Surprised There Is No Talk On Slice Leaving The Johnnies

[Golden Avalanche]

http://nypost.com/2016/06/08/st-johns-working-on-buyout-with-recruiting-maestro/

Some on this board pointed to his returning home as evidence SJU would be building the foundation for success. Little did many know that Slice was unaware St. Jean would really be running things and his boy Mullin didn't value his input as much as his previous boss did in Lexington.

[brewcity77]

Sounds like his relationship with Mullin has definitely soured. Tough loss as I'm not sure there's a better recruiter of NYC area talent, but chemistry matters and if it wasn't there, what can you do?

[GoldenWarrior11]

It looks a lot worse for St. Johns than it really is.  In the end, I think they will benefit from it.

Matt Abdelmassih brought more players into the program and definitely earned more respect and a louder voice for Chris Mullin.  Barry Rohrssen went after a lot, and missed on a lot, of top-50 players that were being recruited.  In fact, the only player that Slice successfully recruited was Durand Johnson, and he was a graduate transfer on last year's team.  His hire originally made waves because everyone thought that St. Johns was a lock to get Mustafa Heron, since he was reportedly close with his family, but he ended up going to Auburn of all places.

Bottom line, Slice was an excellent recruiter at Kentucky - and got numerous area talent to go there.  However, getting kids to go to Kentucky is different than getting kids to go to St. Johns.  If you're paying an associate head coach 400k that doesn't bring much in x's and o's (Gerry St. Jean does that) and is now not your best recruiter (Abdelmassih), then what exactly does he bring?  Mullin appeared to realize who his top recruiter is and decided to make a difficult change.  No big deal really.

[brewcity77]

Maybe, maybe not. Slice also recruited well to Pittsburgh, which isn't exactly Kentucky. Just because he didn't bring in Heron year one doesn't mean he wouldn't still have landed recruits going forward.

[Golden Avalanche]

It looks a lot worse for St. Johns than it really is.  In the end, I think they will benefit from it.

Matt Abdelmassih brought more players into the program and definitely earned more respect and a louder voice for Chris Mullin.  Barry Rohrssen went after a lot, and missed on a lot, of top-50 players that were being recruited.  In fact, the only player that Slice successfully recruited was Durand Johnson, and he was a graduate transfer on last year's team.  His hire originally made waves because everyone thought that St. Johns was a lock to get Mustafa Heron, since he was reportedly close with his family, but he ended up going to Auburn of all places.

Bottom line, Slice was an excellent recruiter at Kentucky - and got numerous area talent to go there.  However, getting kids to go to Kentucky is different than getting kids to go to St. Johns.  If you're paying an associate head coach 400k that doesn't bring much in x's and o's (Gerry St. Jean does that) and is now not your best recruiter (Abdelmassih), then what exactly does he bring?  Mullin appeared to realize who his top recruiter is and decided to make a difficult change.  No big deal really.

You think it's no big deal that the first coach Mullin went after was his boyhood buddy (and outstanding recruiter) and he only lasted 11 months in the regime? There have been rumblings of issues in Jamaica since October when the program realized most everyone involved didn't live up to the job description.

[GoldenWarrior11]

It remains to be seen if Mullin will be a home-run hire, solid hire or dud.  Time will tell.  However, no, I don't think him firing his boyhood friend - who wasn't known for his x's and o's, but rather his recruiting prowess, and his substandard recruiting results in 12 months - is a big deal.  Assistant coaches, recruiting coordinators, and other members of staff come and go - and this situation is no different.  If the ENTIRE staff other than Mullin was let go, then yes, I'd look at it as a red flag. 

[Golden Avalanche]

It remains to be seen if Mullin will be a home-run hire, solid hire or dud.  Time will tell.  However, no, I don't think him firing his boyhood friend - who wasn't known for his x's and o's, but rather his recruiting prowess, and his substandard recruiting results in 12 months - is a big deal.  Assistant coaches, recruiting coordinators, and other members of staff come and go - and this situation is no different.  If the ENTIRE staff other than Mullin was let go, then yes, I'd look at it as a red flag.

It's interesting you continue to discount Rohrssen's years and years of success recruiting to two different programs (not to mention his landing of Chris Smith when he was HC at Manhattan) because he "only" landed one kid in his 11 months at SJU.