Just asking: Is Rick Pitino the best coach in the history of college basketball?
Pitino is rarely, if ever, mentioned in the debate, but this much is true: He wins wherever he goes.
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Is Rick Pitino the best coach in the history of college basketball?
Pitino is rarely mentioned in such a debate in part because his 758 career victories, his .712 winning percentage and even his two NCAA titles (one of which the NCAA “vacated” due to sanctions) fall far short of other contenders.
Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, for example, won 1,202 games with a .766 winning percentage at Duke and Army, while taking home five national titles with the Blue Devils. John Wooden won 10 national championships at UCLA. Bob Knight won 902 games and three titles at Indiana despite coaching only one player who would ever become a NBA all-star (Isiah Thomas).
Meanwhile, Adolph Rupp won 82.2 percent of his games at Kentucky, and in a more modern era, Roy Williams was victorious 77.4 percent of the time at North Carolina and Kansas. There are others.
As such, Pitino rarely finds his name among the greatest of the greats. He wasn’t a college lifer though, entrenched for decades at a single program. Part of this was his NBA dalliances — four seasons (two as head coach) in two stints with the New York Knicks, four more years with the Celtics. And part of it was due to the various scandals that seemed to crop up across the decades, leaving him to be seen with caution by some schools. That meant either re-climbing the coaching ladder or even bouncing him out of the college game (from 2018-2020, for example, he coached in the Greek Professional League and won two titles).
Yet where consistent longevity is costing him in sheer numbers, the job-hopping and rebuilds he constantly produces offers a different résumé point. The guy can coach anyone, anywhere at any time.
The 72-year-old is in his second season with St. John’s. He took over a storied but middling program and is about to lead them to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2019. The Johnnie’s are 27-4 and won the Big East regular season title … by three games.
This will be the sixth different school Pitino has led to the NCAA tournament — the most of any coach in tournament history — joining Boston University (1983), Providence (1987), Kentucky (1991), Louisville (2003) and Iona (2021). It took five seasons as a young coach at BU, but other than that each program he has led made it within two years of being eligible for March Madness.
And while some of the schools have had historic success and great resources, none were in good shape when he arrived. In the season prior, the programs went a combined 76-105 (.419). Kentucky was even saddled with crippling sanctions, including a two-year postseason ban.
That’s Pitino’s career, though, a savior who saves and then, well, sometimes leaves under wild circumstances. His career has been, shall we say, colorful.
It’s seen the highest of highs — a Final Four run with Providence, national titles with Kentucky and Louisville. And it’s seen the lowest of lows — personal and NCAA scandals hung over him, including ending his time at Louisville.
He’s been innovative — his embrace of the 3-point shot with Providence, where guard Billy Donovan would drive and kick out, was decades ahead of its time. He’s been relentless — his teams always play full-throttle defense, often with a full-court press. He’s been resilient — he coached in an era where the NCAA once charged him as an assistant at Hawaii with giving players coupons for free food at McDonalds to today’s open market transfer portal where players could buy their own restaurant.
None of it mattered.
Has whistle; will win.
Always.
What does that count for? Perhaps Coach K could have done the same at six different schools and he certainly shouldn’t be diminished for just churning along at Duke every year. But could Pitino have done that if he just stayed, say, in Lexington? It would seem likely.
Whatever it is, you live your life and run your career. Pitino’s path has been his own making, but at the end of the day the same result inevitably occurs — clipped nets and trophies in cases.
