NEW YORK — St. John’s on Wednesday hired Fordham athletic director and New York native Ed Kull to be its next athletic director.
“Ed Kull has demonstrated his commitment to excellence on and off the field of play,” said St. John’s President Rev. Brian J. Shanley. “This is an important hire at a critical time in the changing landscape of college athletics, and I am pleased to have Ed join our team.”
Kull grew up in Queens, not far from St. John’s, and was a star baseball player at Stony Brook on Long Island, graduating in 2003. Shortly after, he got his start in athletic administration at St. John’s.
“To say this is the honour of my professional life would be an understatement,” Kull said. “I understand the work ahead will not be easy, but I truly believe we will devote all the resources necessary to restore St. John’s to its rightful place at the top of the university athletic landscape.”
St. John’s has been without an athletic director since Mike Cragg and the school agreed to part ways after he spent six years at the Big East school in Queens.
Kull was identified as one of SJU’s top candidates to become basketball coach Rick Pitino’s next boss a few weeks ago.
He left university athletics for several years before returning to St. John’s from 2011 to 2017, notably as vice-president of athletics where he worked on revenue generation projects for the university president.
Kull has been at Fordham since April 2020.
Under Kull’s guidance, Fordham’s long-struggling Atlantic 10 men’s basketball program has found some success under the two coaches he hired, Kyle Neptune and Keith Urgo.
Neptune left the team after one season to return to Villanova and replace Jay Wright as head coach. Urgo led the Rams to their best season in three decades in 2022-23.
Fordham’s football team made the 2022 FCS playoffs and the Rams won conference titles and NCAA berths in water polo, men’s soccer, softball and women’s tennis under Kull.
