Let’s start with this premise: A healthy St. John’s basketball program is good for the Big East. That notion may be annoying to some fans of rival schools, but it’s true.

The Johnnies are in the biggest media market and have a tenant relationship with Madison Square Garden, which is crucial to the World’s Most Famous Arena being the host of the Big East Tournament. As folks familiar with the Big East’s Fox Sports 1 partnership will tell you, St. John's brand is capable of moving the TV-ratings needle in a way that only Villanova and Georgetown can.

When the Red Storm have egg on their faces — right now, during their train-wreck search to replace the disappointing Chris Mullin, they’re practically wearing an omelet as a hat — the conference gets splattered, too.

Fair or not, the coaching carousel is a kind of referendum on league pecking order. When Seton Hall fought off Virginia Tech’s advances at head coach Kevin Willard earlier this month, it was a victory for the entire Big East. On the flip side, St. John’s failure to lure Jersey City native Bobby Hurley from Arizona State, coupled with (gasp) a rejection from Loyola-Chicago’s Porter Moser and a stunning reluctance to dial up successful Iona coach Tim Cluess, is a huge negative for the conference.

It makes the Big East look small-time, and it’s not.

By any fair reckoning, the Big East’s reconfiguration has proven as successful as anyone could have hoped. Two national titles from Villanova, an average of five teams per year in the Big Dance, a major TV partner, big attendance figures for the conference tournament, a long-term deal with the Garden despite attempted Big Ten and ACC intrusions — these are all robust signs.

And yet, after this rebuilding season in 2018-19 concluded with no teams making it to the NCAA Tournament’s second weekend, critics pounced. Chirping about the Big East’s demise from Power 5 fan bases has been incessant. Some of that chirping undoubtedly makes its way to the recruiting trail.

Now St. John’s is handing those critics a sledgehammer. Prominent alum and deep-pocketed former booster Mike Repole ripped the school’s administration to shreds on WFAN on Wednesday, throwing around words like “toxic” and “national embarrassment” while calling on bumbling President Bobby Gempesaw to resign. The diatribe immediately went viral (New York: media capital). More omelet on everyone’s brow.

This type of stuff just doesn’t happen at healthy schools.

So somehow, the search that began with Rick Pitino demanding an apology from the Southern District of New York’s vaunted U.S. Attorney’s office reached a new low. After Repole burned his alma mater’s reputation to the ground Wednesday, UMBC coach Ryan Odom appeared to run from consideration for the job (the UMBC coach!).

The walls inside Big East headquarters must be shaking with frustration. It’s time for an intervention. In the late 1970s, the NFL rescued the New York Giants by sending George Young to the Meadowlands with a mop and a vision.

The Big East should step in here and help broker a proper search by calming the warring factions within the school and back-channeling connections to realistic candidates who would take the job. St. John’s is violently ill, and it’s stinking up the conference.

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.