Former St. John’s University Basketball Head Coach Files Lawsuit for $45.6M

After being terminated from his coaching contract, former St. John’s University men’s basketball coach Mike Anderson wants $45.6 million from the institution.

According to ESPN, Anderson said he was fired so the university could avoid paying out his contract and use that money to hire the new head coach, Rick Pitino, who won NCAA men’s championships at Kentucky and Louisville, which ended in a bribery scandal involving Adidas. 

The $45.6 million includes the remaining $11.4 million left on his contract and $34.2 million for “punitive” damages. Anderson was fired March 10. St. John’s hired Pitino, who coached the NBA’s New York Knicks in the late 1980s, shortly after on March 20.

Anderson claims the school was already in talks with Pitino when the school terminated his contract. 

In addition to obtaining arbitration documents, ESPN also obtained Anderson’s termination notice. It states he was let go 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.”

There were also statements attributed to Anderson underperforming in his “duties and responsibilities” that reflected positively on St. John’s University. Furthermore, he was accused of actions that discredited the school and didn’t “appropriately supervise” and communicate with his assistant coaches.

Anderson vehemently denies these claims, calling them “fictitious” problems and that he was fired without just cause.

St. John’s responded and challenged “the wildly inaccurate claims” and said it would “vigorously defend those claims in arbitration.”

Anderson’s record as the head coach of the men’s basketball team was 68-56, with a 30-46 record in the Big East in his four seasons at St. John’s.

Fox News reported that Anderson had been given a six-year extension in February 2021. St. John’s hired Pitino shortly after his team, the Iona Gaels, was eliminated from the NCAA tournament by the eventual national champion, The University of Connecticut (UConn) Huskies.