Rick Pitino on St. John's job: 'I've earned it'

Rick Pitino is a polarizing figure in the world of college basketball, to say the least. No matter your thoughts on his off-the-court scandals, though, there's no doubting that the man can coach the game of basketball.

That's why St. John's gave him a six-year contract despite the fact that he figured his last job, as head coach of the Iona Gaels, was the last of his storied career.

"So, when I went to Iona, I said that Iona was going to be my last job," Pitino explained at his introductory press conference at Madison Square Garden, per ESPN. "And the reason I said that is who's going to hire a 70-year-old? No matter how much I think I'm Peter Pan, who's going to hire a 70-year-old?"

Pitino may not be flying off to Neverland anytime soon, but he is back in the Big East and even at 70 years old, he was a home run hire for St. John's.

His 832 wins over 34 seasons, including NCAA titles with Kentucky in 1996 and Louisville in 2013 are proof of that -- regardless of the fact that the Louisville championships was vacated because of NCAA violations. Speaking of NCAA violations, Pitino was fired by Louisville in 2017 after he was caught up in an FBI investigation that was looking into corruption in the world of college basketball recruiting. It was alleged that a top recruit's family had received a payment of $100,000 to play at Louisville. Nowadays that would be a non-story, but mind you, this was before the days of NIL.

Pitino had said at the time that he wasn't aware of this bribery, but it's worth noting that when he took the job at Iona, he did accept responsibility.

"Looking back on it now, I deserved to be fired by Louisville," Pitino said in 2020. "Was I innocent of any wrongdoing? Yes I was, but I was the leader and I deserved to be fired. I need to move on and that's what I probably have learned the most."

Speaking of moving on, Pitino has now parlayed his 64-22 record at Iona into this new job with St. John's, and the veteran coach had no hesitation regarding his qualifications for the job.

"I deserve it, because I've earned it," Pitino said.

To that point, Pitino has coached in the Final Four seven times, and he'll be looking to get back there quickly with St. John's.