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Based solely on his coaching record, St. John’s men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino has enjoyed an incredibly successful college career.
Now 72 years of age, Coach Pitino has enjoyed success at nearly every stop along the way. His college basketball teams have won over 71% of their games in his 35 seasons as a head coach.
Today, Petino’s latest men’s basketball team, the St. John’s Red Storm, is 26-4 and ranked #6 in the newest AP men’s basketball poll. St. John’s clinched its first Big East Conference regular season title in 40 years with a win over Seton Hall last Saturday.
The last time St. John’s won a Big East title, the legendary Louie Carnesecca was coaching the now-retired NBA star and basketball Hall-of-Famer Chris Mullin during that season.
Rick Pitino expects his teams to win
This coach doesn’t mince words. He wants a team full of basketball warriors but not whiners.
If you don’t like playing full court pressure defense, don’t sign up to play for Rick Petino.
Now coaching his sixth different collegiate basketball team, each of Coach Petino’s college teams has featured an incredibly quick turnaround from losing to winning.
Landing his first head coaching job at Boston University in 1978 at age 26, Rick Petino’s Boston Terriers went 17-9 in his first year in charge. In 1983/84, Boston U went 21-10 and earned a spot in the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament field.
He would later take the top job at Providence College in 1985.
During Coach Petino’s second year with the Friars, Providence finished 25-9 and advanced all the way to the NCAA Final Four.
At just 35 years of age, Rick Petino had become the hottest young basketball coach in the country.
Then he shocked the basketball world by taking the head coaching job with the NBA’s New York Knicks in 1987.
Petino turned a horrible NBA team into the Eastern Division champions during his two years in New York.
Petino returned to college basketball in 1989
Feeling burned-out in the NBA, Rick Petino accepted an offer to take over the University of Kentucky men’s basketball program in 1989.
At the time, the Wildcats were on NCAA probation for recruiting violations under their previous head coach, Eddie Sutton.
During his eight seasons at Kentucky, Coach Petino led the team to six NCAA tournaments with five finishes in the Elite Eight or better.
Kentucky claimed the 1996 March Madness title for Petino’s first national championship as a head coach.
Petino takes another chance in the NBA with the Boston Celtics
In 1997, Rick Petino left college basketball for one more shot coaching in the NBA.
This time, the Boston Celtics made him the Head Coach and President of basketball operations.
That meant that he could hire the players and be their coach.
Unfortunately, the Boston Celtics’ successful run with Hall-of-Famers like Larry Bird, Kevin, McHale,and Robert Parish was already over. It was up to Rick Petino to find and develop another winning tradition in Boston.
It just didn’t work.
After posting the only losing record in his coaching tenure (102-146), Rick Petino resigned from the Boston Celtics after four unsatisfying seasons.
2001 Space Odyssey – A return college coaching…at Kentucky’s arch rival?
Can you imagine if former LSU football coach Nick Saban taking an NFL job and then coming back to coach in college at arch-rival Alabama?
Oh, wait. That DID happen!
Coach Rick Petino accepted the open men’s basketball position at the University of Louisville in 2001 after leaving the NBA for good.
Kentucky and Louisville are two of college basketball’s biggest rivals behind Duke and North Carolina.
The two teams refused to play basketball games against each other from 1959 through 1983. Since then, the Wildcats and Cardinals have met nearly every season as they alternate playing at each other’s home arena.
In March, 2001, longtime Louisville Cardinals head coach Denny Crum had announced his retirement. Nobody expected Rick Petino to take the top job at arch rival Louisville.
Louisville alumni dug deep into their pockets to sign Rick Petino to take Coach Crum’s place.
Over the next 16 seasons, Louisville made the NCAA March Madness tournament field 13 times.
The 2013 basketball season culminated with Louisville cutting down the nets to capture the school’s third NCAA men’s basketball title.
Well, for at least a little while!
The Asterisk *Louisville Cardinals 2013 national champs
The reason for the asterisk on University of Louisville’s 2013 title was a result of the NCAA ordering the Cardinals’ to vacate the championship four years later in 2017.
There were several allegations involving team improprieties during Coach Rick Petino’s tenure at Louisville.
One involved an assistant coach’s role in hiring female “escorts” for men’s basketball players. That occurred over multiple seasons.
In yet another allegation, the family of a top high school basketball recruit was apparently offered $100,000 by a shoe company if the young man signed a basketball scholarship to play for Coach Petino’s team at Louisville.
The head basketball coach was charged with failure to monitor his basketball program (ya think?) and was ultimately terminated by the University of Louisville.
Rick Petino regroups in Greece
After the ugliness which led to his departure from the University of Louisville, Coach Rick Petino moved to Greece and coached a EuroLeague basketball team starting in 2018.
EuroLeague teams feature players who sign for one or, perhaps, two year contracts. As most of the team’s roster will turn over annually, Rick Petino was getting a head start on coaching skills needed in today’s current NCAA college basketball.
After three seasons in Greece, Petino returned to the US and college basketball with Iona University in New Rochelle just outside of New York City.
With less than 4,000 students at the school, Coach Petino’s Iona Gaels men’s basketball program posted an impressive 62-20 record from 2021-2023.
By leading Iona into the NCAA March Madness field in 2023, Rick Petino became the third men’s basketball coach (joining Tubby Smith and Lon Kruger) to lead five different teams into the championship tournament.
Make that six teams now!
After three years of success at Iona, St. John’s University (New York City) offered then 71-year old Rick Pitino their top men’s basketball coaching position in March, 2023.
After posting a 20-13 record in his first year with his latest Big East team, Coach Petino’s current St. John’s team is 26-4 and ranked #6 in the nation this week.
They are heading to the NCAA March Madness tournament after winning the Big East Conference regular season title for the first time in 40 years.
I am conflicted about rooting for Rick Pitino and St. John’s this month
Nobody loves a good underdog story like me. St. John’s getting into March Madness as a #2 or #3 seed is one terrific college basketball story.
Coach Rick Pitino leading a record-breaking sixth different team into the NCAA Tournament is an incredible accomplishment, too.
This man is a very tough coach to play for. He demands and gets the maximum concentration and effort from his players. With the lone exception of his Boston Celtics years, Rick Pitino has produced winning results at every stop in his nearly 50 years of coaching.
On the flip side, he has also been at the forefront of chicanery involving recruiting violations over most of his career, too.
In recent years, Rick Petino does not deny that he allowed/permitted the unseemly events which occurred on his watch while he was at the University of Louisville. He believes his 2013 Louisville Cardinals team should have their championship title restored.
Coach Pitino has always known the secret to success in college basketball is to get the best players to come to your school and then play your style of basketball. He demands greatness from his players, assistant coaches, and himself.
He doesn’t coddle players. Rick Petino always seems to find enough top talent willing to play his style of basketball and compete for titles.
Coach Petino’s confidence is contagious. He is very matter-of-fact on what he expects from his players and himself.
Coach Rick Petino is now a modern blue print for success in today’s NCAA transfer portal and NIL cash machine
He said of today’s new group of college athlete-students, “You’re either in the G-League (NBA development league) making $75,000 per year or you can go to college and make $600,000 or $400,000.”
Petino added, “But I want to make sure that we’re getting guys that just have that desire where they really, really inside hate to lose.”
Now that paying college athletes has effectively become legal in today’s wild world of college sports, Coach Rick Petino simply advises his St. John’s boss about know how much money it will require for him to sign new basketball players from year-to-year.
Just a decade ago, Rick Petino was considered a successful coach but was doing it by crossing the line on cheating.
Perhaps he was simply ahead of today’s game.
Just like his players, Coach Rick Pitino could become available next year to the highest bidder
Open up that wallet, Indiana.
You could be next!