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Chris Monasch to leave as St. John's Athletic Director - is an NBA GM next in line?

By Norman Rose
Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Chris Monasch will be let go as Athletic Director of St. John's, per Jon Rothstein.

Some in the know have said this was coming all season, and Monasch's departure is no surprise.

But the name being floated as the next Athletic Director is a surprise - and perhaps a "bombshell" (for NBA followers who know Adrian Wojnarowski's tweets as "Wojbombs")?

D`Alessandro is a St. John's grad and a video coordinator during the late 1980s under Lou Carnesecca; he also worked for Congressman Rick Lazio and as a sports agent before being hired by Chris Mullin in 2004 as Director of Basketball Operations for the Golden State Warriors.

He built a reputation as a strong "capologist", figuring ways around the salary cap, figuring out how to use analytics, touted as a guy who can think "four moves ahead", when he was hired as the General Manager of the Sacramento Kings.

Lou Carnescca is quoted as saying to the Newsday in the article linked above that "he's going to make a great general manager.... He's very smart, very studious and a very hard worker. And he loves the game."

D`Alessandro is credited with helping the Nuggets fleece the Knicks for Carmelo Anthony's services, snagging draft picks and solid talents in exchange for the expensive scoring superstar.

But in Sacramento, some drama has played out with the NBA Kings. Owner Vivek Randive started the year with a management team of Chris Mullin and Pete D`Alessandro... to changing course and hiring George Karl as head coach and Vlade Divac as advisor against Mullin and D`Alessandro's wishes. [More on that soap opera from the Sacramento Bee]. Divac has become the leading voice in the organization, and George Karl is known to be strong-willed.

D`Alessandro's future in Sacramento is clearly... well, not in Sacramento.

Meanwhile Chris Mullin left months ago for the St. John's job, coming home from the dysfunction in the California capital and building what looks to be a strong staff as he enters his first year coaching St. John's men's basketball.

And D`Alessandro is clearly one of Chris Mullin's guys, a smart executive with a good reputation. And he no longer has a place of authority in Sacramento.

So Mullin looking to tap one of his guys makes sense, though it's rare, even on the college level, for a coach to pick his own Athletic Director.

What can Pete D`Alessandro do on the college level, without salaries? How will this change affect the non-revenue sports? What if Chris Mullin and D`Alessandro have a conflict about performance?

Meanwhile, Chris Monasch has been the Atheltic Director at St. John's for ten years, after spending time as the Commissioner of the America East Conference and before that, the Northeast Conference.

For the school's flagship basketball program, he was not the AD who hired Norm Roberts but maintained patience while Roberts rebuilt the program, and was in charge for the hiring of Steve Lavin. Monasch also presided over the creation of the SJU-TV Network, allowing St. John's to produce their own sportscasts to appear on outlets like ESPN3.

Next Up In St. John's Red Storm men's basketball