Rick Pitino is the Men’s College Coach of the Year. Ahead of the Final Four in San Antonio this weekend the 2nd year Red Storm coach was nationally recognized for the second season in his collegiate coaching career, previously named NABC Coach of the Year in 1987, his last season with the Providence Friars.
Pitino shared the Associated Press award with Bruce Pearl of Auburn; the two finished with 31-5 and 32-6 records respectively. Pitino also won the US Basketball Writers Association and Werner Ladder Naismith National Coach of the Year awards, a trio for the active winningest coach in college hoops.
For Pitino it was a heartbreaking second round exit that ended his season, falling to #10 Arkansas in one of the few clear upsets of the 2025 tournament. Still, he snapped a 40-year BIG EAST championship drought, reinvigorating a stagnant program and putting Queens basketball back on the college map. You could see how proud Pitino was of his and the Red Storm’s accomplishments as confetti rained down twice at Madison Square Garden.
It will be difficult for Pitino and St. John’s to follow up their tremendous 2024-25 season, especially with the departure of stars and seniors RJ Luis Jr., Deivon Smith, Aaron Scott, Kadary Richmond, and Brady Dunlap.
Additionally, the landscape of the BIG EAST is shifting, and though it didn’t come easily this season, Pitino will have his work cut out for him with the arrival of his son Richard to Xavier and former BIG EAST co-coach of the year Kevin Willard to Villanova. Richard Pitino did a remarkable job at New Mexico, leading the Lobos to a first-round upset over BIG EAST representatives Marquette. Willard also impressed in March Madness, leading Maryland to wins over Grand Canyon and Colorado State before running into top-seeded Florida.
