The Middle Village native becomes the eighth athletic director in St. John’s history after previously working as a graduate assistant and vice president of athletics for the school
St. John’s has followed Ed Kull for every step of his life.
The Middle Village native grew up in the shadow of the 1980s golden age for St. John’s men’s basketball. He played baseball for St. John’s alumnus and legendary high school coach Jack Curran at Archbishop Molloy High School, near the Jamaica campus. While becoming an all-conference baseball player at Stony Brook, he met St. John’s alumni Richard Laskowski and Chris Monasch, who helped him realize his calling of working in college athletics.
As he pursued his M.B.A. at St. John’s, he worked as a graduate assistant alongside future Red Storm women’s basketball coach Joe Tartamella in the early 2000s, hoping to follow in the footsteps of program icon and one of his mentors, Jack Kaiser, by becoming the athletic director for the school someday.
Twenty years later, Kull was surrounded by family, his colleagues, and St. John’s coaches and administrators as he was formally introduced as the school’s newest athletic director on Tuesday afternoon.
“I could not have asked for a better answer to my prayers than the next athletic director at St. John’s, Ed Kull,” said St. John’s University president Rev. Brian Shanley during Tuesday’s introductory press conference.
It wasn’t a direct ascension to St. John’s athletics chair. Kull spent a few years after his post-grad apprenticeship working outside college sports, particularly for St. John’s alum Mike Repole’s sports drink company VitaminWater.
He returned to St. John’s for six years as the vice president of athletics, building relationships and orchestrating major deals with Under Armour, Madison Square Garden, and Fox Sports that helped skyrocket revenue for the athletic department.
Kull took charge of Fordham athletics in 2020. In four years, he raised funds hand over fist and breathed life into a school with little athletic tradition by hiring Kyle Neptune and Keith Urgo to retrieve the Rams’ men’s basketball program from the abyss of college basketball.
When Mike Cragg parted ways with St. John’s this summer and the school began searching for their next athletic director, Kull was among six sitting ADs who applied for the opening. His prior experience as a college administrator in the modern era of college sports, incredible fundraising ability, and deep connections within New York City and the St. John’s community made him the right person for the job.
“Ed knows the landscape of college athletics, and he’s navigated it successfully over the last several years,” Senior Vice President Joe Oliva said during Tuesday’s introductory press conference. “He can hit the ground running at full speed.”
Even though he had worked in the athletic department for many years and did not need a name tag on Tuesday, Kull still consulted many people for advice before taking the position, including figures outside the St. John’s family.
He spoke with the families of original Big East administrators Dave Gavitt and Mike Tranghese, former Providence AD Bob Driscoll, and even current Georgetown men’s basketball head coach Ed Cooley — who shared a close bond with current St. John’s president Rev. Brian Shanley when the pair worked at Providence College.
Kull’s conversations with Shanley and Oliva confirmed that this was the correct move.
“The leadership here at St. John’s understands what the future needs to be, and the commitment is there for being all-in for athletics and becoming a part of the university’s strategic plan,” Kull said on Tuesday.
Obstacles such as name, image, and likeness (NIL) policies, conference realignment, and the potential fallout of the House vs. NCAA settlement opening the door to a revenue-sharing model have made this — in Brian Shanley’s words — “the most fraught in college athletics history.”
Kull acknowledges the industry’s widespread uncertainty and stresses that generating revenue will be the administration’s top priority in preparing for “the unknown” in this tumultuous period of college athletics.
Another part of generating revenue will be engaging with all alumni, establishing a more substantial presence in Queens and the New York City metropolitan area, and turning athletics into a source of school spirit, pride, and a means of bolstering the school’s academic profile.
“You’ll never question my work ethic, you’ll never question my effort,” Kull closed, “We may disagree, but I promise you that I will make decisions out of passion, love, and what’s best for this university.”