St John's Basketball

Former St. John's assistant men's basketball coach Steve DeMeo filed a federal wrongful termination lawsuit against the school and Red Storm head coach Mike Anderson on Thursday.

DeMeo, who was fired in June, alleged his dismissal came after he informed Anderson he'd need time off because of further medical procedures related to a heart condition, a mitral valve prolapse, that previously required surgery to fix an irregular heartbeat.

"There were still procedures that needed to be done. I got the sense that when I told [Anderson] that, things went south," DeMeo told Kevin Sweeney of Sports Illustrated. "He didn't want to accommodate me, it didn't sound like."

The longtime Division I assistant said he was fired "abruptly" after informing Anderson of the upcoming medical procedures during a performance review in May. He alleged the St. John's head coach replied, "Well, you have a job to do; you have to do it."

DeMeo, who's since been hired as an assistant at East Carolina, told Sweeney the situation made him "feel sick to my stomach," and he felt the lawsuit was his only option.

"I'm not a litigious person," he said. "There has been a lot of pressure on me just to move forward, but I feel like I have to do it, and they can't be allowed to treat people this way."

Neither the St. John's athletic department nor Anderson has commented on the lawsuit.

Meanwhile, DeMeo's lawsuit also detailed a rocky 2020-21 season for the Red Storm, which included multiple instances in which the players were prepared to boycott after Anderson threatened to kick Isaih Moore off the roster.

Moore was one of seven players who transferred following last season, and DeMeo's court filings said the program was forced to turn down an invitation to the postseason NIT because players "simply did not want to play for" Anderson anymore, per Sweeney.

"Mr. Anderson lost control of the team, and the players nearly revolted against him before the end of the season," the lawsuit stated. "Mr. DeMeo helped hold the team together."

Anderson, who's guided the Red Storm to a 33-26 record across two seasons, signed a six-year contract extension through the 2026-27 college basketball season in May.

"We are beyond thrilled with Coach Anderson's leadership and the trajectory on which he has put our program," athletic director Mike Cragg said. "I think I speak for everyone in the St. John's community when I say that we look forward to having both Coach and Marcheita as leading members of our Red Storm family for years to come."

St. John's tips off the new season Nov. 9 when it hosts Mississippi Valley State at Carnesecca Arena.

The St. John's Red Storm have their new head men's basketball coach.

On Friday, the Big East team announced it hired Mike Anderson. 

"My family and I are extremely excited to join the St. John's University community," Anderson said in the announcement. "This basketball program is rooted with such great tradition and it has a history built by legendary coaches, so this is a humbling experience. I look forward to mentoring the young men who will represent St. John's proudly on the court, in the classroom and in our community."

"We’re going to pick them up when they get off the bus," Anderson said Friday, per Adam Zagoria of SNY. "We’re going to press, press, press. You’re going to see a team that’s very entertaining. We’re going to play exciting basketball for two hours" 

This comes after Chris Mullin announced he stepped down from the position in a release on April 9. The Hall of Famer led his alma mater for four seasons and finished with a 59-73 overall record. While the Red Storm finished with a losing record in his first three campaigns, they reached the NCAA tournament in 2019.

Arizona State eliminated Mullin's team in the First Four, capping off a season that saw St. John's finish 9-13 in its final 22 games after a 12-0 start.

The team also went through something of a debacle during the hiring process, as Gary Parrish of CBS Sports highlighted:

Anderson inherits a difficult situation after Mullin's departure for a number of reasons.

Zach Braziller of the New York Post reported junior college prospect Cam Mack asked for a release from his National Letter of Intent, citing the departure of primary recruiter Matt Abdelmassih. Abdelmassih joined the Nebraska Cornhuskers, which means St. John's is now without Mack and one of its top recruiters.

Elsewhere, Shamorie Ponds declared for the NBA draft after he averaged 19.7 points, 5.1 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 2.6 steals per game in 2018-19. He led the Red Storm in all those categories but rebounding and was the primary facilitator, go-to playmaker in crunch time and engine who made the offense go.

Mack figured to be a natural replacement for him, but he will no longer join the roster.

There aren't many reinforcements, either, as the Red Storm's 2019 recruiting class was a mere 99th in the country, per 247Sports' composite rankings.

Anderson faces an uphill climb leading a program that has been to the NCAA tournament just three times since the 2001-02 season. Its last Sweet 16 came back in 1999, and the leading scorer is gone without a notable recruiting class arriving.

It is fair to temper expectations in the immediate future, but the Red Storm surely hope to compete for Big East championships down the line following this hire.

Fortunately for them, Anderson is a proven program builder. His first head coaching job was at UAB for four seasons from 2002 through 2006, and he led the Blazers to three straight NCAA tournament appearances for the first time since the 1980's.

He then spent five years at Missouri, reaching the Big Dance three times and advancing as far as the Elite Eight, and he has been with Arkansas the past eight seasons. The Razorbacks have been to the NCAA tournament in three of the last five years.  

Hours after Iona University's Tim Cluess withdrew himself from consideration to become the new head coach of the St. John's men's basketball team, someone else has reportedly emerged as the eye of the Red Storm's extensive search.

CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein reported Thursday night that former Arkansas head coach Mike Anderson is finalizing details to become the new head coach of St. John's. Rothstein added St. John's hopes to officially announce the Anderson hire Friday.

Anderson was fired by Arkansas on March 26 after eight seasons in Fayetteville. While there, he posted a record above .500 in each of his seasons (169-102 overall), but the Razorbacks' 18-16 2018 campaign was seen as a disappointment.

Prior to arriving at Arkansas, Anderson coached from 2006-11 at Missouri (111-57) and at Alabama-Birmingham from 2002-06 (89-41). 

Across his 17-year coaching career, Anderson-coached squads have made nine NCAA tournament appearances, three trips for each program. The 2008-09 Missouri Tigers made it to the Elite Eight under Anderson, while Arkansas never made it beyond the opening weekend. 

One prominent college basketball voice did not see the Anderson hiring coming:

Goodman and his source aren't alone in that thinking as St. John's was linked to several names prior to Anderson coming out of what seems to be nowhere.

St. John's began searching for a new head coach when Chris Mullin stepped down April 9 after four seasons with the Red Storm, whose 2018-19 ended by losing in the First Four to Arizona State. Then, ironically, Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley's name was floated around as a favorite for St. John's.

Hurley dispelled those rumors on April 11 when he announced he was working toward an extension to stay at Arizona State. St. John's booster Mike Repole is displeased with St. John's letting Hurley get away and held nothing back when appearing with Mike Francesa on WFAN on Thursday (h/t AZCentral): 

"[They] decided to get cheap. Don’t tell me Bobby Hurley—his parents live in New Jersey, his wife’s parents live in New Jersey, he makes $2.5 million dollars a year. ... You go there and you say get Bobby Hurley, I don’t care if it costs you $3 million, $3.5 or $4 million.

[...]

"This is St. John’s. We have Madison Square Garden. Pay $3-$4 million and get yourself a coach that’s going to win."

Once Hurley was out of the question, Cluess was seen as the favorite to be named the university's next head coach. However, Cluess released a statement in which he reiterated he loves what he has at Iona. 

Anderson's contract details have yet to be revealed.

Iona head men's basketball coach Tim Cluess turned down an offer to be the next head coach at St. John's on Thursday.

According to ESPN.com, Cluess said the following regarding his decision to stay at Iona rather than making the move to his alma mater:

"I would like to start by thanking everyone for all their support. I am truly blessed to have so many people say so many nice things. I am however taking my name out of consideration for the St. John's job.

"When I was unexpectedly contacted by them last week it opened up a flood of emotions. For those of you who have ever lost a loved one you know that there are special places, trinkets and memories that keep them alive in your heart and soul. St. John's was one of those key places where my love for family has been a part of my life since my earliest memories.

"In my heart the thought of reestablishing the connection to my brothers Kevin and Greg through the possible opportunity to coach at St. John's and the chance to help bring back their rich tradition in the process made it hard to walk away from. There comes a point where the reality of the situation becomes more clear and moving forward is what is needed.

"I love my players at Iona and being a coach there and I am truly blessed to be able to do what I love at a place I love. I look forward to continuing to grow the Iona program to higher levels."

Since Chris Mullin stepped down as the head coach at St. John's last week, three coaches are known to have turned down the opportunity to succeed him.

In addition to Cluess, both Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley and Loyola-Chicago head coach Porter Moser declined to take the vacant position.

The 60-year-old Cluess is a Queens, New York, native who played at St. John's from 1979 to 1981 before he transferred to Hofstra.

Cluess' brothers, Greg and Kevin, both played at St. John's as well. Greg died of lymphoma at age 26 in 1976, and Kevin was 33 when he died of leukemia in 1986.

For the past nine seasons, Cluess has been the head coach at Iona. He owns a 199-108 record with four Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular-season championships and five MAAC tournament championships.

The Gaels have made six NCAA tournament appearances, two trips to the NIT and one trip to the CIT during Cluess' tenure. They have qualified for the NCAA tournament in each of the past four seasons and have not finished with a record worse than 17-16 under him.

While Iona has yet to win an NCAA tournament game with Cluess at the helm, few small-conference teams have gone to the tourney as regularly as the Gaels have during his time with the program.

St. John's has somewhat surprisingly proved to be a difficult job to sell candidates on. That is despite the fact that the Red Storm went 21-13 and reached the NCAA tournament last season.

The Red Storm finished below .500 in each of the previous two seasons, though, and went just 59-73 under Mullin.

Chris Mullin announced he has stepped down as head coach of the St. John's men's basketball team on Tuesday.

"The past four years at St. John's University has been one of the most thrilling and challenging points of my career," said Mullin in a release. "Today, I have chosen to ask President Gempesaw and the University to accept my decision to step down from coaching the St. John's men's basketball team."

"This has been an extremely emotional decision, but after a recent personal loss, I took time to reflect upon my true values and believe this is the right time to make a change. I am extremely grateful to the administration, which has supported me and our basketball program on every level.

"I've been amazed by our coaches, trainers, managers and staff who work relentless hours, which enables this team to grow and thrive. I've been honored to coach the young men and who are the heart and soul of this program. It's a job I will always cherish."

Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports first reported the news on Monday. 

The coach is coming off his fourth season in charge of the Big East team and produced a 59-73 overall record. He led the squad to a 21-13 record in 2018-19, which was good enough to reach the NCAA tournament for the first time since he took over.

While it was an improvement over three straight losing seasons, the Red Storm were still among the last at-large teams in the field. They were then eliminated in embarrassing fashion in the First Four, failing to advance to the round of 64.

The squad also finished the year just 9-13 in its last 22 games, with one win in the final six games.

Jeff Goodman of Stadium discussed the team's struggles:

With leading scorer Shamorie Ponds declaring for the draft and key recruit Cam Mack decommitting from the school, there isn't much excitement heading into next season.

Mullin was a Hall of Fame player who starred at St. John's before his 16-year NBA career, but his lack of coaching experience remained an issue in his latest role.

Per Rothstein, Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley is a top candidate to become the next head coach for the Red Storm.