="Moose" post=398402]https://redstormsports.com/watch/?Archive=2155&sport=4&type=Archive

Anderson's introductory Press Conference on Friday

11:39 Anderson says and Cragg confirms off camera to getting a call Wednesday
11:44 Anderson says I'm up here right now (Friday) and I'm gonna be the coach of SJU

Repole's rant was in the afternoon on Wednesday. SJU staff heard Wednesday morning it was coming.

I know some people have issues with Repole and how he carries himself and that's fine. But when the coach says the timeline lets respect that and not make revisionist history.[/quote]

I know that you are pointing to speculation about SJU knowing the content of a rant by Repole and you are presuming that they were so embarrassed they immediately changed course towards a higher profile hire.

Your timeline fits perfectly to what I've been told by some very important people, but not for the reasons you are projecting.

Sometimes earlier that week, Mike Cragg reached out to Duke contacts (he has said this publicly) about suggestions for a new coach. They suggested Anderson. The call did occur before the Repole WFAN blast, and went so well that Anderson flew out the very next morning with his wife to meet with Cragg and SJU administration presumably. Anderson was announced Friday.

I was told by people as close as can be to the situation that the story of Repole influencing the university is pure fantasy. I am confident that I would have been told otherwise if that was the case, and either way, until now I have not disclosed this.

Just to be certain, perhaps if Repole went to SJU and said he would cover a good chunk of Hurley's salary, they would have upped his ante. I'm certain he didn't do that. For all of his bluster, when Repole blasted Bill Colllins as incompetent and clueless, and that Repole is all about loving the university, let's compare the love for a second. Repole is a billionaire who has donated about $1 million to the university. Collins I am told (I don't know him) is brilliant and his love for the university has been shown by $20 million in donations, with no strings attached. If Repole wants to show his love, let him pony up $20 million, or about 1/5th of his love for horses (by his account he spent $100 million on stables)[/quote]

I know when it comes to Repole you are not his biggest fan. And I am not trying to put him on this pedestal because like I said before he could have handled things differently. But the dates and the information isn't adding up. And I know you speak to people in the administration. Just like I do. And just like others do. However none of us get 100% accurate information. We've all been right and we've all been wrong. Things are often mis-represented, mis-interpreted, and mis-read.

Another date to consider is Porter Moser turning SJU down on Tuesday the 16th. The day before Repole rant.
On the 17th there are plenty of articles that you can find that talk of Odom rejecting SJU and James Jones being next up. With all the loose lips that surround this program still no mention of Anderson until after the rant and not before.

*Anderson wasn't mentioned until the 18th by reliable Jon Rothstein. That was first mention linking him to SJU
 
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How much credit do we give to Mike Francesca? Didn't he provide Repole the platform? Repole played right into Francesca's hands from start to finish.
 
[quote="Mike Zaun" post=398404]"9. Says culture at St. John's is toxic. I see no evidence of that frankly. "

I mean the evidence is the same as the examples of Mets, Knicks, and Jets. Incompetence makes you a consistently poor program which we were up until last yr with a few glimmers of hope but still nothing great. Look at our record the last 5 yrs. We've been a bottomfeeder overall. If it came to Repole vs. anyone other than Cragg, I side with Repole. He's saying what we were all thinking or assuming was happening behind scenes. The only way PC and SHU pass us by is if our admin sucks. And they have passed us by. They do suck. We have a bigger brand, way more $, more resources, much bigger student body, much more history...but the reason they rose from the ashes is because they have guys who know what they're doing behind the scenes. The Knicks and Mets have terrible ownership and front offices. That's why they are so bad so consistently. It's not natural to consistently be bad. It takes incompetence IMO.[/quote]

The Robert's hire set us back a long way. Basically 6 dismal years following the Jarvis meltdown. If jarvis wasn't so downright nasty and arrogant at the end, after Fraschilla tried to game SJU into raising him whole under contract, Harrington wouldn't have went for the "nice guy" who will never be a,head coach again. Lavin was a reasonably good hire whose main fault was that he seemed ok with low level success. Many feel Mullin had little support his first 3 seasons without a strong AD in place. We've gone through this a zillion times. Way worse than administration is our fan base,with not enough season ticket subscribers.
 
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[quote="Rob" post=398462]We show some success under Anderson and move past COVID, I'd bet those season ticket sales jump a good amount.[/quote]

Dismal just one season after our best attendance in 27 seasons. Still, most of that were single game tix.
 
[quote="OLV72" post=398458]How much credit do we give to Mike Francesca? Didn't he provide Repole the platform? Repole played right into Francesca's hands from start to finish.[/quote]

Repole wasn't given a seat at the table in hiring Cragg. Which was all done by BOT. His nose was out of joint. Then he attached himself to Cragg and tried to direct him on who to hire. After his rant, it was published that bobby Hurley's renegotiated 2020 salary was only 2 million with modest increases over 6 years. This means his 2018 salary was far less than that yet Repole wanted us to pay Hurley 3-4 million per for a guy w a 73-58 record in a weak conference. Again. His rant was based on him not controlling Cragg and blaming the BOT for having some say in the AD.
 
[quote="Beast of the East" post=398464][quote="Rob" post=398462]We show some success under Anderson and move past COVID, I'd bet those season ticket sales jump a good amount.[/quote]

Dismal just one season after our best attendance in 27 seasons. Still, most of that were single game tix.[/quote]

Increase in ticket prices played a big factor Im sure. Especially going in to a season with a new coach and where we were expected to finish at the bottom of the conference.
 
[quote="Monte" post=398467][quote="Beast of the East" post=398464][quote="Rob" post=398462]We show some success under Anderson and move past COVID, I'd bet those season ticket sales jump a good amount.[/quote]

Dismal just one season after our best attendance in 27 seasons. Still, most of that were single game tix.[/quote]

Increase in ticket prices played a big factor Im sure. Especially going in to a season with a new coach and where we were expected to finish at the bottom of the conference.[/quote]

True. A big time program though needs better support from its base. I remember when we played Creighton in Omaha a season after McDermott graduated. They were 0-9 and they packed their arena and screamed as if they were 9-0. Now certainly nyc has a lot more choices than Omaha, but gotta say their fan base is more loyal than ours.
 
[quote="Beast of the East" post=398469][quote="Monte" post=398467][quote="Beast of the East" post=398464][quote="Rob" post=398462]We show some success under Anderson and move past COVID, I'd bet those season ticket sales jump a good amount.[/quote]

Dismal just one season after our best attendance in 27 seasons. Still, most of that were single game tix.[/quote]

Increase in ticket prices played a big factor Im sure. Especially going in to a season with a new coach and where we were expected to finish at the bottom of the conference.[/quote]

True. A big time program though needs better support from its base. I remember when we played Creighton in Omaha a season after McDermott graduated. They were 0-9 and they packed their arena and screamed as if they were 9-0. Now certainly nyc has a lot more choices than Omaha, but gotta say their fan base is more loyal than ours.[/quote]

You gotta know your customer base. As a successful business owner, not telling you anything you don't know. Our fan base/customer base, was not going to respond well to a big price increase at that moment in time. Cragg should have known that IMO.
 
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[quote="Monte" post=398470][quote="Beast of the East" post=398469][quote="Monte" post=398467][quote="Beast of the East" post=398464][quote="Rob" post=398462]We show some success under Anderson and move past COVID, I'd bet those season ticket sales jump a good amount.[/quote]

Dismal just one season after our best attendance in 27 seasons. Still, most of that were single game tix.[/quote]

Increase in ticket prices played a big factor Im sure. Especially going in to a season with a new coach and where we were expected to finish at the bottom of the conference.[/quote]

True. A big time program though needs better support from its base. I remember when we played Creighton in Omaha a season after McDermott graduated. They were 0-9 and they packed their arena and screamed as if they were 9-0. Now certainly nyc has a lot more choices than Omaha, but gotta say their fan base is more loyal than ours.[/quote]

You gotta know your customer base. As a successful business owner, not telling you anything you don't know. Our fan base/customer base, was not going to respond well to a big price increase at that moment in time. Cragg should have known that IMO.[/quote]

I agree with you there. I'm not sure our base would go for that increase even if we expected a competitive season.
 
Got to do better than a poor to mediocre team with an outdated facility to increase season ticket sales.
 
[quote="Knight" post=398491]Got to do better than a poor to mediocre team with an outdated facility to increase season ticket sales.[/quote]

So then, doesthe virtually unilateral enthusiasm and excitement at the job CMA has done with our squad stop when it comes to supporting the team via season tix?

How can we get prized recruits to come to a school with outdated facilities (and I'm not talking about seatbacks or CA in general) without the support of fans and alumni? It is a serious impediment to growth and success. 4 and 5 star recruits visit schools that have dazzling athletic facilities. They visit schools where fans pack arenas sometimes larger than MSG.

I understand this is a chicken and egg phenomena but there are certain obstacles that lack of financial support of a program presents

Repole, as much as I hated his rant, points this out in his WFAN interview. Notice he says the "facilities" need a $20 million investment in upgrades, not CA. it's why I listened to and outlined his criticisms. He wasn't entirely wrong.

I understand completely that to the casual fan, spending 1500 for 2 season tickets requires the team be in the top half of the league at least. On the other hand, two good seats to a Broadway show or rock concert can cost $500 or more for a single event.

It's a tough reality. Building something great requires more than a carrot dangled by Repole or even a big donation by a single donor. It requires more than a great coach like CMA. It requires us, as certain politicians like to say contributing our fair share.
 
To sell more season tix we will need 4 star commits, lots of hype, better facilities, and some real success e.g. making the NCAA's out of nowhere at least...then winning a game or two the next year or year after. We all remember how the Lavin years (although an overall failure) got us crazy hyped and excited. Big name after big name recruit, 2nd ranked class in nation literally right there with blue bloods, ESPN coming to our midnight madness with guys like John Anderson. Getting big headlines. I think you also need a charismatic coach and I'll admit I do worry CMA is not charismatic or energetic enough. Programs become known for charismatic coaches...look at us with Lou, MSU with Izzo coming in on motorcycles at midnight madness, crazy Danny Hurley getting UConn hyped up again, Cooley being a comedian at PC, Jay Wright the GQ dapper don, etc. I hope we find out he is a damn good coach regardless obviously...just saying it helps.
 
[quote="Mike Zaun" post=398558]To sell more season tix we will need 4 star commits, lots of hype, better facilities, and some real success e.g. making the NCAA's out of nowhere at least...then winning a game or two the next year or year after. We all remember how the Lavin years (although an overall failure) got us crazy hyped and excited. Big name after big name recruit, 2nd ranked class in nation literally right there with blue bloods, ESPN coming to our midnight madness with guys like John Anderson. Getting big headlines. I think you also need a charismatic coach and I'll admit I do worry CMA is not charismatic or energetic enough. Programs become known for charismatic coaches...look at us with Lou, MSU with Izzo coming in on motorcycles at midnight madness, crazy Danny Hurley getting UConn hyped up again, Cooley being a comedian at PC, Jay Wright the GQ dapper don, etc. I hope we find out he is a damn good coach regardless obviously...just saying it helps.[/quote]

I think you're overrating charisma. First of all, I don't see Danny Hurley as very charismatic at all. Second, one of the most "uncharismatic" coaches is also on \e of the most successful: Coach K. He certainly doesn't give off a lot of warmth and charisma. Finally, I don't have the same opinion of our coach as you do. We know he is a damn good coach already. He was before he got here and last year just reinforced that.

I don't get our fixation with what "coulda, shoulda, woulda" been, whether it's about our coaching or about the impact of Repole's rant. It's all in the past. We need to focus on what and who we have now. That's just MHO.
 
[quote="Mike Zaun" post=398558]To sell more season tix we will need 4 star commits, lots of hype, better facilities, and some real success e.g. making the NCAA's out of nowhere at least...then winning a game or two the next year or year after. We all remember how the Lavin years (although an overall failure) got us crazy hyped and excited. Big name after big name recruit, 2nd ranked class in nation literally right there with blue bloods, ESPN coming to our midnight madness with guys like John Anderson. Getting big headlines. I think you also need a charismatic coach and I'll admit I do worry CMA is not charismatic or energetic enough. Programs become known for charismatic coaches...look at us with Lou, MSU with Izzo coming in on motorcycles at midnight madness, crazy Danny Hurley getting UConn hyped up again, Cooley being a comedian at PC, Jay Wright the GQ dapper don, etc. I hope we find out he is a damn good coach regardless obviously...just saying it helps.[/quote]

All you had to do was watch CMA at his introductory press conference to see his charisma.
 
The only thing that's needed is to win games. The rest will take care of itself if we do that.
 
T-I-F hit the nail on the head, give CMA more time and I am sure we will be happy with the State of Affairs of Johnnies' men's BB. Once we do that, NYC will respond.
 
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