Chris Mullin sent a strong message to New York City AAU and high school coaches:

I’m coming.

“The history here at St. John’s, we’ve always been strong in New York City, and I guarantee you’ll see me in public school gyms, the Catholic schools gym, the AAU gyms all over New York City,” the new St. John’s coach and legendary player said during his introductory press conference at Carnesecca Arena on Wednesday afternoon.

“You don’t have to tell me where they are, I played in all of them. I know how to get in the back doors. If not, I know the janitors in the gyms, so I’m going to get there.”

On several occasions Wednesday, Mullin said he wants to not only land local players, but own the area. In his day, St. John’s was full of New Yorkers like himself, a team people in the five boroughs could identify with. Though he did note the landscape has changed from his day, and St. John’s will still look for talented players everywhere — nationally and even abroad — Mullin is determined to keep the city’s best at home.

“I think it’s really important that we dominate New York,” he said. “If there’s a good player in New York City, he needs to come to St. John’s, if he wants to play the best basketball.”

St. John’s wasn’t recruiting the top player in the city, Christ the King junior Rawle Alkins, a consensus top-25 player, but that has already changed. A source said Mullin plans to make a major push for the 6-foot-4 guard, along with other members of what is a solid junior class in the city, and already spoke to Christ the King coach Joe Aribtello and extended a scholarship offer to Akins.

“He said high school coaches are important, Christ the King is important,” Arbitello said. “I think [New York City] coaches are behind him already. He just needs to keep the momentum.”

Mullin’s staff will be important to succeed in that vein, and he already has hired recruiting ace Matt Abdelmassih, previously of Iowa State. The St. John’s alum and former team manager is a respected recruiter, particularly in the Northeast.

Mullin and Abdelmassih were planning to speak with a number of local coaches Wednesday night and Abdelmassih said they will be extending scholarship offers “galore these next couple of days.”

The last two regimes have struggled to keep top prospects home. Steve Lavin landed Queens’ Moe Harkless, now a forward with the Orlando Magic, in his first major recruiting class, but his staff’s focus was national, and he missed on a number of high-level players, most notably Isaiah Whitehead — the last McDonald’s All-American from the city in five years — and Chris McCullough, a Syracuse freshman.