Rick Pitino Hired by St. John’s, Returning to His Big East Roots

Pitino met with Shanley, who spent 15 years as the president at Providence before he went to St. John’s in 2020, on Sunday on campus. Pitino laid out his vision for the program, which included an investment in improving facilities. Pitino said last week that Shanley once offered him the job at Providence while he was at Louisville.

Asked on Thursday if St. John’s could climb back to the heights it achieved when it reached the Final Four in 1985 along with its fellow Big East members Georgetown and Villanova, Pitino said that new rules in college sports to permit athletes to have endorsement deals allowed for any program to compete.

“Obviously you’re losing for a reason, but any place can be built,” he said.

Despite a checkered history that included several scandals while at Louisville, Pitino is considered one of the best coaches in college basketball history.

He is the only coach to lead two different men’s programs — Kentucky and Louisville — to national championships, although the 2013 title at Louisville was vacated and Pitino lost his job there after an F.B.I. investigation in which two assistant coaches were accused of funneling money from the university’s apparel sponsor, Adidas, to high school recruits. Pitino has long said that he did not know about the scheme, or another involving a staff member soliciting prostitutes and strippers for players and recruits.

“You can take down a banner, but you can’t take down a national championship,” Pitino said last week.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/20/sports/ncaabasketball/rick-pitino-st-johns.html