Rick Pitino promised a St. John’s return to prominence during his introduction Tuesday as men’s basketball coach, saying it’s a matter of when, not if, for a program beleaguered by mediocrity the past two decades.
“St. John’s is one of the legendary names in all of college basketball,” Pitino, 70, said during a press conference at Madison Square Garden. “Has it fallen on tough times? Yes it has. But now we’re ready to fall on great times. We’re ready to raise it up, raise this roof up, because St. John’s will be back. I guarantee that.”
The New York native is tasked with revamping a St. John’s team that’s only qualified for the NCAA Tournament three times since 2002. He replaces Mike Anderson, whom St. John’s fired this month after four seasons without a tournament appearance.
The hiring marks a return to the Big East Conference for Pitino, who led Providence to a Final Four appearance in 1987. St. John’s plays some home games at the Garden, where Pitino worked as an assistant and head coach of the Knicks during separate stints in the 1980s.
Pitino won NCAA championships with Kentucky in 1996 and Louisville in 2013, the latter of which was vacated due to a sex scandal involving recruits. Pitino was fired from Louisville in 2017 amidst a federal probe into fraud and corruption in college basketball.
He coached for more than a year in Greece after his firing until he was hired in 2020 by Iona, where he spent the last three seasons. He went 64-22 with Iona and took the team to a pair of tournament appearances, including this season.
Tobin Anderson, whose No. 16-seeded Farleigh Dickinson eliminated No. 1-seed Purdue from the NCAA Tournament last week, will reportedly replace Pitino at Iona.