Mike Cragg agrees to become St. John’s next Athletic Director

According to a report from college basketball insider Jon Rothstein, Mike Cragg of Duke University has agreed in principle to become St. John’s next athletic director. After using an executive search firm, it appears as if the hunt for the Red Storm’s next Athletic Director is over.

Cragg will fill the vacancy left by previous Athletic Director Anton Goff. Just this past summer, Goff unexpectedly resigned citing, “family reasons.”

As mentioned above, Cragg comes to St. John’s after spending three-decades at Duke acting as the Deputy Director of Athletics. He acted most recently a senior administrator for the men’s basketball team. His biography on Duke’s website highlights his role in fundraising for their men’s basketball team. Under his leadership, he helped found the Duke Basketball Legacy Fund and is credited with helping raise 115 million dollars for the program.

For St. John’s, it can be seen as a major coup to add a leader familiar with successful basketball programs and with a keen ability to fundraise.

Cragg will inherit a Red Storm athletic department that is trending upward. St. John’s is coming off relatively strong seasons in women’s basketball, men’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s soccer, and baseball. Regardless, if the men’s basketball program fails to make significant progress in the near future, Cragg will be faced with a major decision.

Nevertheless, Cragg is a proven commodity who has been around a flurry of good teams at Duke. An official announcement of his hiring is expecting in the coming days.