Report: Rick Pitino accepts St. John's head coaching position
Rick Pitino is going to be the man for the St. John’s Red Storm. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski has reported that Pitino has officially accepted the school’s open coaching position and will be announced by the school on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden.
One of the top coaches in the history of college basketball, Pitino had been with the Iona Gaels over recent seasons. In 2022-2023, he led Iona to a 27-8 overall record and an appearance in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, where his team fell to the UConn Huskies in the first round.
Pitino, currently 70 years old, has led Iona to two MAAC regular season crowns and two conference championships in the past three seasons.
The Red Storm parted ways with their old head coach, Mike Anderson, a little less than two weeks ago after he led the program to four underwhelming seasons. The New York Post was the first to report mutual interest between Pitino and St. John’s two days before the school even officially fired Anderson.
Moreover, a big key in St. John’s courtship of Pitino was their president, Brian Shanley, who was close to hiring the Hall-of-Fame head coach 12 years ago at Providence. According to the New York Post, Shanley had been “relentless” in his pursuit of the iconic head coach, and now he’s got his man.
By all means, St. John’s should be a fantastic college basketball program, but that hasn’t been the case recently. With Rick Pitino at the helm, that could all change for the Red Storm.
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Moreover, freshly-minted St. John’s leader Rick Pitino was the first basketball coach in NCAA history to win an NCAA Championship at two different schools. He guided the Louisville Cardinals to the 2013 crown and won the 1996 national title at Kentucky. The Wildcats also finished as runner-up in 1997. He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013.
Continuing, Pitino has also guided teams from four different schools to the NCAA Tournament: (Boston Terriers, Providence Friars, Kentucky Wildcats, and Louisville Cardinals). In doing so, he became just one of 11 coaches all-time to accomplish that feat (as of 2016-2017). When he landed his first college basketball head coaching position in 1978 (at 25 years old), he was the nation’s youngest Division I head coach.
Rick Pitino brought home National Coach of the Year honors in 1987. He was also named the SEC Coach of the Year in 1990, 1991, and 1996. He’s won countless other accolades and honors throughout his highly decorated career.
When it comes time for him to officially retire, there’s no question that he’ll be thought of as one of the greatest college basketball coaches of all time, but for now, he’s taking on the challenge of leading the Red Storm back to glory.
On3’s Wade Peery and Nick Schultz contributed to this article.