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St. John’s basketball: Mike Anderson addresses Class of 2020 graduates

By Kevin Connelly

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 10: Head coach Mike Anderson of the St. John's basketball team address the media during the Big East Basketball Media Day at Madison Square Garden on October 10, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 10: Head coach Mike Anderson of the St. John's basketball team address the media during the Big East Basketball Media Day at Madison Square Garden on October 10, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /
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St. John’s basketball head coach Mike Anderson addressed the school’s graduating Class of 2020 in its virtual commencement.

The coronavirus not only has put sports on hold, but it has also forced many schools and universities to hold virtual commencement ceremonies for the Class of 2020.

St. John’s University held its online celebration for undergraduates on Sunday morning and the men’s head basketball coach Mike Anderson was the commencement speaker.

The first year head coach of the Johnnies showed his heartfelt gratitude and congratulations to the class, telling them that going through this experience and these times will only make them stronger.

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Anderson also told a story where he stopped his young career of being a salesman at 25-years old to be a volunteer basketball coach and worked his way up to the top, now being an 18-year veteran head coach who has never experienced a losing season.

St. John’s head coach told the story to remind the graduating class that there is time to still live your life and chase your passion.

The full two-minute video can be seen below:

Prior to the commencement ceremony, Anderson congratulated all the St. John’s men’s basketball players who completed their degrees on Twitter, including Mustapha Heron, Justin Cole, Damien Sears, and Federico Mussini.

Cole, a walk-on player, is the only member of the group to be a four-year St. John’s student-athlete as Heron joined the school prior to his junior season after transferring from Auburn.

Sears only spent one year at the school after two seasons at Jacksonville and one year at Western Oklahoma Community College while Mussini was never coached by Anderson and a two-year player under former head coach Chris Mullin but left after the 2016-17 season to play professionally in his home country of Italy.

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Mussini was able to continue his studies at St. John’s via the school’s Rome campus.

Mike Anderson has once again shown his leadership and dedication to St. John’s University through his actions in only one year at the school.