NEW YORK (AP) — St. John's hired Fordham athletic director and native New Yorker Ed Kull on Wednesday to be its next AD.

“Ed Kull has demonstrated a commitment to excellence on and off the field of competition,” St. John's President the Rev. Brian J. Shanley said. “This is an important hire at a critical time in the shifting landscape of college athletics, and I am pleased to have Ed rejoin 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. Soon after, he got his start in athletic administration at St. John's.

“To say this is the honor of my professional life would be an understatement,” Kull said. “I understand the work that we have ahead of us will not be easy, but I wholeheartedly believe that we will commit every resource necessary to restore St. John’s to its natural place atop the collegiate athletic landscape.”

St. John's has been without an athletic director since Mike Cragg and the school mutually 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 weeks ago.

He left college sports for several years, before returning to St. John's from 2011-17, including a stint 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, Fordham's longtime struggling Atlantic 10 conference men's basketball program found some success under the two coaches he hired, Kyle Neptune and Keith Urgo.

Neptune left 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 FCS playoffs in 2022 and the Rams have earned conference titles and NCAA berths in water polo, men’s soccer, softball and women’s tennis under Kull.

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Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP