The St. John’s Red Storm will start their 2026 Large East Match journey after they face the rival Providence Friars at midday ET on Thursday.
Main as much as that showdown, an enormous replace relating to the working relationship between St. John’s and legendary head coach Rick Pitino emerged.
St. John’s needs to lock Rick Pitino down earlier than NCAA Match?
On Wednesday night time, Roger Rubin of Newsday and Adam Zagoria of NJ Advance Media confirmed that St. John’s has supplied Pitino a restructured contract that might make the 73-year-old the second-highest paid coach within the Large East behind solely Dan Hurley of the Connecticut Huskies.
When he accepted the St. John’s job in 2023, Pitino suggested that he was “going to offer it three nice years at St. John’s, see if we will flip the factor round, construct it, after which after three years, decide of, does the longer term have upward mobility.” Since that point, the Johnnies have claimed the Large East regular-season and match championships for the 2024-25 season.
Final weekend, St. John’s turned outright Large East regular-season champions in back-to-back seasons for the primary time in program historical past. The Crimson Storm are getting into the Large East Match with an general document of 25-6 (18-2 in convention play).
How lengthy may Rick Pitino hold teaching?
In keeping with Rubin, St. John’s plans to remodel the three remaining years of Pitino’s present contract. One supply informed Rubin that St. John’s needs “to guarantee that [Pitino] finishes his profession” with the college.
“Sure [they made an offer], however I haven’t signed it or seen it,” Pitino informed Zagoria by way of a textual content message. Whereas Pitino appears to be specializing in his staff’s upcoming video games, Rubin shared that the contract “might be finalized within the coming days.”
Final spring, the Crimson Storm suffered a disappointing 75-66 loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks within the second spherical of the NCAA Match. If the Johnnies are capable of maintain serve at Madison Sq. Backyard via this week, they might as soon as once more be seen as favorites to go on a noteworthy run within the upcoming Large Dance.
