St. John’s basketball: Mike Anderson reaffirms commitment to program
St. John’s basketball head coach Mike Anderson announced he is not going anywhere.
The speculation surrounding Mike Anderson was put to an end on Tuesday afternoon as the St. John’s basketball head coach reaffirmed his commitment to the program.
Anderson, who was rumored to be in the mix for the head coaching job at Tulsa, recently completed his third year in Queens and has yet to make the postseason with the Red Storm.
St. John’s had reasonable goals of making the NCAA Tournament this season behind Big East Player of the Year candidate Julian Champagnie and reigning Freshman and Defensive Player of the Year Posh Alexander but the Johnnies fell short of any postseason tournament.
“Three years ago, I proudly accepted this job with the expectation of building a program the right way with people who represent St. John’s University in a first class manner,” Anderson said in a prepared statement on social media.
“I also expressed my vision to win championships here in Queens. None of this has changed. We remain committed to achieve these goals.”
A message from Coach Mike Anderson pic.twitter.com/EdM3MlNsUp
— St. John's Men’s Basketball (@StJohnsBBall) March 15, 2022
Tulsa is the alma mater of the 62-year old head coach and where he began his coaching career as an assistant from 1982-1985.
Frank Haith, the Golden Hurricanes’ head coach, resigned over the weekend.
St. John’s basketball head coach with work to do
Anderson has never had a losing season in his career as a head coach and the money Tulsa would have needed to create to lure the St. John’s head coach back home was too great, CBS Sports college basketball reporter Matt Norlander said.
The buyout at St. John’s is around $2.5 million for Mike Anderson and plus the contract that Tulsa would give him was not in the budget for the university, but Norlander reported that the interest was not mutual between Anderson and his alma mater.
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“We can’t wait for next season,” Anderson said as he concluded his statement.
St. John’s will likely lose Champagnie to the NBA Draft but must retain Alexander, Dylan Addae-Wusu, and Rafael Pinzon as the cornerstones to its program.
A long offseason awaits in Queens but at least the Red Storm have the assurance that its head coach is not going anywhere.