St. John’s Basketball: 5 Coaching replacements for Chris Mullin

By Joey Loose | Apr 11, 2019

NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 11: Head coach Chris Mullin of the St. John's Red Storm reacts against the Long Island Blackbirds in the second half of the Brooklyn Hoops Winter Festival at Barclays Center on December 11, 2016 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /

6 of 6

PITTSBURGH, PA – MARCH 15: Head coach Tim Cluess of the Iona Gaels yells to his team during the first half of the game against the Duke Blue Devils in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at PPG PAINTS Arena on March 15, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /

1. Tim Cluess (Iona)

As we suggested last week, one of the favorites for the St. John’s job will be someone else who played for the Red Storm back in the day. Before transferring to Hofstra, Cluess spent two seasons playing for St. John’s from 1979 to 1981. He’s spent the last nine years building Iona into the MAAC’s yearly favorite and has several decades of head coaching experience at different levels.

Cluess’ coaching career began with fourteen years at Saint Mary’s HS on Long Island before a year at Suffolk Community College. He then took LIU Post to the Elite Eight of the D-2 Tournament before taking the Iona job in 2010. He replaced Kevin Willard, who is still doing great things at Seton Hall, but elevated the Gaels far beyond anything Willard did during his tenure. In Cluess’ nine years at Iona, he’s made six NCAA Tournaments and has won the last four MAAC championships.

Cluess is 199-108 on the D-1 level and has the experience that several of these candidates lack. The biggest challenge for Cluess would be making the leap from MAAC to Big East, but this is a very solid coach. His teams are full of great shooters who take care of the ball and there’s no doubt that he’d be able to instill these tactics at St. John’s. If he can build a solid coaching staff, then he’ll be all over the New York area and could transform his old program back into glory.

Wherever Cluess goes, his programs win a lot of games, and that’s what makes him an attractive hire for Cragg. Cluess’ brothers all played for the Red Storm as well and returning to the school would be something of a homecoming for him and his family. There might still be some lingering bad blood from his departure as a player nearly 40 years ago, but this would be a great hire, bringing someone very familiar with the New York area in to lead this program.

Next. Way-too-early Big East power rankings. dark

There are going to be many names floated for the St. John’s job and the next head coach has an unenviable task ahead of him. It’s hard enough to win at St. John’s, but the next coach will have to rebuild most of this roster after it’s decimation in recent weeks. The new coach won’t be able to build on what Mullin started, but he should have the ability to build this program back into a consistent Big East contender.