St. John’s employed former Fordham athletic director and New York native Ed Kull to function its new athletic director, the personal Catholic college introduced Wednesday.
Ed Kull graduated with an M.B.A. from St. John’s Tobin Faculty of Enterprise in 2005
“Ed Kull has demonstrated a dedication to excellence on and off the sector of competitors,” mentioned St. John’s President, the Rev. Brian J. Shanley.
“This is a crucial rent at a crucial time within the shifting panorama of faculty athletics, and I’m happy to have Ed rejoin our workforce.”
Kull grew up in Queens, not removed from St. John’s, and was a star baseball participant at Stony Brook College on Lengthy Island. He graduated with a B.A. in 2003. Kull labored as a graduate assistant in Carnesecca Area as effectively. Two years later, he graduated with an M.B.A. from St. John’s Tobin Faculty of Enterprise.
Excited to welcome Ed Kull again to Queens as the brand new Director of Athletics! 🔴🌩
🗞️ https://t.co/Fi3gSLtUfb pic.twitter.com/riRKF7YMi0
— St. John’s Crimson Storm (@StJohnsRedStorm) September 11, 2024
“To say that is the consideration of my skilled life could be an understatement,” Kull mentioned. “I perceive the work that we’ve got forward of us is not going to be simple, however I wholeheartedly imagine that we are going to commit each useful resource essential to revive St. John’s to its pure place atop the collegiate athletic panorama.”
St. John’s has been with out an athletic director since Mike Cragg, and the varsity mutually agreed to half methods after he spent six years on the Large East college. Kull was named as one among SJU’s high candidates to supervise basketball coach Rick Pitino’s workers.
Kull had beforehand labored at Fordham since April 2020
He left school sports activities for a number of years, earlier than returning to St. John’s from 2011 to 2017, together with a stint as vp of athletics the place he labored on income tasks for the college president.
“I’m comfortable to welcome Ed again house to St. John’s,” mentioned Joseph Oliva, Senior Vice President and Chief Working Officer. “We loved an incredible working relationship prior to now. Ed has the expertise and drive to attain athletic objectives. His ardour and love for St. John’s… will assist to rework our athletic division.”
Kull had been at Fordham since April 2020. He took over the full-time publish in February 2021. Below Kull, Fordham’s males’s basketball program discovered some success below the 2 coaches he employed, Kyle Neptune and Keith Urgo. Neptune left after one season to return to Villanova and exchange Jay Wright as head coach.
Earlier than Kull employed Neptune, the Rams had gone 45-95 over the earlier 5 seasons, together with a 2-12 mark in 2020-21. In his lone 12 months on the helm, Neptune led the Rams to a 16-16 file and an look within the Atlantic 10 Quarterfinals for the primary time in 15 years.
Urgo led the Rams to their greatest season in three many years in 2022-23. Fordham’s soccer workforce made the FCS playoffs in 2022. Moreover, the Rams have earned convention titles and NCAA berths in water polo, males’s soccer, softball, and ladies’s tennis below Kull.
Kull additionally benefitted Fordham Athletics’ fundraising. The Rams concluded their third straight fiscal 12 months with a file fundraising whole, together with a $7.6 million determine in 2023-24. It was greater than $2.5 million increased than the earlier 12 months’s mark.
