Rick Pitino - Head Coach at St John’s University!!!

Pitino to SJU became possible only after Iona took a chance and he had separated himself from the chaos at Louisville via Greece and Iona. So in a way we can thank his Greek team and the good Irish Fathers up at Iona for clearing the way for us getting RP.

Panther is correct big difference between RP's development of players and Cal's rolling out the basketballs. Plus, wasn't Cal while an assistant at Pitt the guy with the Looie rumors? I read Dana O'Neill's book about the Big East and Looie was absolutely apoplectic with those rumors but I am not sure she said who actually started the rumors.
 
BrookJersey Redmen said:
Pitino to SJU became possible only after Iona took a chance and he had separated himself from the chaos at Louisville via Greece and Iona. So in a way we can thank his Greek team and the good Irish Fathers up at Iona for clearing the way for us getting RP.

Panther is correct big difference between RP's development of players and Cal's rolling out the basketballs. Plus, wasn't Cal while an assistant at Pitt the guy with the Looie rumors? I read Dana O'Neill's book about the Big East and Looie was absolutely apoplectic with those rumors but I am not sure she said who actually started the rumors.
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Cal spewed nonsense about Looie’s health to Bobby Martin camp & landed him as an AC on Pitt staff
 
The question is not whether Calipari or Danny Hurley would be a better hire then Pitino. That is not fair especially because I honestly believe Rick is the best pure coach of his generation.

The question is would those two have been better then the actual hires they ultimately made (plus the fact that Pitino was not a realistic option in 2004 or 2015)? And the answer is unquestionably yes.
 
fordham96 said:
The question is not whether Calipari or Danny Hurley would be a better hire then Pitino. That is not fair especially because I honestly believe Rick is the best pure coach of his generation.

The question is would those two have been better then the actual hires they ultimately made (plus the fact that Pitino was not a realistic option in 2004 or 2015)? And the answer is unquestionably yes.
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No argument there
 
panther2 said:
Please don't compare, or use Calapari's name ib the same sentence as Pitino's. He is not on the same level. Cal recruited pros and let them play. Pitimo recruited players and molded and coach them, into an extremely successful "program".. Wall, Davis, Cousins, were pros before they got to Kentucky. Pitino took good players, Russ Smith, Peyton Siva, Francisco Garcia, Taquan Dean, etc, and built and sustained a formidable program.
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So on the money it is ridiculous!!! A thousand “Likes”…………….
 
panther2 said:
Please don't compare, or use Calapari's name ib the same sentence as Pitino's. He is not on the same level. Cal recruited pros and let them play. Pitimo recruited players and molded and coach them, into an extremely successful "program".. Wall, Davis, Cousins, were pros before they got to Kentucky. Pitino took good players, Russ Smith, Peyton Siva, Francisco Garcia, Taquan Dean, etc, and built and sustained a formidable program.
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I agree there is absolutely no comparison in terms of player development. Pitino turned guys ranked 30-50 into NBA players while Cal won with cant-miss top ten players one year at a time.

In terms of the far-reaching and profound effect they have on a school, though, I think they are both very similar. They both do far more than just coach basketball. They are constantly marketing and adding to the brand. You hire guys like that and they not only take care of basketball, but they help improve everything around it as well.
 
BrookJersey Redmen said:
Pitino to SJU became possible only after Iona took a chance and he had separated himself from the chaos at Louisville via Greece and Iona. So in a way we can thank his Greek team and the good Irish Fathers up at Iona for clearing the way for us getting RP.

Panther is correct big difference between RP's development of players and Cal's rolling out the basketballs. Plus, wasn't Cal while an assistant at Pitt the guy with the Looie rumors? I read Dana O'Neill's book about the Big East and Looie was absolutely apoplectic with those rumors but I am not sure she said who actually started the rumors.
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I disagree. We could have taken the same “chance” as Iona. Pitino was always possible.

I don’t remember any backlash from Iona hiring him. And who cares anyway? The news cycle has never been shorter and there is nothing worse than being irrelevant…that’s far worse than 2-3 weeks of finger-wagging articles and manufactured outrage.
 
Marillac2 said:
I disagree. We could have taken the same “chance” as Iona. Pitino was always possible.

I don’t remember any backlash from Iona hiring him. And who cares anyway? The news cycle has never been shorter and there is nothing worse than being irrelevant…that’s far worse than 2-3 weeks of finger-wagging articles and manufactured outrage.
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Again I would have hired him 4 years ago but it was a bit of risk. I don't think Iona hiring him had anything to do with it.

The two biggest obstacles were: 1)SJU hierarchy in 2019 vs 2023 and 2)Pitino was cleared by the NCAA of any wrongdoing POST-2019.

Hiring of Shanley and the NCAA clearing him were both vital to this hire. Again I would have taken a chance 4 years ago but realistically SJU needed BOTH of those things to make it work.
 
Marillac2 said:
I disagree. We could have taken the same “chance” as Iona. Pitino was always possible.

I don’t remember any backlash from Iona hiring him. And who cares anyway? The news cycle has never been shorter and there is nothing worse than being irrelevant…that’s far worse than 2-3 weeks of finger-wagging articles and manufactured outrage.
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I think before Iona hired him, certain very powerful people at St. John's were against it. After good standing with another local Catholic school worked out fine, it became easier.
 
BrookJersey Redmen said:
I think before Iona hired him, certain very powerful people at St. John's were against it. After good standing with another local Catholic school worked out fine, it became easier.
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Shanley was the X factor in getting this done and achieving internal consensus, a challenging task. The stars lined up for SJ on this one, a rarity for too long. Thx to whoever the Dominican “Capo” was who pushed Father S out at PC.
 
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fordham96 said:
Again I would have hired him 4 years ago but it was a bit of risk. I don't think Iona hiring him had anything to do with it.

The two biggest obstacles were: 1)SJU hierarchy in 2019 vs 2023 and 2)Pitino was cleared by the NCAA of any wrongdoing POST-2019.

Hiring of Shanley and the NCAA clearing him were both vital to this hire. Again I would have taken a chance 4 years ago but realistically SJU needed BOTH of those things to make it work.
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Shanley was a God sent for ST. Johns, in many ways.
 
BrookJersey Redmen said:
I think before Iona hired him, certain very powerful people at St. John's were against it. After good standing with another local Catholic school worked out fine, it became easier.
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Oh, absolutely. I think we’d all agree that the school’s leadership caused this decades-old comedy of errors. It can certainly be argued that they were wholly incapable of making a good hire under any circumstances.

It’s just that when you see a coach like Pitino up close like this it’s almost awe inspiring. Every day he’s promoting the team and the school. He can’t sit still! His energy and passion are infectious.

What if we made him or Cal the highest paid coach in the country after Jarvis? St. John’s was every bit as good as Memphis and Louisville from 1985-2003 and in a better conference. All three are in cities too. We could have stolen either at that time for the top money in the country. The ROI would have been a big positive regardless of what they are paid.
 
fordham96 said:
Oh and one other thing it is well known that Maryland wanted to hire him LAST year. He said no (he really did not want to leave the NY area) and he endorsed them going after Willard (his former assistant).

If he had taken the Maryland job again unlikely he leaves to come to SJU.
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We are super lucky that his priorities shifted over the years and being back home was a huge factor, because Pitino could easily have won multiple national championships at a school like Maryland.
 
L J S A said:
We are super lucky that his priorities shifted over the years and being back home was a huge factor, because Pitino could easily have won multiple national championships at a school like Maryland.
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“Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, "It might have been.” ……Kurt Vonnegut
But Of all the words of mice and men, the most hopeful are, “Coach Pitino is a Redman”,…….. RedmaninAlbany
 
fordham96 said:
Again I would have hired him 4 years ago but it was a bit of risk. I don't think Iona hiring him had anything to do with it.

The two biggest obstacles were: 1)SJU hierarchy in 2019 vs 2023 and 2)Pitino was cleared by the NCAA of any wrongdoing POST-2019.

Hiring of Shanley and the NCAA clearing him were both vital to this hire. Again I would have taken a chance 4 years ago but realistically SJU needed BOTH of those things to make it work.
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More importantly is to now make sure he stays hungry and healthy and squeeze 10 years out of him before retirement.
 
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