Rick Pitino

Richard Andrew Pitino (/pɪˈtiːnoʊ/; born September 18, 1952) is an American basketball coach who is the men's head coach for St. John's Red Storm. He was also the head coach of Greece's senior national team. He has been the head coach of several teams in NCAA Division I and in the NBA, including Boston University (1978–1983), Providence College (1985–1987), the New York Knicks (1987–1989), the University of Kentucky (1989–1997), the Boston Celtics (1997–2001), the University of Louisville (2001–2017), Panathinaikos of the Greek Basket League and EuroLeague (2018–2020), and Iona University (2020–2023).

Pitino led Kentucky to an NCAA championship in 1996. He was the first coach to lead three different schools (Providence, Kentucky, and Louisville) to the NCAA Final Four, and is the only coach to win a national championship at two different schools (Kentucky and Louisville*).[5] * Vacated by the NCAA[3]

In 2013, he was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.[5]

In June 2017, the NCAA suspended Pitino for five games of the 2017–18 season for his lack of oversight in an escort sex scandal at the University of Louisville involving recruits. Louisville's national championship from 2013 was eventually vacated as well. In September, Pitino was implicated in a federal investigation involving bribes to recruits, which resulted in Louisville firing him for cause.

On March 20, 2023, he was named head basketball coach at St. John's University.[6]

Further Reading: Wikipedia