Rick Pitino is turning St. John’s into a college basketball behemoth. Since he took over the Red Storm, Pitino has found a way to make them relevant. They’re back in the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season and in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999. This isn’t the first program he’s turned around either.
Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- Rick Pitino has led St. John’s to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances.
- The veteran coach is just a few key victories away from adding another deep tournament run to his already impressive resume.
- Despite past controversies, his current success at St. John’s is reigniting debates about his place among college basketball’s greatest coaches.
Pitino has engineered rebuilds at Kentucky, Louisville and even Iona before he landed at St. John’s. Getting through the group of death in this year’s March Madness, having to get past Duke and Michigan State or UConn after already beating Kansas, it would give Pitino a near bulletproof resume.
Rick Pitino’s resume is already in rare air
It’s hard to dispute it really. He’s 80-24 at St. John’s and is closing in on 1,000 career wins. He’s 914-317 overall in college basketball. He’s been one of the most dominant coaches in the game. If he manages to take down Jon Scheyer, Bill Self and possibly even Tom Izzo in the same tournament run, it would solidify him as the best.
He last won a national championship with Louisville in 2013, but he hasn’t been back to the Final Four since. This is his chance to prove he deserves to be in the same conversations as Roy Williams and Mike Krzyzewski. It’s crazy to think about, but there’s not much else he would need to do if St. John’s continues its tournament run through the weekend.
The scandals that complicated his legacy
One of the biggest hindrances to Pitino’s GOAT case has to be the scandals that have followed him throughout his career. The Louisville recruiting scandal is the most prevalent one — it forced him out of coaching in the U.S. for three years before he returned to the college sidelines at Iona. Pitino was essentially fired, though it officially went down as a resignation, from Louisville as a result of the pay-for-play scandal.
Pitino faced a recruiting scandal earlier in his career as well at Hawai’i. Although he wasn’t fired from Hawai’i, it highlighted a pattern of Pitino not always following the rules. It seems this time around at St. John's, he's above board. Which is exactly why he can re-enter the conversation. Thanks to the Louisville recruiting scandal, Pitino technically only has one national championship he won with Kentucky.
What this March run could change for good
Pitino's 2013 national championship with Louisville was vacated by the NCAA. He needs one more national championship to prove he deserves the same respect as Krzyzewski and Williams. Both have at least three national championships (Coach K has five).
Izzo and Calipari each have just one, while Self has two. Pitino doesn’t need another to be comparable to them. But one more legit championship would confirm why he’s one of college basketball’s best. Pitino has St. John’s in a prime position to be college basketball’s king. He’s made them a powerhouse in the Big East and reminded everybody why he’s one of the most feared coaches this time of the year.