Major news involving the St. John’s men’s basketball staff dropped right before tip-off of Tuesday night’s game against Marquette.
First reported by Newsday’s Roger Rubin, the St. John’s men’s basketball program has fired men’s basketball general manager Matt Abdelmassih. Athletic director Ed Kull confirmed Abdelmassih’s termination to Zach Braziller of the New York Post.
In Rubin’s original report, the decision to dismiss Abdelmassih is believed to be connected to financial deals by Abdelmassih that
came under scrutiny by the university. The university placed Abdelmassih on administrative leave since the Red Storm’s game against Kentucky on December 20.
Previously serving as student manager from 2004-2007 and assistant coach under Chris Mullin from 2015-2019 at St. John’s, Abdelmassih once again returned to his alma mater to become the men’s basketball program’s general manager ahead of Rick Pitino’s first season in Queens in 2023.
Abdelmassih was involved in the Red Storm’s recruiting and NIL fundraising efforts, playing a key role in building highly touted transfer classes over the last two seasons, including last year’s massively successful 31-win campaign that saw St. John’s win both the Big East regular season and tournament titles for the first time in decades.
Longtime college basketball assistant coach Tom Ostrom is one of three candidates being considered for the vacant general manager position and was in attendance for Tuesday’s game. Ostrom had previous stints at schools like Florida, Indiana, Arkansas, and Dayton, and last worked under Darian DeVries at Drake and West Virginia. While at West Virginia, Ostrom played an instrumental role in landing the commitment of now-St. John’s guard Kelvin Odih.
