Chris Mullin's key to success at St. John's: His 'Dream Team' staff

At first blush, Chris Mullin's return to St. John's to energize the basketball program that spawned his Hall of Fame career might seem like a gauzy romantic notion that ultimately is doomed to failure when a first-time coach runs into the reality that he can't win games from the bench the way he did on the court.

But as much as Mullin loves St. John's and the idea of returning to his roots, he didn't spend 30 years in the NBA as a player and top executive without learning how to navigate his way through the basketball business.

When St. John's fired Steve Lavin in April and reached out to the university's favorite son, Mullin made it clear he wouldn't take his dream job unless he could assemble his personal "Dream Team" staff.

St. John's general counsel Joseph Oliva, who has added the duties of interim athletic director, led the negotiations. "When I sat down with Chris to talk about the possibility of him coming to St. John's, I was really excited after that meeting because of his plan," Oliva said. "He had a pretty well-thought-out plan in his mind about what he wanted to do.

"One of the assurances Chris wanted to hear was that the institution continued to have that [strong] commitment level. The financial commitment is there."

Mullin's plan focused primarily on hiring longtime friend Barry Rohrssen away from powerhouse Kentucky to serve as his top assistant and lead recruiter. Mullin also was well-acquainted with Iowa State lead recruiter Matt Abdelmassih, a St John's alum whose work helped his former Indiana Pacers teammate, Fred Hoiberg, become successful as coach of the Cyclones.

As part of his plan to develop a program that can prepare players for pro basketball, Mullin added former Golden State Warriors teammate and fellow Hall of Famer Mitch Richmond to his wish list.

It was a tall order, to say the least. "What I wanted, I didn't know if it was possible," Mullin said. "Fortunately, it fell in place. It's a phenomenal staff, and to cap it off with Mitch right before the season started is just incredible."

In addition to that trio, Mullin added Greg St. Jean, who was with the Sacramento Kings, where Mullin was working when St. John's offer materialized. St. Jean handles skill development and game and practice planning.

Director of operations Dan Matic's extensive AAU and college coaching background includes a stint with Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan and USA basketball at the 2009 World University Games.

It's an impressive group, but the coup was luring Rohrssen from Kentucky days after the Wildcats lost in the Final Four to Wisconsin, ending a 38-1 season. Rohrssen received a five-year deal worth $3 million, according to multiple college athletic sources.

Asked about the financial commitment St. John's made to his plan, Mullin smiled and said, "Off the charts, off the charts. One of the main reasons I came back was I knew the commitment was there with our president Bobby Gempesaw and our AD Joe Oliva. When I told them what my plan was, they said, 'We're with you 100 percent,' and they have been. So it's a huge, huge commitment, but that's what we need."

Is it the most St. John's ever has spent on the basketball program? "If I had to guess," Mullin said, "I'd say, 'Yes.' "

While the school plans to give Mullin the tools necessary for a winning program, it also expects to reap the benefits he can bring to athletic fundraising. "Chris' love for the university goes beyond men's basketball," Oliva said. "He wants to see St. John's succeed. He sees men's basketball as being important to that."

THE FIRST PIECES

Rohrssen, who attended Brooklyn's Xaverian High before Mullin, has maintained a close friendship with him as two basketball lifers inhabiting different worlds. Rohrssen spent five seasons as head coach at Manhattan College (2006-11) but also built a reputation as a top assistant and recruiter, funneling New York-area talent to UNLV and Pittsburgh in particular.

Last season was Rohrssen's first at Kentucky, which he described as "a basketball Shangri-La," and his friendship with Wildcats coach John Calipari also dates a long way back to their youth as roommates at the Five-Star Basketball Camp. When Mullin was offered the St. John's job, he quickly called Rohrssen, who was in Cleveland at the Midwest Regional with the Wildcats. He told Mullin he wanted to wait until the season was over, but the pull of his own New York roots was powerful.

"I was fortunate that I was dealing with two people I've known my whole lifetime," Rohrssen said. "John Calipari was understanding. He took into consideration this is my hometown, Chris is a lifelong friend, my mom, who I love dearly, still lives in New York and my fiancee is from New York. With all those factors which are important to me, he understood it made sense."

With Rohrssen on hold while Mullin's negotiations with St. John's proceeded during the last weekend in March, Mullin immediately secured the recruiting talents of Abdelmassih, who harbored his own dream of working at St. John's and understood Hoiberg likely was headed to the NBA.

Abdelmassih was in attendance when St. John's introduced Mullin as the new coach on April 1 at a news conference at Carnesecca Gym, where Abdelmassih had been a student only eight years earlier.

"I thought there was a chance Chris Mullin could be the head coach one day, but I didn't think I was ever going to be with him," Abdelmassih said. "I had a great life and a great situation when I was in Ames at Iowa State, and we had a crazy amount of success.

"To leave a situation like that is never easy, but this place is in the heart. I'm invested into this program as not only a fan but as an alum. It's been unbelievable. There's still times it feels surreal that I live in New York again."

90 DAYS OF SUMMER

Mullin and his New York-centric staff came home to a cupboard that was nearly bare. Seniors D'Angelo Harrison, Sir'Dominic Pointer and Phil Greene, who were part of Lavin's first full recruiting class, moved on after making the NCAA Tournament in their final attempt. Returning starters Rysheed Jordan and Chris Obekpa, both of whom had bouts of instability under Lavin, chose to leave. The only 2014 recruit Lavin added was backup forward Amar Alibegovic.

Rohrssen and Abdelmassih hit the ground running with Mullin for a three-month recruiting frenzy that produced 10 recruits, including four-star prospects Marcus LoVett and Kassoum Yakwe, Italian point guard Federico Mussini and fellow freshmen Malik Ellison, Yankuba Sima and Elijah Holifield.

Junior Darien Williams came from the junior college ranks and grad students Durand Johnson and Ron Mvouika arrived for their final year of eligibility. Tennessee transfer Tariq Owens must sit out this season but has three years of eligibility left.

Looking to the future, the program also secured a verbal commitment from point guard Shamorie Ponds of Brooklyn's Thomas Jefferson High. Ponds is expected to make it official by signing a letter of intent next week.

"I was telling someone that, 10 years from now when we're hopefully pumping out championships, there will be articles written about the 90 days we had this summer that were a blur but were as productive as you could have in the entire country," Abdelmassih said. "To get that many new additions in 90 days is borderline miraculous, and none of them were a reach."

When Mullin presented his plan to St. John's officials, a major component was to re-establish a connection to New York metro-area players, a market Mullin's predecessors largely abandoned during the past 15 years. While other top schools were importing New York talent, St. John's too often was a no-show in local gyms, in the eyes of many high school coaches and AAU teams.

But Rohrssen and Abdelmassih can activate that local connection. "Throughout my many years of coaching outside of New York, the people here in the city, the high school and AAU coaches, were always very kind to me and kind of gave me dual citizenship even though my driver's license had another state on it," Rohrssen said. "They always considered me a New Yorker and one of their own. Maybe it was because the accent never left me.

"Recruiting is three things: relationships, communication and trust. I've been going to high schools and gyms that I either played or coached at before in my life. So there's a relationship that really has been maintained for a lifetime. The people at those places mean a lot to me, and now going back to recruit there, I really look forward to that."

FUTURE IS BRIGHT

Describing the reception Mullin and his staff have received locally, Abdelmassih said, "Awesome. It's been ridiculous the love that people have for Mullin, not only as a basketball player but as a person. So there's not going to be any shortage of kids that want to play for a guy like him."

Richmond, who grew close to Mullin in their three seasons together with the Warriors, was a latecomer to the party, having been hired recently. "I think it's a great story to start getting some of these New York kids," Richmond said. "It was a great opportunity with one of my good friends to help him get his school, now our school, back on top."

Mullin's team stumbled out of the gate and fell flat last week in a 32-point exhibition loss to St. Thomas Aquinas, a Division II school. It was a sobering reminder of the pitfalls ahead.

But it doesn't mean Mullin's template is wrong. It's merely the groundbreaking stage of a long-term building project, and New Yorkers know from construction delays.

Mullin has full faith in his "Dream Team," saying, "My staff pretty much guides me. This is a whole new ballgame, not just coaching, but coaching college basketball. We do it as a team."

In Mullin's mind, the recruiting approach that once served his old coach, Lou Carnesecca, so well still can succeed with some modern tweaks.

"Coach Carnesecca recruited with a token, and it worked pretty good," Mullin said. "I'm going to use his philosophy. But it's a MetroPass now, not a token."