Richard Pitino says he’s heard rumors his father would retire as a basketball coach for the last 15 years. Nobody would blame him if he did.
His father, Rick Pitino, is 73 and still roaming the sidelines for St. John’s at a time when the demands on coaches are immense. Many of his peers and former rivals have long since retired, burned out by the task of recruiting and coaching while also raising funds from boosters in order to build title-contending rosters.
The elder Pitino is part of college sports’ old guard. Yet, in a new era, he’s thriving — and not slowing down anytime soon.
“How much longer he goes, I don’t know,” Richard told NBC News. “But after spending a week down there with him (at the NCAA Tournament) in San Diego, if he told me he was 55, I’d say he’s going to go for another 20 years. He’s loving it.”
Pitino’s No. 5 seed Red Storm, fresh off a thrilling buzzer-beater win against Kansas last Sunday, will face No. 1 Duke on Friday in the Sweet 16. It’s the furthest St. John’s has gone in the postseason since 1999.
This isn’t new for its coach, however. He’s now taken teams this far in five different decades, a feat only matched by fellow Basketball Hall of Famers Mike Krzyzewski and Jim Boeheim, both of whom retired in recent years at Duke and Syracuse respectively.
Pitino last week said he’s not sure he’s ready to join them just yet.
“I can be out of coaching next year. I’m 73,” he said in a news conference. “I want to have the greatest time of my life. I want to coach this game like it’s the last game I’ll ever coach. … But I also appreciate the blessings I’ve been given by being allowed to coach this long.”
Richard Pitino is a coach, too. He’s currently the head coach at Xavier. He said the family has not urged his father to step down.
“For me, it’s really about him being healthy and happy. That’s really all I care about. And I do believe that coaching keeps him young,” Richard said of his father. “So for me, I see a guy right now who’s coaching at a high level. He’s got a great collection of kids. He’s having a lot of fun. So that’s really all I care about more than wins and losses.”
Winning does make things easier, though. The Red Storm are among the hottest teams in the country with victories in 22 of their last 23 matchups, thanks largely to a relentless defense. In last week’s win against Kansas, they forced seven steals and scored 18 points off turnovers. St. John’s also kept Jayhawks star freshman Darryn Peterson in check, forcing the potential No. 1 overall draft pick to shoot 33.3% from the field.
St. John’s has been also successful because Pitino has adapted off the court.
Since 2021, players have been able to get paid for their name, image and likeness (NIL). It’s changed how coaches develop a program, as recruits and transfers typically go where they can make the most money — a major advantage for large universities with big donors. And unlike in prior decades, there is no penalty for transferring. Top talent can leave after each season for any team and immediately play.
But while some of his counterparts have stepped down to avoid rebuilding every year and constantly having to fundraise, Pitino has thrived in it. His efforts have helped the Red Storm compile a roster valued at more than $10 million, according to reports.
Richard says that despite all the changes to the game in the NIL era, “nothing has changed” for his father.
“Some people claim that coaches are scared to coach because they’re scared of kids transferring. He’s not even a little bit concerned about that,” he said. “It just comes down to getting the guys better and pushing them to levels that they’ve never been pushed to before. If they want to leave, they want to leave. Every coach is obviously frustrated with building a new roster every single year. But he’s been able to build two really, really good rosters the last two years. He embraces it.”
Pitino isn’t the only veteran sustaining success late in their careers. In this week’s Sweet 16, he’ll be joined by two other coaches older than 70 in Michigan State’s Tom Izzo and Houston’s Kelvin Sampson.
Izzo, whose No. 3 seed Spartans face No. 2 UConn on Friday, was asked this week how he stays “invigorated” while so many of his former rivals have left.
“It’s a struggle for me to be invigorated,” he said. “I love my job, I said I question my profession. I do question it, and everybody should know I question it, because at the end of the day I’m still out for what’s best for the student-athlete, and I don’t think we’re doing that. But I’m too stubborn to quit, too. I’m too stubborn to quit, and I’ve got some guys that have hung with me.”
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Pitino is the same way. He said the game-winning layup against Kansas as time expired last week took him “down memory lane” to his first head coaching job at Boston University in 1978.
“I remember being so excited playing in front of 150 people in Boston University and going to the NCAA (Tournament). The gym was empty, but we were so excited. They carried me off the court on their shoulders and there was nobody there to cheer but the players,” he said after the win. “Obviously, from there, on a path where every team makes the NCAA and has great success, this was the final for me — to get St. John’s to the next level.”
He’s now two wins away from his sixth Final Four, a feat only eight others have achieved. At his age, this could be his last and best chance to get there.
Richard said how much his father has left in college basketball isn’t his family’s concern right now.
“We don’t really care. That’s more media and fan stuff,” he said. “Are we happy that he’s winning and doing great? Of course we are. But he’s earned the right to do whatever he wants. He’s provided an amazing life for us. He’s got an amazing career. Whenever he’s asked me about it, I just say, ‘Listen, either way, we’re good.’
“My biggest thing to him is, if you’re enjoying it and you’re healthy, age is just a number.”