Rick Pitino reveals the key to him lasting this long in coaching career

More than 50 years and 900 wins after starting his head coaching career, Rick Pitino is still going strong. He has St. John’s tied for first place with UConn in the Big East with just one game to go in the regular season.

Throughout Pitino’s Hall of Fame career – even since he took over at St. John’s – college basketball changed significantly, both on and off the court. But at age 73, he doesn’t show any signs of slowing down, and he told Colin Cowherd the key.

Pitino said adaptability is crucial to a long coaching career. Of course, it also helps he feels about 30 years younger than his age, but that helps him relate to his players. Most importantly, he saw what life was like away from the sidelines before his time coaching in Greece, and he said he’s not ready to walk away.

“I took two years off of coaching and didn’t think I was going to get back in the game,” Pitino said on The Herd. “Wound up going to Panathinaikos in Greece and had a blast doing that. I think being adaptable is key. I’ve been coaching 50 years now. I met with one of my players, Joson Sanon, the other day and I said, ‘Listen, Jo. I may be 73, but I act like I’m 43. I’ve heard every story from every player. There’s nothing you can tell me that I haven’t heard. So if you’ve got a problem, if you want to get something off your chest, tell me. I’m going to act like a 43-year-old for you.’

“I think I can adjust to just about anything because you have to adjust today. You see it all the time in the game.”

Rick Pitino: ‘Coaches that don’t want to change get out’

Since returning to college basketball in 2018 at Iona, Rick Pitino hasn’t missed a beat. He had a 64-22 record in three years with the Gaels, including two MAAC regular-season titles and two NCAA Tournament appearances.

From there, Pitino headed to St. John’s, and the program improved from 18-15 before his arrival to 31-5 in his second year at the helm. The Red Storm now sit a win away from at least a share of another Big East regular-season title in Year 3.

As far as changing with the game, Pitino compared it to the NFL shifting away from a ground-and-pound style led by running backs to more spread offenses fueled by wide receivers. That ability to adapt, he said, is essential to long coaching careers.

“I’ve seen the game change from Bobby Knight – total motion – to a triangle offense that we saw Phil Jackson in the NBA look at, everybody would copy the triangle offense,” Pitino said. “Now, it’s big men stepping away from the basket and shooting threes, playing five-out. So it’s all changed, but you have to change with the times because it’s all different. No different than the NFL, the way the NFL game is played. It used to be running back off tackle, Jim Brown running off tackle and taking people with him. Now, it’s wideouts more than anything else.

“All the sports change. The coaches that don’t want to change get out. And I wasn’t ready to get out because I took two years off and my golf wasn’t very good. Going to the race track, I was losing too much money. I’d like to keep the money in my pocket and coach basketball.”