The St. John’s basketball program is reportedly in “serious discussions” to bring New York native and college basketball legend Rick Pitino to Queens in hopes he can bring their university back to NCAA prominence.
In the late 1980s, the Big East Conference was one of the elite gatherings of basketball schools in the sport. The conference with many Northeast schools had several of the best players and rivalries in the nation. St. John’s University was a big part of that as head coach Lou Carnesecca built the program into one of the best in the country.
Unfortunately, while the school has certainly had moments when the St. John’s basketball brand was meaningful since then, it has been nowhere near consistent. Now, it seems that the most successful college basketball program in New York City is close to landing a coach with a long resume of building elite and consistently good programs.
Late on Sunday night, ESPN broke the news that leaders of the St. John’s basketball program have met with legendary head coach Rick Pitino, and the two sides are in “serious discussions” about bringing the current coach of Iona to Queens.
Since firing head coach Mike Anderson earlier this month, the university has reportedly been pursuing the coach that has taken Providence, Kentucky and Louisville to the final four during his illustrious career.
The 70-year-old native New Yorker led Kentucky to a national championship in 1996 before eventually moving on to become the head coach of the Boston Celtics. The Celtics job was his second run as an NBA head coach after having coached the New York Knicks before his tenure with Kentucky.
The ESPN report claims the goal for Pitino is to make the St. John’s basketball program an NCAA title contender once again and “that will require significant support both for the program and in the name image and likeness space. And both sides chatted about what’s needed for the program going forward.”
The St. John’s basketball program has only reached the NCAA tournament three times since 2002.
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