St. John’s Basketball: Is Chris Mullin on the hot seat?

Chris Mullin and St. John’s can’t seem to get over the hump. Is it time for the Red Storm to move on?

When Chris Mullin took the job to be St. Johns head basketball coach, many proceeded with cautious optimism. Mullin was a star at St. Johns — some may say a legend — before going on and becoming a star in the NBA. Surely, Coach Mullin would be able to surround himself with enough basketball guys to make his lack of coaching experience pay off.

Jump to today and what do you have?  A program that is one step away from being the laughing stock of the Big East. Last year’s team, while young, was just bad on the floor and looked as if they were poorly coached and unprepared.  St. Johns was playing last year with some top recruits and some guys who could help turn the program around, so it looked as if coach Mullin was going to get a pass. With guys like Marcus LoVett and Shamarie Ponds on board, you would think that you can work with an NBA backcourt.

This summer the recruiting front was going to big for Coach Mullin, as he had a chance to build a really solid young team in a talent rich market. Even though St. John’s doesn’t have a very big arena, they are in New York City and get great exposure to the New York basketball players. They also play in a power conference which helps them with exposure and everyone knows their name.

Let’s start with the prized big man Zach Brown. Brown had committed to St. John’s on an official visit and signed his letter of intent in November to play for Mullin and the Red Storm. After his commitment, Brown went back home to Florida. While home, Brown proceeded to rob a Walgreens by stealing money out of an open register and walking out the door. It’s hard to misidentify a 7’1” kid. St. John’s then pulled its offer from Brown and informed him they did not want him to attend. It wasn’t like Brown left St. Johns any choice.

There was no way that Mullin could predict the Brown saga. Mullin still needed a big man to truly play the style he wants to play. Brown got arrested so late in the game that it was hard to find a sure fire replacement, especially one as talented as Brown was going to be. Add this to the list of things that have gone wrong for Mullin at St. John’s.

Not many coaches would get a second chance at a premier player, but Mullin did, and this player might tarnish the coaching legacy for Mullin. Sidney Wilson from Brewster Academy is a Harlem kid who reclassified to the 2017 class from 2018. St John’s beat out Texas and UConn for the services of the talented wing. Wilson committing to St John’s was almost as big of a surprise as him reclassifying to 2017.

Then, Wilson announces that he is going to decommit from St. John’s, citing personal reasons.  Usually, “personal reasons” has to do with some personalities not meshing well with others. In Sidney’s decommitment, he noted that his experience at St. John’s was not what he had hoped for, nor not what he had expected and that he was happy that Mullin and his staff were cooperating with the transfer. It does not sound like Mullin and Wilson got along very well, and Sidney needed a change. Not only citing that it was not what he expected but also saying that for his basketball development and for him to truly reach his basketball goals he needed to transfer.

For St John’s, a program that badly wants to return to prominence, the Wilson transfer along with the Brown saga are not a good look. These are going to turn out to be black marks for Mullin because Mullin has just not won enough to warrant the recruiting drama that follows him. It would be one thing if St. John’s were competing for conference titles and making NCAA Tournaments. Then, you might be able to live with the recruiting blunders.

St John’s fans should treat this as a huge Red Flag. It speaks volumes when your team looks unprepared and then your top recruit transfers and would rather sit out a year at an entirely different school than play for your current head coach.

Next: Ranking top coaching moves of the offseason

If Coach Mullin does not win this year, St. Johns could be tasked with the hardest decision in program history — what to do with the legend of your program?