Rick Pitino Named to Naismith National Coach of the Year Watch List

QUEENS, N.Y. – After leading St. John's to a remarkable turnaround in just his second year at the helm, Hall of Fame Coach Rick Pitino was named to the 2025 Werner Naismith National Coach of the Year Watch List, the organization announced on Friday afternoon.

Pitino was selected to a list of 15 candidates for the Naismith Coach of the Year award, presented annually to the top coach in men's and women's college basketball. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer is joined on the watch list by his son, Richard Pitino, who has led New Mexico to a 22-5 record this season.

In just his second season in Queens, Pitino has brought the Johnnies back to heights unseen in decades. With four regular season games left to play, the Red Storm has reached its highest win total (23) since 1999-2000, its most BIG EAST victories (14) since 1998-99 and has returned to the top-10 in the national rankings for the first time in 25 years.

During the 2024-25 campaign, the Johnnies rattled off 10 straight BIG EAST wins, their longest stretch since the 1984-85 season, defeated three ranked opponents in a 12-day span and sit atop the BIG EAST standings seeking the program's first regular season title since 1992. St. John's has won 18 consecutive regular season home games, longest active streak in NCAA Division I and nine straight at Madison Square Garden, tied for the second longest stretch in program history.

Pitino, the winningest active coach in NCAA Division I moved into eighth all-time in career victories with his 877^th on Wednesday at DePaul, surpassing Adolph Rupp, who won four national titles at Kentucky. In his 37-year collegiate coaching career, Pitino has guided five different schools to a combined 23 NCAA Tournament appearances and has made seven final four appearances- Providence (1987), Kentucky (1993, 1996, 1997) and Louisville (2005, 2012, 2013). He became the first coach to lead three separate schools to the Final Four and guide two different schools to win a National Championship, guiding title runs at Kentucky in 1996 and Louisville in 2013. The New York native has led his programs to eight 30-win seasons, 12 regular season league titles and 14 conference tournament championships.

The 2013 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee has garnered a plethora of coaching awards. Pitino is a five-time conference coach of the year in three different leagues, won the National Association of Basketball Coaches' (NABC) Coach of the Year and John Wooden National Coach of the Year award in 1987, captured a 2013 ESPY for Best Coach/Manager and many more.

Pitino and the Red Storm will return to a sold-out Madison Square Garden on Sunday when it welcomes RV/RV Connecticut for a noon tip on FOX.

St. John's University Athletics

Rick Pitino Named to Naismith National Coach of the Year Watch List

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