Former St. John's basketball coach Mike Anderson is suing his ex-employer for more than $45 million, claiming the school manufactured cause in order to avoid paying his buyout and use that money to hire Rick Pitino.
From ESPN, who obtained the termination letter given to Anderson:
Anderson was fired for "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 fired Anderson on March 10. He went 68-56 in four seasons at the school, including an 18-15 mark this past season and a 30-46 overall record in Big East play. The Red Storm did not reach the NCAA tournament, nor any postseason tournament, in Anderson's tenure.
Those are the results that commonly get coaches fired, particularly when Rick Pitino is on the market. The two-time national champion went 64-22 with two Metro Atlantic titles and two NCAA appearances in three seasons at nearby Iona.
St. John's hired Pitino on March 20, and the Red Storm are already widely expected to participate in the 2024 Big Dance.
That's all typical stuff, except for the fact that St. John's fired Anderson for cause.
While we obviously weren't on hand for the day-to-day of St. John's basketball under Anderson's leadership and we haven't reviewed Anderson's contract, firings for cause are typically reserved for serious misconduct -- be it of the personal, the legal, or the NCAA compliance variety.
The reasons listed above don't commonly rise to that standard.
Beyond that, ESPN also reported that St. John's attempted to lay the groundwork to fire Anderson for cause ahead of time:
In the documents, Anderson, who had previously announced his intent to sue St. John's, said the school in February began making false accusations that he had been dealing with cognitive issues. During a "hostile" phone call, per Anderson's legal filing, Joseph Oliva, the general counsel for St. John's, told one of the former head coach's reps that Anderson "did not in any way resemble the coach from the prior four years" and seemed "about gone" mentally.
In his legal filing, Anderson also rebutted the school's claim that his team had struggled academically, citing his program's Big East academic excellence award in 2020 for the highest cumulative GPA in the conference -- the first in program history. He said his team's GPA slipped after COVID but never to a degree that would jeopardize his program's APR.
Anderson had $11.4 million remaining on his contract. His suit seeks that amount plus an additional $34.2 million in punitive damages.
In football, the closest recent precedent is Kansas's 2018 firing of David Beaty in order to hire Les Miles. The school attempted to fire him for cause, which sparked its own lawsuit. That suit finally wrapped up in 2021, which resulted in a $2.55 million settlement for Beaty and some airing of KU's dirty laundry along the way.
St. John's basketball could be in for a similar ride in the coming months and years.