There will be more than one Pitino in the Big East next season.
Xavier hired Richard Pitino, the son of St. John’s coach Rick Pitino, as its basketball coach on Tuesday night. The school had an opening after Sean Miller left to accept the Texas job on Monday.
Richard Pitino arrives at Xavier after four years at New Mexico, where he led the Lobos to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances. New Mexico went 27-8 this season and was eliminated by Michigan State in the second round of the NCAAs on Sunday.
The younger Pitino was the Mountain West Coach of the Year this season after the Lobos won the conference’s regular-season title. He was 88-49 at New Mexico and has an overall mark of 247-186.
“Xavier is one of the great brands in all of college basketball,” Richard Pitino said in a statement. “It has always been a dream of mine to coach in the Big East. The Cintas Center is going to be rocking. I can’t wait to get to work.”
This will be Richard Pitino’s fourth head coaching job. He was at Florida International in 2012-13 before spending eight seasons at Minnesota.
The move means father and son will coach against each other at least twice every season in the Big East. They have faced each other several times before, including this season when St. John’s beat New Mexico at Madison Square Garden in November.
Rick Pitino was the 2024-25 Big East Coach of the Year after the 72-year-old Hall of Famer guided the Johnnies to their first outright regular-season conference championship in 40 years.
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Joe Reedy, The Associated Press
