Mike Anderson Sues St. John’s for $46M; Says Firing for Cause Linked to Pitino Hire

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Former head men’s basketball coach Mike Anderson is suing St. John’s University for $45.6 million alleging that the school fired him on false grounds.

According to ESPN’s Myron Medcalf, Anderson alleges that St. John’s fired him for cause in March so that it could avoid paying him a buyout and use the money toward hiring Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino.

In a notice of intention to arbitrate filed last month, Anderson said St. John’s offered him a buyout worth less than the $11.4 million left on his contract and created “fictitious” violations against him so he could be fired for cause.

Medcalf reported that the termination letter filed by St. John’s accused Anderson of “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,” “failure to perform your duties and responsibilities in a manner that reflected positively on St. John’s University … in actions [that] brought serious discredit” to the school and “failure to appropriately supervise and communicate with your assistant coaches.”

St. John’s hired Pitino just 10 days after firing Anderson, reportedly giving him a six-year, $20 million contract.

The filing from Anderson and his lawyer, Michael J. Keane, cites the hypocrisy of firing Anderson for cause and then hiring Pitino, who was fired by the University of Louisville in 2017 for countless violations, including recruits being provided with escorts at on-campus parties.

Additionally, Anderson refutes allegations of players not reaching academic standards during his time at St. John’s.

Anderson noted that St. John’s won the Big East academic excellence award for the first time ever in 2020. He acknowledged grades dropping following the COVID-19 pandemic but denied that it had a negative impact on the program’s Academic Progress Rate (APR).

Overall, Anderson is suing St. John’s for $11.4 million for the money remaining on his deal before his firing, and for $34.2 million in punitive damages.

St. John’s denied Anderson’s “wildly inaccurate claims” in a statement:

In four seasons with Anderson at the helm, the Red Storm went 68-56 and failed to reach the NCAA tournament.

Anderson was previously the head coach at UAB, Missouri and Arkansas for 17 seasons overall, reaching the NCAA tourney on nine occasions.

Pitino, 70, has won 711 games in 35 seasons at Louisville, Kentucky, Hawaii, Boston University, Providence and Iona.

He has taken a program to the NCAA tournament’s Final Four on seven occasions and won national titles in 1996 and 2013, although the 2013 title was vacated by the NCAA because of the violations at Louisville.