Ed Kull’s return further signifies St. John’s renewed commitment to athletic success

Ed Kull, twice a former St. John’s employee both in and out of athletics, has returned a third time, replacing Mike Cragg as Red Storm’s athletic director. (Photo by Fordham University Athletics)

When St. John’s announced its need for an athletic director after sacking Mike Cragg three months ago, one name stood head and shoulders above the candidate pool.

Ed Kull had the inside track from his two previous stints at St. John’s, one in the athletic marketing office before returning years later to work in institutional advancement, but the Middle Village native’s candidacy was bolstered more by the actions on his resume than the names of his employers. A natural fundraiser with an unparalleled sense of business savvy and exceptional people skills, Kull’s impending hire was seen more as a question of when it would be consummated, rather than the if that has seemed to plague the corner of Union and Utopia in recent decades.

Wednesday marked a second homecoming for Kull, who was reported by ESPN’s Pete Thamel to have accepted St. John’s offer to make him the Red Storm’s next athletic director. The hire reaffirms the university’s long-dormant competitive fire and commitment to winning on and off the playing surface, a flame stoked and rekindled three years ago when Rev. Brian Shanley was hired as president, bringing with him a reputation of not only caring about college athletics, but ensuring its prominence on campus and devoting whatever resources were necessary for success.

Shanley’s first major act came 18 months ago, when he acted almost unilaterally to hire Rick Pitino as men’s basketball coach after Mike Anderson was fired. His second comes this week with the hire of Kull, whose four-year tenure at Fordham transcended expectations and instilled belief in a moribund department. Kull will now look to do the same in a landscape where his institutional knowledge will be key to helping an operation long viewed as a mom-and-pop store finally get with the times and take its rightful place at an ever-changing table.

At only 43 years old, Kull brings an infusion of youth to a staid outfit that had been complacent on several fronts, and with it the requirement of thinking outside the box to get things done. He also brings an enthusiasm to grow his new department and not look at it as a stepping stone to something greater. His ubiquitous presence at athletic events and on social media will also bolster a department that has struggled with its branding and promotion in recent years.

At Fordham, Kull spearheaded fundraising in excess of $10 million for student-athletes, a figure that becomes bolder when one remembers Fordham had never invested that heavily in athletics under either of his predecessors, Dave Roach or Frank McLaughlin. Perhaps Kull’s most revered skill is his knack for negotiating corporate sponsorships, an asset honed when working under Mike Repole — more on him later — at Vitamin Water after he left St. John’s for the first time in the late 2000s. It was Kull who was responsible for the marketing of Vitamin Water and Powerade before his return to the university spectrum, where he then inked St. John’s contract with Under Armour and orchestrated a similar agreement between Fordham and Nike three years ago. And as a former student-athlete himself, a catcher on Stony Brook’s baseball team two decades ago, Kull better than anyone knows the pressure and tight balancing act that comes with managing sports and the classroom, and will work to make sure academic advisement and whatever other necessary amenities the players he now oversees need will be tended to in short order.

Finally, there is his relationship with Mike Repole, the primary benefactor among St. John’s booster base, the thoroughbred owner who essentially bankrolls the university’s NIL war chest, which Kull himself will also enhance through his own connections and willingness to engage powerbrokers and lead by example where others in his position appeared in over their heads. Kull and Repole have a longstanding personal and professional relationship, so the famous scorched earth interview the latter gave to Mike Francesa in 2019, where Repole expressed his distaste for what his alma mater had become, will likely not be revisited. However, one comment Repole made in that WFAN back-and-forth does bear repeating.

“At the end of the day,” Repole told Francesa five years ago when referencing the men’s basketball program, “this sport is the front porch of your house. We have a pretty ugly front porch right now. The inside of the house probably looks like crap.”

Since then, the remodeling and renovations have been extensive. Shanley was the first major improvement, and his take-charge leadership essentially boxed out incompetent gladhanders like general counsel Joe Oliva, whose power base within the athletic department was always mystifying to fans given his numerous failures. Pitino taking over the position once held by Lou Carnesecca inspired fans young and old to once again dream big with a program that once stood toe to toe with the titans of the sport. Today, Ed Kull’s tenure as athletic director will take the dinosaurs still stuck in 1985 and bring them back to life, with the confidence and swagger to be steadfast in their convictions and the expectation of being victorious in each of their endeavors.

Ironically, “expect to win” had been a slogan of the Mike Cragg era, sometimes mocked and largely dismissed. At St. John’s today, it now becomes a way of life.