Anytime that Rick Pitino and Richard Pitino go head-to-head against each other as father and son, it’s a national storyline.
That’s once again the case on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. ET inside the Cintas Center, when No. 25 St. John’s travels to Xavier. But there’s an extra layer to it this time around, as the elder Pitino is chasing career win No. 900 against his son, a feat that would put him in sole possession of fourth place among Division I men’s basketball coaches for all-time wins.
‘I think he will do everything humanly possible to stop it,’ Rick Pitino said following the Red Storm’s 65-60 win over Seton Hall on Tuesday, Jan. 20. ‘… This is going to be a lot of fun. Great game. If we lose, I’ll leave my team in Cincinnati.’
Saturday’s game marks the first time the father-son duo will go head-to-head against each other in the Big East, after Richard Pitino was hired to lead the Musketeers this past offseason following Sean Miller leaving for Texas and the SEC. It’s the fifth overall time in their careers that they will go head-to-head.
In true father-son fashion, Richard Pitino had some fun on X (formerly Twitter) with his dad’s milestone ahead of his media availability on Friday, Jan. 23.
‘Can’t believe I’m going for my 258th win vs. my dad. What are the odds???’ Richard Pitino wrote on X on Jan. 23.
Here’s what to know about Rick Pitino’s coaching career, and the head-to-head history of the father-son duo:
Where is Rick Pitino coaching now?
Rick Pitino is in his third season at St. John’s, ‘New York’s basketball team.’ He was hired by the Johnnies in March 2023 following a three-year stint at Iona, which served as his unofficial reinsertion into college basketball after a brief stint away from it following his exit at Louisville.
Last season, Pitino led St. John’s to one of the program’s best seasons since the Lou Carnesecca era in Queens, as the Red Storm finished with a 31-5 overall record, won their first Big East tournament title since 2000 and grabbed a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Rick Pitino coaching career
Here’s a stop-by-stop breakdown of Rick Pitino’s coaching career, which includes multiple college basketball programs and NBA organizations:
Head coach position unless noted otherwise
1974-1976: Hawaii (assistant)
1976-1978: Syracuse (assistant)
1978-1983: Boston University
1983-1985: New York Knicks (assistant coach) *
1985-1987: Providence
1987-1989: New York Knicks *
1989-1997: Kentucky
1997-2001: Boston Celtics *
2001-2017: Louisville
2018-2020: Panathinaikos **
2020-2023: Iona
2023-Present: St. John’s
* Denotes NBA job
** Denotes EuroLeague job
Rich Pitino coaching record
Career record: 889-316
NCAA Tournament record: 55-22
Final Four appearances: 1987, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2005, 2012*, 2013*
National championships: 1996, 2013*
* Denotes vacated by NCAA
Rick Pitino holds an 899-316 overall record across his 38 seasons as a Division I men’s basketball head coach, including a 65-23 record in three seasons at St. John’s.
The 73-year-old coach made history last season when St. John’s earned the No. 2 seed in the West Region of the NCAA Tournament, as he became the first Division I men’s basketball coach to take six different schools — the others being Boston University, Providence, Kentucky, Louisville and Iona — to March Madness.
He’s won two NCAA Tournaments in his coaching career, though his second one at Louisville was vacated by the NCAA. His first national championship came in 1996 at Kentucky.
Pitino’s 2013 NCAA Tournament ring being vacated is a major reason why he’s coaching at St. John’s today. The ex-Louisville head coach was fired for cause by the Cardinals after an FBI investigation was prompted by Adidas paying recruits to go to Louisville. Pitino, who in 2020 said he deserved to be fired at Louisville after years of saying the opposite, was charged by the NCAA with a Level II violation in 2020, citing him for ‘failing to promote an atmosphere of compliance’ during his tenure at the University of Louisville.
This was one of two scandals that the NCAA looked into during Pitino’s time with the Cardinals; the first was a sex scandal that emerged in 2015.
What is Rick Pitino’s record vs. son Richard Pitino?
Saturday’s matchup between Xavier and St. John’s will be the fifth iteration of the Pitino rivalry, with Rick holding a 3-1 lead in the all-time series.
The first head-to-head matchup between the father-son duo came in 2012, when Rick was at Louisville and Richard was at Florida International University, in which the elder Pitino’s fifth-ranked Cardinals won 79-55. The two then met two years later in 2014 during Richard’s second season at Minnesota; that game also went to Louisville.
Richard Pitino’s lone win against his father came in Rick’s final season at Iona in 2022, when New Mexico defeated the Gaels 82-77 down in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at The Pit.
The most recent Pitino clash came last season at Madison Square Garden. St. John’s RJ Luis Jr. led the Red Storm to an 85-71 win at ‘The World’s Most Famous Arena’ over Richard’s Lobos, scoring 21 points on 8-of-18 shooting and grabbing 11 rebounds.
‘It is what it is. It comes with the territory,’ Richard Pitino said during his Jan. 23 media availability. ‘There’s a lot of amazing things that come with being his son, and there’s every now-and-then 2% is a little bit annoying, but the other 98% is phenomenal.’
Here’s a game-by-game breakdown of the Pitino vs. Pitino rivarly:
2012: Louisville 79, FIU 55 (Rick Pitino leads 1-0)
2014: Louisville 81, Minnesota 68 (Rick Pitino leads 2-0)
2022: New Mexico 82, Iona 74 (Rick Pitino leads 2-1)
2024: St. John’s 85, New Mexico 71 (Rick Pitino leads 3-1)
The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.