Reports: St. John's set to hire Anderson as coach
St. John's appears to have its man after a frustrating search for a new men's head basketball coach, with multiple media outlets reporting Thursday night that former Arkansas coach Mike Anderson was close to landing the job.
According to numerous reports, the school interviewed three men for the role Thursday: Anderson, Yale coach James Jones and former Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt.
Chris Mullin stepped down as the Red Storm's coach on April 9, and the school initially targeted Bobby Hurley. However, the Arizona State coach declined, and St. John's reportedly was then rebuffed by Loyola Chicago's Porter Moser, UMBC's Ryan Odom and Iona's Tim Cluess.
Arkansas fired Anderson, 59, on March 26 after an 18-16 season, ending his eight-year tenure as head coach and his 25 years with the program.
Anderson was an assistant on the Razorbacks' staff from 1985-2002 before becoming head coach at UAB (2002-06) and Missouri (2006-11).
He owns a career 369-200 record, including 169-102 at Arkansas, with nine appearances in the NCAA Tournament. The Razorbacks played three times in the NCAA Tournament (2015, 2017 and 2018) with Anderson in charge.
Mullin exited with a 59-73 mark at his alma mater. St. John's went 21-13 in the just-concluded season, losing to Arizona State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
--Field Level Media
