Rick Pitino will be the new men’s basketball coach at St. John’s, according to a person familiar with the deal.
The individual spoke to The Associated Press on Monday on condition of anonymity because the school had not yet made the announcement. Pitino is expected to be officially unveiled by St. John’s at a press conference Tuesday at Madison Square Garden.
The move brings the Hall of Fame coach back to the Big East Conference, aiming for a lofty St. Johns program that has been mired in mediocrity for much of this century.
After a successful run against nearby midfielder Iona, the 70-year-old Pitino was selected to replace Mike Anderson, who was fired on March 10 after leading Red Storm for four seasons without making it to the NCAA Tournament.
Reports soon emerged suggesting that St. John’s was planning to attack Pitino, who grew up on Long Island, not far from the school’s Queens campus in New York City.
Pitino appeared in seven Final Fours and won two NCAA championships, one in Kentucky (1996) and one in Louisville (2013).
He was released from Louisville in 2017 after an FBI investigation into college basketball corruption led to allegations of NCAA violations. It was the third professional and personal scandal involving the Cardinals in eight years, but Pitino was ultimately cleared of the FBI-related case.
Pitino has a winning percentage of .740 over 34 full seasons as a college basketball coach. He led five schools to the NCAA Tournament, including Boston University (1983) and Iona (2021, 2023).
He took a surprise Providence team on a memorable run to the 1987 Final Four, but the 2013 national title won by Pitino in Louisville (then in the Big East) was later vacated by the NCAA after an investigation revealed that an assistant coach had paid chaperones. and exotic dancers. to entertain players and recruits in campus dormitories.
After two years of coaching in Greece, he got the job at Iona – a small private Catholic school in New Rochelle, just north of New York City.
Pitino went 64–22 with the Gaels in three years and led them to two Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular season titles and two NCAA Tournaments. Seeded No. 13 this year, they led the No. 4 UConn at halftime before being eliminated in the first round with an 87–63 loss, resulting in a 14-game winning streak.
Before the game, Pitino said he hopes to train for another 12 years.
“But I’ll take six or seven,” he said.
He said it would hold “a special place” as he considered leaving Iona, but also spoke of how much admiration he had for St. John’s President Rev. Brian Shanley, who previously worked at Providence.
Source: LA Times