The Hall of Fame head coach orchestrated one of the best turnarounds in college basketball in recent memory
When Rick Pitino was hired by St. John’s in March 2023, he guaranteed that the moribund program would return to prosperity under his watch in his introductory press conference. Almost prophetically, he made good on his promise in his second season in Queens.
After coming up short of the NCAA tournament in his first season, Pitino brought in high-level transfers Kadary Richmond, Deivon Smith, and Aaron Scott to complement the returning Zuby Ejiofor and R.J. Luis, Jr.
Led by their transformed starting five, St. John’s tied their record for most regular season wins (27), returned to the AP top 10 for the first time this century, then won their first outright Big East regular season title in 40 years. The Red Storm are winning with a sandpaper-tough defensive identity, Madison Square Garden is selling out nightly, and faith has been restored in a fanbase who has grown chronically pessimistic.
It’s no surprise that the conference has selected the Hall of Fame head coach as this year’s Big East Coach of the Year on Wednesday afternoon.
Pitino becomes the fourth head coach in St. John’s men’s basketball history to be named Big East Coach of the Year, joining the legendary Lou Carnesecca who won it in 1983, 1985, and 1986, Brian Mahoney in 1993, and Mike Anderson, who won in 2021.
This is the seventh time Rick Pitino has won a conference coach of the year award and the first time he’s won it in the Big East. Pitino becomes the second coach in NCAA Division I history to win the conference coach of the year award in four different conferences, joining Oregon’s Dana Altman. Pitino is also set to become the first Division I coach to ever lead six different schools to the NCAA tournament once St. John’s is picked in this Sunday’s Selection Show.
Pitino will seek to lead St. John’s (27-4, 18-2 Big East) to their first Big East tournament championship since 2000 this week, as the one-seeded Red Storm await the winner of today’s Providence-Butler first-round matchup in the Big East Tournament quarterfinal on Thursday. Tip-off is slated for noon Eastern and the game will be streamed on Peacock.