Kull returns to St. John’s after working as Fordham’s athletic director for the last four years
St. John’s has a new athletic director ahead of the college basketball season, and it’s a familiar face.
The university has officially hired Fordham athletic director Ed Kull to lead the athletics department on Wednesday. Kull becomes the eighth athletic director in St. John’s history, replacing outgoing athletic director Mike Cragg, who parted ways with the school in July.
Ed Kull’s roots run deep with St. John’s. After earning a master’s degree in business administration from St. John’s, Kull began his administrative career at the school in 2011. During his first tenure in Queens, he oversaw a 40 percent increase in revenue growth, inked a new venue contract with Madison Square Garden, and played an instrumental role in creating the new Big East Conference and its media deal with FOX Sports.
He also has an amicable relationship with billionaire donor Mike Repole, which should maintain the sports drink magnate’s support of St. John’s athletics beyond Rick Pitino’s head coaching tenure.
Fordham hired Kull as their interim athletic director in April 2020, then promoted him to a full-time position less than a year later. He quickly built a reputation as a very successful fundraiser. Across four years, he raised over $10 million in donations, including $4.5 million during the 2023 fiscal year.
Kull also spearheaded the hirings of Kyle Neptune and Keith Urgo for the Rams men’s basketball program, who both enjoyed relative success in Rose Hill. Neptune helped the Rams finish with a non-losing record for the first time since 2015-16 and the second time since the turn of the millennium. When Urgo took over the team after Villanova hired Neptune in 2022-23, he led the Rams to 25 wins – the second-most in a season in program history.
The school will hold an introductory press conference for Kull next Tuesday, September 17th, at 1 p.m.