NEW YORK (AP) — Standing in the middle of a sold-out Madison Square Garden, confetti sticking to his suit, Rick Pitino was asked about his remarkable basketball odyssey and latest Big East championship.
“I saved the best for last,” the 72-year-old Hall of Fame coach pronounced, bringing a March Madness roar from thousands of St. John’s fans hanging on his every word.
In that merry moment of pride and joy, at the center of a nationally televised New York City coronation, it was almost easy to forget that five years ago Pitino was coaching in Greece — exiled from college athletics following multiple scandals at Louisville.
Even two years ago, he was still toiling (and winning, of course) at suburban Iona in a mid-major conference positioned well below the proverbial radar.
And now here he was, back home in the Big Apple and toast of the town, nine days removed from a guest spot with his resurgent team on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”
Talk about a dramatic comeback late in overtime.
“I just really feel that adversity is a temporary thing that you could rally from,” Pitino told The Associated Press. “I’m coaching over 50 years. You’re going to have ups and downs. But it’s what you do with the downs. And it’s what you do with the success stories.”
There’s been no bigger success story in New York this winter — or college basketball, for that matter — than Pitino and the fifth-ranked Red Storm.
After winning the program’s first outright Big East regular-season title in 40 years, and first conference tournament championship in a quarter-century, St. John’s (30-4) is back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019.
That makes Pitino the first coach to take six schools to the Big Dance; the others were Boston University, Providence, Kentucky, Louisville and Iona.
“I think the common denominator is work ethic and passion. That’s never changed. Styles of play change,” said Pitino, in his second season at St. John’s.
“So, you’re always evolving, always adapting. Somebody just asked me, `How long will you go?’ And right out of my mouth, not premeditated at all I said, `I’ll keep coaching as long as I keep learning.’ And I think when I stop learning, or (lose my) willingness to learn, or the desire to learn, then I’ll pack it in.”
The second-seeded Johnnies, seeking their first NCAA Tournament victory in 25 years, face No. 15 seed Omaha on Thursday night in Providence, Rhode Island. They’ve won nine consecutive games — and 19 of 20 since the new year.
Another win would set up a marquee second-round matchup in the West Region against seventh-seeded Kansas or No. 10 seed Arkansas. Both are coached by fellow Hall of Famers — Bill Self leads the Jayhawks, and John Calipari took over the Razorbacks this season.
Pitino is making his 24th NCAA Tournament appearance in 37 seasons. He ranks fifth in Division I history with 884 wins, most among active coaches, and has reached seven Final Fours with three programs. He won national championships at Kentucky (1996) and Louisville (2013), the only coach to accomplish the feat at two schools, after guiding Providence to the 1987 Final Four.
But the title at Louisville was vacated for NCAA violations, and another NCAA case related to the FBI’s investigation into corruption in college basketball recruiting led to Pitino being fired by the university in 2017.
The final ruling from the NCAA’s outside enforcement arm on the FBI case came down in November 2022 and exonerated Pitino.
There was also a criminal extortion case in which Pitino was the victim during his time at Louisville that revealed personal indiscretions.
“Humility is a big part of my life right now. It wasn’t always that way,” he said last weekend. “I don’t believe in redemption. I believe in humility.”
Tainted by all that trouble, Pitino traveled overseas to keep coaching, with Panathinaikos B.C. in the EuroLeague from 2018-20.
That led to a successful three-year stint at little Iona just north of New York City, and then to St. John’s, where he was charged with restoring the winning tradition at a once-proud program that was a national power in the 1980s and ’90s.
Master of the two-year college rebuild, Pitino brought his magic touch to Queens and quickly did just that.
“We’ve really tried to just live every single day as if it’s going to be the last in coaching, and make the program better — everybody involved. And they’ve all done that,” Pitino said.
“The culture has changed. The fan appeal has changed. The marketing and what they’ve done with social media has changed. They just needed to come into 2024-25. And they were really in 2005. I just brought in what we had at Kentucky and Louisville in terms of social media, in terms of marketing the program, explained it to them and then they took the ball and they ran with it.”
Relying on relentless pressure defense and the talented trio of Zuby Ejiofor, Kadary Richmond and Big East Player of the Year RJ Luis Jr., the Johnnies have posted 30 wins for the third time in school history. They won both the conference regular-season and tournament titles for the first time since 1986 under revered coach Lou Carnesecca, who died Nov. 30 about five weeks shy of his 100th birthday.
Their four losses have come by a combined seven points, all away from home. That’s the smallest total margin of defeat for a Division I team with four or more losses since 1950.
“They’ve had a remarkable year. Dominated our league,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said after his team got overrun by St. John’s in the Big East final. “They just wear into you over time.”
Pitino was an easy choice for Big East Coach of the Year. And he’s been a big hit on screen, too, with a stern locker-room pep talk from “Pitino: Red Storm Rising” on VICE Sports going viral after he implored his players to get tougher and overcome adversity not only in basketball but in life.
“We know exactly the passion that he brings night in, night out, every single day in practice. He pushes each and every one of us to our limits. He guides us, not just on the court but off the court as well,” Ejiofor said.
“Everybody kind of gets a taste of what Coach P is like, but you never really know the kind of character he has. He’s really soft with me and my teammates, especially when it’s not really basketball-related. In between the lines, the energy’s always there. But off the lines, it’s jokes here and there and he’s always got a smile on his face.”
Pitino and his wife, Joanne, have five grown children and 14 grandchildren. They live primarily at their home in the Westchester suburbs, but Pitino said he has spent more time at their Manhattan apartment in the past year and a half than he had in the previous 10 years. And the former Knicks and Boston Celtics coach, raised in New York, is soaking up all the excitement in the city surrounding St. John’s again.
Hours after his team won the Big East Tournament at The Garden, the Empire State Building blocks away was lit up in school colors: red and white.
“I’m not surprised as much as I’m grateful,” Pitino said. “I’m just grateful for the players’ effort, I’m grateful for the assistant coaches’ effort, I’m grateful to the fans coming back in a big way. So my gratitude is at an all-time high. But I try not to get surprised. I try to expect wins every day.”
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