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 School of Enterprise in 2005
“Ed Kull has demonstrated a dedication to excellence on and off the sphere 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 school athletics, and I’m happy to have Ed rejoin our crew.”
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 properly. Two years later, he graduated with an M.B.A. from St. John’s Tobin School 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 Pink Storm (@StJohnsRedStorm) September 11, 2024
“To say that is the dignity of my skilled life can be an understatement,” Kull mentioned. “I perceive the work that we have now forward of us won’t be straightforward, however I wholeheartedly imagine that we’ll commit each useful resource vital 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 Massive East faculty. Kull was named as one in all SJU’s prime candidates to supervise basketball coach Rick Pitino’s employees.
Kull had beforehand labored at Fordham since April 2020
He left faculty sports activities for a number of years, earlier than returning to St. John’s from 2011 to 2017, together with a stint as vice chairman of athletics the place he labored on income tasks for the college president.
“I’m blissful to welcome Ed again dwelling to St. John’s,” mentioned Joseph Oliva, Senior Vice President and Chief Working Officer. “We loved a fantastic working relationship up to now. Ed has the expertise and drive to realize 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 put up in February 2021. Beneath Kull, Fordham’s males’s basketball program discovered some success beneath the 2 coaches he employed, Kyle Neptune and Keith Urgo. Neptune left after one season to return to Villanova and substitute 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 report 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 a long time in 2022-23. Fordham’s soccer crew made the FCS playoffs in 2022. Moreover, the Rams have earned convention titles and NCAA berths in water polo, males’s soccer, softball, and girls’s tennis beneath Kull.
Kull additionally benefitted Fordham Athletics’ fundraising. The Rams concluded their third straight fiscal 12 months with a report fundraising whole, together with a $7.6 million determine in 2023-24. It was greater than $2.5 million greater than the earlier 12 months’s mark.
