Yahoo Sports St. John's hires Mike Anderson as men's basketball coach, ending rocky search
The rocky search at St. John’s for a new men’s basketball coach came to a close Friday with the hire of former Arkansas head coach Mike Anderson.
The deal is done, according to an early Friday morning tweet by Zach Braziller of the New York Post. The school confirmed the hiring of its 21st head coach with a press conference set for early afternoon.
Anderson hired to coach St. John’s
Anderson is coming off an eight-year run with Arkansas, which fired him last month after an NIT berth and an 18-16 record. The Razorbacks went to the NCAA tournament three times with Anderson and reached the second round twice.
He coached at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, where the team made the tournament three of his four seasons, and led a successful program at Missouri in the late 2000s. Missouri reached the tournament in three of five seasons and in 2009 made it to the Elite Eight.
In 17 years as a head coach he has led zero losing seasons and only two .500 seasons (16-16 record in 2007-08 with Missouri and in 2015-16 with Arkansas). His teams have been ranked as high as No. 9 in AP polls.
Mike Anderson is one of just 4 active Division I head coaches with 15+ years of experience and no losing seasons, along with Mark Few, Tom Izzo and Roy Williams. Impressive company. #sjubb
— John Fanta (@John_Fanta) April 19, 2019
Overall he’s 369-200 (.649) in his career with nine tournament appearances in 17 tries. Five of those tournament misses have come within the first two years of his coaching reign at each school.
Anderson, a Tulsa grad and Birmingham, Alabama, native, does not have local ties in New York, a con for many fans who’ve spent April discussing potential hires on social media. The coach was suggested to first-year athletic director Mike Cragg by his contacts at Duke, where he spent 30 years, per Braziller.
The Red Storm made it to the tournament with a 21-13 overall record, including an 8-10 mark in the Big East. They were ranked No. 24 in the AP poll at one point during the season.
St. John’s search filled with ‘no’
Chris Mullin stepped down 10 days ago after his fourth year as head coach. It followed his first winning record and first berth in the NCAA tournament, where the team lost to Arizona State in the First Four. The former Red Storm player was heralded for his status as an alum and went 59-73 overall. The team improved from an 8-24 mark in 2015-16.
Bobby Hurley, ASU’s coach, was reportedly at the top of the coaching search list, though he ultimately passed on the job and signed a new five-year deal with ASU. Loyola-Chicago coach Porter Moser also passed on the job Tuesday and University of Maryland, Baltimore County head coach Ryan Odom said he wasn’t interested when St. John’s tried to speak with him. The sought-after coach from the 2017-18 Cinderella team already denied reports he was going to Virginia Tech.
Iona coach Tim Cluess pulled his name from consideration on Thursday, per the Post.
Vitaminwater and Bodyarmor founder Mike Repole, a St. John’s alumnus and major booster, said earlier this week the coaching search turned the school from “New York laughingstock” to a “national embarrassment.” He was pushing for Hurley.
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