St. John’s Basketball: Mike Anderson is an under-appreciated head coach

Mike Anderson has captivated the St. John’s Basketball fanbase in just one season by rebuilding the once-troubled program into a promising one.

For a second, let’s rewind to April of last year.

The St. John’s athletic program found themselves caught in a fiasco weeks removed from tumultuously collapsing in the First Four round of the NCAA Tournament to Arizona State. Chris Mullin, the best player in program history, resigned from his post as head coach, ending his rollercoaster four-year tenure.

Anderson was officially hired as the Head Coach of the Red Storm on April 18, 2019, ending one of the messiest head coaching searches in recent memory.

Despite being a questionable hire at the time, given Anderson’s lack of ties to the New York City area, Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski told Cragg that signing Anderson would be a “home run” hire.

Coach K was right about St. John’s hire.

St. John’s first year with the former Arkansas Head Coach under the helm was a successful one. Anderson continued his streak of 17 seasons without a losing season in 2019-20, leading a Johnnies squad that featured eight first-year players to 17 wins and a BIG EAST Tournament quarterfinal berth before the tournament and the rest of the NCAA season was canceled due to COVID-19.

You may be wondering how impressive 18 straight seasons never having a losing season is. Anderson joins only Mark Few, Tom Izzo, and Sean Miller as the only active coaches to have over 15 seasons of experience without a losing record.

St. John’s fans, significantly those old enough to remember the glory days of the program under Lou Carnesecca, have fallen in love with Anderson’s grit, his aggressive, up-tempo “40 Minutes of Hell” playing style, and his father-like relationship with his players on and off the court. Anderson is the kind of coach parents love sending their kids to play for. He demands the most from his players on game day, at practice, and in the classroom.

While St. John’s was wreaking havoc on opposing teams, including finishing second in the nation in steals per game, third in turnover margin, and 23rd in assist-to-turnover ratio, Anderson saw his team achieve its first-ever BIG EAST Team Academic Excellence Award.

Fast forward to today, the Red Storm are hours away from commencing Anderson’s second year as their fearless leader. One has to wonder how St. John’s was so lucky to have hired one of the nation’s most underrated head coaches under the circumstances they faced in 2019.

This season, Anderson will face some of the same obstacles he endured when taking over the program last season. His two leading scorers from a season ago, Mustapha Heron and LJ Figueroa, are no longer on the team and this year’s squad features eight players who have yet to play in a Red Storm uniform.

The 60-year-old head coach has proven time and time again that no obstacle is too difficult to overcome.

Before being hired by St. John’s, Anderson was let go from his last head coaching gig at Arkansas after the 2018-19 season, a post where he led the Razorbacks to 169 wins and three NCAA Tournament appearances in eight years.

Anderson, a protégé of former Tulsa and Arkansas head coach Nolan Richardson, has taken his teams to the NCAA Tournament nine times in his coaching career, including a Sweet 16 trip in his first head coaching gig with UAB in 2004.  Five years later, Anderson led a 31-7 Missouri squad, which featured future first-round draft pick, DeMarre Carroll, to an Elite Eight appearance.

The Red Storm has only made four NCAA Tournament appearances in the same time frame that Anderson has served as a head coach. Given Anderson’s successful resume, the St. John’s Athletic Department is confident they have the right man in charge to turn their program to relevance once again.