Mark Jackson wonders why St. John’s bypassed him as head coach

It’s not just the NBA bypassing Mark Jackson for head coaching opportunities, it was his alma mater, St. John’s University too.

Jackson was widely considered a successful head coach during his three years with the Golden State Warriors and he was similarly viewed as a successful broadcaster during his time on ESPN. But since getting fired by the Warriors in 2014 and let go by ESPN in 2023, there has been little buzz about Jackson landing new opportunites.

Earlier this week, the former St. John’s point guard joined The Michael Kay Show on ESPN New York where he was asked about Rick Pitino being able to turn the once proud basketball program around for the first time in decades.

“Since I’ve retired from playing, every other time St. John’s announced a brand-new coach, there was a side of me sitting there like, ‘Hello, why not me?’ I’m being brutally honest,” Jackson told Kay. “When they hired Coach Pitino, there was not a side of me at all because I understood he’s one of the best to ever do it, if not the best to ever do it. And I understood it and I embraced it and understood that St. John’s picked a gem and that the program was going to be turned around once again.”

Jackson retired from playing in 2004, the same year Mike Jarvis was fired as head coach at St. John’s. Which means Jackson presumably took issue with being bypassed when St. John’s gave Norm Roberts, Steve Lavin, Chris Mullin and Mike Anderson head coaching opportunities before inviting their former point guard for an interview.

Let’s rule out the 2004 hire of Norm Roberts as a missed opportunity because Jackson probably wasn’t going to go straight from playing in the NBA to dealing with the mess left by Jarvis. Jackson endorsed Mullin in 2015 and it’s hard to imagine he would have infringed on his former teammate getting the job. That leaves Lavin being hired in 2010 and Anderson getting the job in 2019.

If it’s true that Jackson was interested in the gig and never received an interview during either of those hiring cycles, then it seems like a miss by St. John’s. Maybe they wouldn’t have been able to offer enough money to lure Jackson away from ESPN, but it’s surprising to hear the school didn’t at least gauge his interest.