Chris Mullin new head coach of St. John's!

[SecureDaBall]

I can't see this ending well for St. John's.

What makes anybody think that an 18 year old recruit would care about Chris Mullin? Maybe a Wally World-type recruit would care but the black kid from Lincoln will not, the kid from suburban St. Joe's Metuchen will not, every kid that flocks to the Patrick School, Roselle Catholic, St. Benedictine's, and St Anthony's isn't going to care.

So we are left with an inexperienced coach and recruiter that really doesn't have the juice with these young kids that the school thinks he does have. This is such a clutcher-f*@k of a hiring that a .500 team will be a morale victory.

You don't have a clue to wtf you're talking about. Mullin and Slice are best friends, and from what I hear him coming here is a real possibility. I seen that we already have a top recruiter sewn up. The staff is very much a key.
Hearing that there are some real exciting names that we are talking to.

Now to the 16, 17, and 18 yr old kids, true they might not know who Mullin is, but you be damn sure that their parents know who he is very well.

Right, i don't agree with the line of thought that says "17 year olds don't know who the guy is"... like you said, parents, uncles, high school coaches, neighbors, really anyone over the age of 30 in NYC knows who Chris Mullin is. And these family members and friends have a huge influence on recruits. Sure, maybe people in Possum Hollow Texas don't at this point, but i don't think that's important right now. Plus he'll help sell tickets.

Also, Mullin and lack of coaching experience... i mean, how difficult is it to be an improvement over Lavin... to be worse, Mullin during timeouts would have sit silently on a folding chair with a towel over his head.

I really don't see it. Mullin was a great college player but he didn't stay around. I'm pretty sure he doesn't even live in the NY area. Now if you inserted Danny Hurley's name in place of Mullin, I would understand. Hurley didn't leave the NY area until he left for Rhode Island and he has been recruiting since coaching high school. St. Benedict's broke away from the NJSIAA so he was recruiting nationally. He brought Tristan Thompson to NJ from Toronto. The guy is a proven recruiter.

Does anyone have an example of a move like this working were a college program hired an inexperienced coach for nostalgic reasons and it was a success? I can't think of any.

[booyah]

Recently? Fred Hoiberg - Iowa State.

[REDMEN1415]

Recently? Fred Hoiberg - Iowa State.

I heard Matt Abdelmissah, is recruiting real good for them huh?

[RedStormHoops]

Ed Pickney. Will be on Mullins staff. Maybe. Good chance

[DudeAnon]

Its a high risk/high reward pick. I love it. Compare that to DePaul's choice which is about the safest coaching pick I have ever heard of (aside from assistants.)

[Hall2012]

I really don't see it. Mullin was a great college player but he didn't stay around. I'm pretty sure he doesn't even live in the NY area. Now if you inserted Danny Hurley's name in place of Mullin, I would understand. Hurley didn't leave the NY area until he left for Rhode Island and he has been recruiting since coaching high school. St. Benedict's broke away from the NJSIAA so he was recruiting nationally. He brought Tristan Thompson to NJ from Toronto. The guy is a proven recruiter.

Does anyone have an example of a move like this working were a college program hired an inexperienced coach for nostalgic reasons and it was a success? I can't think of any.

Except from what I've heard, Dan Hurley backed out of consideration from the St. John's job to return to URI. And considering there didn't seem to be any other serious candidates (I never got the feeling St. John's was really interested in Masiello), that makes sense because news of the SJU offer to Mullin came out just a few hours after Hurley's contract extension at URI.

[Bill Marsh]

Does anyone have an example of a move like this working were a college program hired an inexperienced coach for nostalgic reasons and it was a success? I can't think of any.

UConn hired alumnus Kevin Ollie 3 years ago with no head coaching experience after sitting on the UConn bench as one of its assistants for only 2 years. He has been an unqualified success, winning a national championship in only his 2nd season.

I hardly think that Ollie's 2 season's as an assistant bridged the experience gap. Being a head coach is as much about having management experience as it is about X's and O's and teaching. Mullin has a ton of management experience in the NBA, which in some ways makes him more experienced than Ollie was.

[Bill Marsh]

I can't see this ending well for St. John's.

What makes anybody think that an 18 year old recruit would care about Chris Mullin? Maybe a Wally World-type recruit would care but the black kid from Lincoln will not, the kid from suburban St. Joe's Metuchen will not, every kid that flocks to the Patrick School, Roselle Catholic, St. Benedictine's, and St Anthony's isn't going to care.

So we are left with an inexperienced coach and recruiter that really doesn't have the juice with these young kids that the school thinks he does have. This is such a clutcher-f*@k of a hiring that a .500 team will be a morale victory.

You don't have a clue to wtf you're talking about. Mullin and Slice are best friends, and from what I hear him coming here is a real possibility. I seen that we already have a top recruiter sewn up. The staff is very much a key.
Hearing that there are some real exciting names that we are talking to.

This is going to be a tough call. While it's true that Mullin and Slice are good friends going back to their high school days in Brooklyn, Slice and Calipari are also good friends, going back more than 30 years to college days when they roomed together at 5 star camps as summer counselors.

It will be interesting to see if Rohrssen bails on Calipari after just one year. Maybe if Cal is planning to ditch Kentucky in a year for the NBA, he'll encourage Barry to seize the SJU opportunity. Honestly I think he'll have to consider what's best for his own career. He's hitched his wagon to Cal at this point. He's 54 and has to think about building a nest egg for his future. He's gotten some NBA experience in the past few years, which gives him the flexibility to follow Calipari there if he heads in that direction. He wasn't successful as a head coach at Manhattan, so the question he has to answer is what path is the best one for the rest of his career as an assistant. It's a personal decision and there 'so really a lot for him to consider.

[jfan]

CBS story about it:
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketb ... -to-accept

the interesting part:
Sources say it's highly unlikely that Rysheed Jordan and Chris Obekpa -- two players who started this year for the Red Storm -- will wind up returning next season.

Does anyone have any info about this comment? I know Obekpa had problems, but neither player seemed pro ready and their loss would impact next season for the new coach. Both players are very talented, but leaving early doesn't seem like a good thing for either one. I think the new hire has great potential, but he will need experienced players or the first year could be a struggle!

[RedStormHoops]

CBS story about it:
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketb ... -to-accept

the interesting part:
Sources say it's highly unlikely that Rysheed Jordan and Chris Obekpa -- two players who started this year for the Red Storm -- will wind up returning next season.

Does anyone have any info about this comment? I know Obekpa had problems, but neither player seemed pro ready and their loss would impact next season for the new coach. Both players are very talented, but leaving early doesn't seem like a good thing for either one. I think the new hire has great potential, but he will need experienced players or the first year could be a struggle!

I believe Rysheed Jordan will be back. Rothstein is assuming here. Obekpa I have no idea though