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St. John’s Basketball: Mike Anderson a solid hire after coaching search mess

By Joey Loose

DETROIT, MI - MARCH 16: Head coach Mike Anderson of the Arkansas Razorbacks reacts against the Butler Bulldogs during the first half of the game in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Little Caesars Arena on March 16, 2018 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
DETROIT, MI - MARCH 16: Head coach Mike Anderson of the Arkansas Razorbacks reacts against the Butler Bulldogs during the first half of the game in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Little Caesars Arena on March 16, 2018 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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Long after Chris Mullin stepped aside, the Red Storm have finally hired his replacement in former Arkansas head coach Mike Anderson. Was it a smart hire for St. John’s Basketball after a long and dysfunctional search?

After a long and exhausting process, the Red Storm have hired Mike Anderson as their next head coach. He was fired a few weeks ago after nearly a decade at Arkansas. At St. John’s, he replaces Chris Mullin, who led the Red Storm to the First Four this past season, his only NCAA Tournament bid in four years with the program. Can Anderson be the man to rebuild this Red Storm program?

The search for Mullin’s replacement featured a great number of candidates involved, but many of those involved pulled out of the search late. The dysfunction in the Red Storm athletics department seemed to play a big role in Anderson landing as the new coach.

Bobby Hurley got an extension out of Arizona State and stayed in the southwest. Tim Cluess would have been a great candidate, but there were issues with his buyout. Candidates like Ryan Odom and Jon Scheyer didn’t have the coaching experience necessary to land the job. Porter Moser was offered the job this past week but decided to stay at Loyola instead of the hefty pay raise. At long last, as the names mentioned for the job became more confusing, Anderson landed the job and will begin a challenging tenure.

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Anderson played and coached under Hall of Fame coach Nolan Richardson, playing under him for two seasons at Tulsa before joining the coaching staff. In 1985, he followed Richardson to Arkansas and spent 17 years at the school in that capacity. He was part of Arkansas’s 40 Minutes of Hell, winning the 1994 NCAA Tournament as an assistant coach. He got his first head coaching job at UAB in 2002, leading the Blazers to the Sweet Sixteen in his second year. After four seasons, he took the head coaching job at Missouri, spending five years before Arkansas called him back.

Anderson led the Tigers to the Elite Eight in 2009, but could never replicate this success with the Razorbacks. He led them to three NCAA Tournaments but failed to build a regular contender in the SEC. Arkansas went 169-102 in his eight seasons but cited a need for change when they relieved him of his duties a few weeks ago. He heads to St. John’s with plenty of power conference experience, but this will by far be his most challenging position.

He has plenty of head coaching experience, a must after what happened with Mullin at St. John’s, but the geography of this move is confusing. Anderson’s entire coaching career has taken place in Oklahoma, Missouri, Alabama, and Arkansas. If rumors are to be believed, then Anderson’s staff will include TJ Cleveland, Marc Hsu, and Melvin Watkins; three men who also lack experience in New York and the northeast. Coaches like Hurley and Cluess had significant experience in an area where this new staff is virtually unfamiliar.

After the departure of former assistant Matt Abdelmassih and then Mullin, there was a mass exodus of both recruits and rostered players for the Red Storm. Anderson and his staff will have to work quickly to put together a competitive roster. Most of the team is gone and filling out this team will be a challenge, especially as they adjust to the New York scene. Watching former Red Storm big man Tariq Owens play in the national title game for Texas Tech only hammers home the point that Anderson needs to both find talent and retain his players.

Honestly though, the unfamiliarity with New York isn’t the end of the world. This head coaching search was a complete fiasco from the beginning, and Anderson is actually a pretty talented coach for what it’s worth. His ties may lie in the South, but he shouldn’t have too much trouble convincing his kind of players to play in New York City under the bright lights.

That being said, Anderson failed to get Arkansas into the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Now he’s thrown to the Wolves in what’s certainly the worst situation in the Big East, especially as DePaul’s recruitment has greatly increased this season. If Anderson couldn’t win with the Razorbacks before the SEC got tougher, then why should he be able to win in a loaded Big East?

I’m still a strong believer that the Red Storm should have hired Tim Cluess, but Anderson is certainly an acceptable consolation prize. This is a geographic mismatch all the way, though maybe that won’t matter down the line. The program experienced winning under former UCLA coach Steve Lavin at the beginning of the decade and maybe Anderson is the man to bring consistency back to the Red Storm.

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Following one of the worst head coaching searches we’ve ever seen, the hiring of Anderson can finally close this long, ugly chapter for St. John’s. Anderson and his new staff have plenty of work ahead to get the Red Storm competitive in this tough conference; whether or not this is actually achievable remains to be seen. They hired someone with significant experience; let’s see if it pays off.