Feb 25, 2023; New York, New York, USA; St. John's Red Storm head coach Mike Anderson talks with center Joel Soriano (11) prior to the start of the game against the Connecticut Huskies at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
NCAA Basketball: Connecticut at St. John
(New York, NY) — St. John’s men’s basketball has a coaching scandal on its hands.
Former St. John’s basketball coach Mike Anderson is looking for a sum in the neighborhood of $46 million from the school, claiming he was let go with cause only so the school could avoid paying his buyout and use the cash to hire Rick Pitino, per arbitration documents obtained by ESPN.
St. John’s sealed the deal with Pitino–the coach of Iona for a time–after firing Anderson on March 10th. On the day he was axed, Anderson claims the school had already entered advanced talks with Pitino, who was officially hired March 20.
According to the termination letter acquired by ESPN, Anderson was fired for “failure to create and support an environment that strongly encourages student-athletes who are in the men’s basketball program to meet all university academic requirements,” “failure to perform your duties and responsibilities in a manner that reflected positively on St. John’s University … in actions [that] brought serious discredit” to the school and “failure to appropriately supervise and communicate with your assistant coaches.
Per documents obtained by ESPN, Anderson claims St. John’s officials had tried to offer him a buyout for less than the $11.4 million remaining on his coaching deal before the school accused him of “fictitious” problems before firing him with cause.
“We dispute the wildly inaccurate claims being reported in the media and will vigorously defend those claims in arbitration,” St. John’s University said in a statement issued Thursday afternoon.
