Rick Pitino’s return to big-time college basketball is complete.
The 70-year-old Hall of Fame coach is reportedly taking over at St. John’s, six seasons after his controversial ouster at Louisville due to the program’s involvement in the FBI investigation into college basketball recruiting. Pitino’s deal is for six years, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Pete Thamel, though he said over the weekend he hopes to coach potentially for up to 12 years.
Pitino’s return to a big-time job has seemed like an inevitability since the NCAA’s IARP largely cleared him of wrongdoing in that scandal, and that return will now come at a program in desperate need of a shot in the arm after just two NCAA tournament appearances (and no wins) in the last decade. But how quickly can Pitino resurrect the St. John’s program? And how far can the legendary coach take the Red Storm?
