World Peace: St. John's coaching gig 'only thing I would stop my pro career for'

Before St. John's goes through with hiring two-time Hall of Famer and school basketball legend Chris Mullin for the Red Storm's recently vacated head coaching gig, they may want to call up another alumnus from the program.

While Mullin is probably the school's most famous and successful basketball export and has spent the last several years as an executive and adviser at the NBA level, he may have some competition for the job at the eleventh hour. That's because Metta World Peace is apparently interested.

World Peace detailed his interest in - and readiness for - the job to ESPN Radio on Sunday:

This is not something that I'm not prepared for. It's not something I'm afraid of. If we're talking about basketball intelligence, you're talking to one of the best.
...
I'm not afraid to address anything ever. I'm also not afraid to focus, lock in, and if I did have an opportunity to coach (St. John's), I would be in a zone, totally focused on the task.

World Peace was clear that he didn't want the job for any reason other than to lead the Red Storm to a national championship, and that other than the St. John's gig, he's not interested in a coaching opportunity yet.

"The only thing I would stop my pro career for," the former Ron Artest said of the gig.

That pro career recently saw World Peace land in Lega Basket Serie A in Italy, which comes on the heels of a stint in China. Prior to that, he spent 15 years in the NBA, making one All-Star team and winning an NBA championship in 2010.

World Peace was the No. 16 overall pick out of St. John's in 1999, entering the draft as a sophomore. In 69 games with St. John's, he averaged 13.1 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.9 steals and 1.2 blocks, making a run to the Elite Eight in 1999.

While World Peace doesn't have much coaching experience, he does have just a shade more than Mullin, having worked as an assistant coach for the girls basketball team at Palisades High.