Tartamella will lead St. John's women
Joe Tartamella announced as the new St. John's Women's basketball coach. (l-r) Joe Tartamella and wife Shannon, son Brady, and Director of Athletics Chris Monasch. (April 27, 2012) Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
St. John's was hoping for a smooth transition to a new coach for its women's basketball program after the unexpected departure of Kim Barnes Arico last week.
On Friday, St. John's announced that associate head coach Joe Tartamella will replace Barnes Arico, who left to take the Michigan job.
"I've been here and the comfort is I know the culture, I know our team, I know what we've accomplished and I can speak to those things," said the St. James native, who spent the past nine seasons as an assistant on Barnes Arico's staff.
His familiarity with the program played a big role in his promotion.
"You'd like to have continuity, but you have to have the right person to be able to take advantage of that," St. John's athletic director Chris Monasch said.
Tartamella's hiring came as a relief to the players, who were still stinging from the loss of Barnes Arico.
"I was stressed out," junior point guard Nadirah McKenith said. "I didn't know who was going to come in, they wouldn't know our style of play. But now Joey T. is here and he knows exactly how we play."
St. John's (24-10) earned national headlines this season after beating Connecticut and ending the Huskies' home winning streak at 99 games. The Red Storm followed that up with a trip to the NCAA regional semifinals for the first time in program history.
