John Fanta
University basketball issuer and journalist
There might be a father and son within the Big East, and each referred to as Pitino!
Richard Pitino, son of the pinnacle of the coach of St. John and the Hall of Famer Rick Pitino, is leaving New Mexico to take the identical place in Xavier, the sources confirmed to Fox Sports on Tuesday night.
After the 42-year-old introduced New Mexico to the consecutive NCAA tournaments, beating Marquette this yr within the first spherical after an everyday season by 26-7, Pitino considerably elevated his shares and was within the combine for the positions of Villanova and Xavier.
The athletic director of the Musketeers Greg Christopher was in love with the Rialzo di Pitino, who tried the excessive course in Minnesota however was let go in 2021 after eight seasons at work. Going to Albuquerque led Pitino to rekindle his profession, going 88-49 within the final 4 seasons, successful the Mountain West match in 2024 and accusing this system to an everyday season title this yr.
This transfer provides solely the household environment and the custom of the Big East. The truth that we’ll see at the very least two (and maybe three) wages between Rick and Richard Pitino is phenomenal for the League and its plots. The father handed his son of their 4 conferences, with Rick who owns a file of 3-1, together with St. John’s Beat the Lobos final November.
But Richard was effectively positioned for a excessive cycle work on this cycle. After Villanova didn’t prolong a suggestion regardless of being a lot within the combine – with Kevin Willard of Maryland and a mysterious candidate out for the Wildcats – Christopher prolonged the supply to Pitino. And now he’s heading in the direction of the state of Ohio to tackle a Xavier program that has been a staple within the NCAA match many of the final 20 years.
John Fanta is a National College basketball station and author for Fox Sports. He covers sport in quite a lot of capability, from name video games on FS1 to function the primary host on the Big East digital community to supply feedback on the sphere of 68 media networks. Follow him to @John_fanta.
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