St. John's Basketball: Red Storm should fire Chris Mullin and hire Tim Cluess

Four years of mediocrity under Chris Mullin might be enough, especially with recent recruiting snags, but bringing in Tim Cluess could be the move to elevate St. John’s Basketball.

St. John’s Basketball was picked to finish fourth this season in the Big East, and while that did not happen, they did at least make the NCAA Tournament. This at-large bid (which many claim was not earned) has probably saved Mullin’s job for the meantime, but now is not the time for complacency.

Star Shamorie Ponds is gone, off to the NBA draft. Super recruiter and assistant coach Matt Abdelmassih is gone, reuniting with former boss Fred Hoiberg at Nebraska, leaving his alma mater behind. Gone also is junior college prospect Cam Mack, who pulled his commitment on Friday and was granted his release. Mack was primarily recruited by Abdelmassih and couldn’t foresee stability with the Red Storm in his absence. JUCO recruit Valdir Manuel is still set to join St. John’s, but has the damage already been done for this team?

Mullin has had four years at his alma mater and the results have not exactly been impressive. He’s won 59 games and only just made the NCAA Tournament (barely) in year four and expectations are much higher than that for this team. He’s had four finishes near the bottom of the Big East and has yet to prove that his teams can play consistent ball in conference play. He didn’t have any coaching experience prior to taking the St. John’s job in 2015, but four years is more than enough patience to work through any of those growing pains.

If Mullin had a highly rated recruiting class coming to New York next year, then parting ways would be much less understandable. However, with Mack pulling his commitment, and with seemingly low expectations for next season, is now the right time to pull the plug on the Mullin experiment?

After all, Mullin’s predecessor Steve Lavin departed following an NCAA Tournament appearance because of recruiting failures and a failure to meet raised expectations. Mullin had an NBA pedigree that reinvigorated excitement for the Red Storm, but he too is facing struggles in both recruiting and putting a winning product on the court.

There’s no reason to spend more time comparing the tenures of Lavin and Mullin, but there is one interesting comparison to note. After Lavin left the program in 2015, the Red Storm were prepared to make a splash hire, bringing along Mullin, the former St. John’s star. Luckily for them, there’s another former St. John’s player who would represent something of a splash hire at this point in the coaching carousel season.

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Tim Cluess grew up a fan of St. John’s and spent two years on the team between 1979 and 1981. He’s had a long coaching career at the high school and junior college level, but his greatest success has come in New Rochelle at Iona. In his nine years at the MAAC school, he has really elevated the program; winning six MAAC conference tournaments including the last four. He’s won 65% of his games with the Gaels, including a 124-46 mark in MAAC play.

There are two immediate problems that come to mind with any Cluess to St. John’s solution: does he want to come and would his lack of bigtime experience diminish his chances?

First and foremost, Cluess is the only coach to win his last four conference tournaments. He may not be playing in the Big East, but Kevin Willard (his predecessor) proved that he could handle the jump from MAAC to Big East. Consider that Willard didn’t make a single Tournament appearance while Cluess has six in nine years. He’s the real deal in New York and would bring his great coaching acumen to St. John’s.

The real question becomes Cluess’ willingness to leave Iona for St. John’s. Not only did Cluess play at St. John’s, but so did all three of his brothers. He’s built a winning culture at Iona, but this just might be the one job that could pry him out of New Rochelle. Cluess has family roots with the Red Storm, though the job will pose a major challenge. Lavin and Mullin couldn’t live up to expectations and it’s a very real possibility that Cluess could meet a similar end. On the other hand, he’s basically guaranteed to stay at Iona for as long as he wants, albeit for quite less of a paycheck.

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It’s unlikely that St. John’s would make a move at this point in the season, but complacency is not going to build a Big East contending program. Mullin hasn’t shown much in his four years while Cluess has been in the Dance each of those four seasons. Bringing him back to the Red Storm would be a home run hire and the right move for the Red Storm to make to turn this program into a contender again. Failing to do so could set up for another year at the very bottom of the Big East, something no Red Storm fan wants to see.

St. John’s Basketball: Red Storm should fire Chris Mullin and hire Tim Cluess

By Joey Loose | Apr 6, 2019

Four years of mediocrity under Chris Mullin might be enough, especially with recent recruiting snags, but bringing in Tim Cluess could be the move to elevate St. John’s Basketball.

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