Mullin and St. John's

[stever20]

Late to this thread, and not a frequent poster so some of you might not feel it's relevant.

But I gotta add two cents:

I am not sure Mullin is the right guy at St John's. Nothing about his post-player experience suggests "big time college basketball coach", and even less so "turnaround artist". But I am big Mullin fan, and and as a fan of the BE since it's inception in the 1980s, the conference - already in a strong position - would benefit massively from a nationally relevant St. John's. I hope he gets it done. I can sort of see that St John's tried traditional coaches in the last few cycles and they didn't work, so why not go outside the box, try to recapture some local buzz and historical appeal with a New York guy with huge name recognition, deep Red Men roots (sorry, still grates to say Red Storm, even though I acknowledge the anachronistic drawbacks of Red Men), and maybe due to his Gold medals, his playground legend status, and his NBA HoF resume, a guy who could draw young talented recruits. Still not sure he knows anything about running a college "program", but I digress.

St John's, if they could get it together would be a huge thing. You don't think that if St. John's was a perennial power again, that top tier OOC games would be there's for the choosing? You're crazy. New York is still the freaking center of the world. Tickets at MSG for a Duke or UNC or Kansas game would be the hottest tickets in town, coveted by everyone who is anyone in New York. The media circus would be outrageous. The recruiting potential the same. NYC is still a basketball town and still a town that rewards success lavishly. Both the Kicks and St John's are really letting the city down right now. May St. John's make it back soon.

Re: Oklahoma State - When Ford was let go, Boone Pickens made it known to Ed Cooley that he could name his price to come to Stillwater. Cooley said - thanks but no thanks. Not interested. I don't know how significant that is. Cooley grew up in Providence, dreamed of playing at PC but didn't have the ability or the grades. He also has never lived outside of New England. So maybe it says more about the particulars of Ed Cooley than the relative attractiveness of the Big East and Providence versus Oklahoma State and the Big XII. Also keep in mind that when Tim Welsh left PC, Travis Ford was on the short list in Providence, and got as far as the church but left at the altar at the last minute. Press releases were practically prepared to announce him as the next PC coach, that's how serious a courtship it was. So we're 1 and 1 against Ok State on the coaching carousel in recent years. But still, I think one of the things the Big East has done since the Fox deal is sign the right guys at the right schools to be more than stepping stone jobs. I don't think Jay Wright would leave Villanova for anyone, except maybe the pros (and I am not sure even then), or that McDermott would leave Creighton. Not sure that Chris Mack would leave Xavier. Don't know about Holtmann, but it would have to be a clear step or two higher up the food chain than Butler. Wojo, probably for the right school. Willard also maybe, but again, I doubt he's looking for his next job at the moment. The coaches are well payed, the schools have committed to resources for the hoops program, the culture in the Big East is unique and not easily found elsewhere, and the coaches that are there are almost to a man, near perfect fits for their schools.

The Big East's foundations are very strong, I think, and there aren't that many conferences that can compare or exceed.

But I am biased. I think it's obvious that stever is as well.

Part of things right now is that a lot of schools just don't do the home and home's any longer. Neutral site games have totally taken over. Along with the exempt tournaments. I mean you look at a Kentucky or Duke and they have 5 of 13 games locked and loaded. 4 exempt games and the champions classic. A 6th with the Big 10/ACC or Big 12/SEC challenge. They have to have 5-6 home dates outside of that for the $$$. Scheduling has really changed in the last 25 years a lot.

I definitely agree with you that the conference is doing great. I think frankly better than even the most ardent folks could have expected. And what's amazing is that done it w/o St Johns, Georgetown, or Marquette doing much at all.