Richard William Pitino (born September 16, 1982) is an American college basketball coach. He is currently the head coach of the

New Mexico Lobos men's basketball The New Mexico Lobos men's basketball team represents the University of New Mexico, competing in the Mountain West Conference (MWC) in NCAA Division I. The university established basketball as a varsity sport in 1899 and began competing with reg ...

team. From 2013 to 2021, he was

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

of the University of

Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball The Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team represents the University of Minnesota in NCAA Division I college basketball competition. The Golden Gophers competes in the Big Ten Conference and play their home games at the Williams Arena. ...

team. He is the son of Iona head coach

Rick Pitino Richard Andrew Pitino (born September 18, 1952) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach for Iona College. He was also the head coach of Greece's senior national team. He has been the head coach of several teams in NCAA ...

. After attending St. Sebastian's School in Needham, Massachusetts, Richard Pitino earned a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree in

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

at Providence College in 2005. During his time at Providence, Pitino was the manager for the Friars men's basketball team under Tim Welsh. For two years, he also served as an assistant basketball coach for Saint Andrew's School in nearby

Barrington, Rhode Island Barrington is a suburban, residential town in Bristol County, Rhode Island located approximately southeast of Providence. It was founded by Congregationalist separatists from Swansea, Massachusetts and incorporated in 1717. Barrington was ced ...

Assistant coaching career

In 2004–2005, he worked as an administrative assistant under Tom Herrion at the

College of Charleston The College of Charleston (CofC or Charleston) is a public university in Charleston, South Carolina. Founded in 1770 and chartered in 1785, it is the oldest university in South Carolina, the 13th oldest institution of higher learning in the Unit ...

. In 2005, he was hired by coach

Ron Everhart Ronald Cochran Everhart (born January 11, 1962) is an American college basketball coach who is currently an assistant coach at West Virginia University. Born in Fairmont, West Virginia, he was previously head coach at Duquesne University, Nor ...

to serve as assistant coach at Northeastern University and followed Everhart to

Duquesne University Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit ( or ; Duquesne University or Duquesne) is a private Catholic research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded by members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit , image = Holy Gh ...

the following year. He was hired on at

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

in October. In his first stint with the Cardinals, he helped them advance to back-to-back NCAA Elite Eight appearances. He left the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one o ...

and accepted a position to work under Billy Donovan at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

on April 17, 2009. During his time at Florida, they advanced to two NCAA tournaments including one Elite Eight appearance in 2010. He left

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

on April 12, 2011, to become the associate head coach at

. In his second stint at the school he helped the Cardinals advance to the NCAA Final Four and finish with a 30–10 overall record.

Head coaching career

FIU

Pitino left his position as the associate head coach at Louisville to become the head coach at FIU on April 15, 2012, replacing Isiah Thomas. With only six players remaining from the previous season, and not all of them on scholarship, Pitino cobbled together a team and coached a high-pressure defense that finished eighth in the nation in steals. He was able to compile an 18–14 record (11–9 in the Sun Belt conference) in his first season as head coach. This was FIU's first winning season since 1999–2000 and most wins overall since 1997–98. His FIU team also had the best conference record in school history. Additionally, FIU reached the Sun Belt Tournament Title game as a four seed, before falling to

Western Kentucky Western Kentucky is the western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It generally includes part or all of several more widely recognized regions of the state. ;Always included * The Jackson Purchase, the state's westernmost generally recogniz ...

in the tournament championship game, 65–63.

Minnesota

On April 3, 2013, despite having only one year of head coaching experience at FIU, Pitino was hired to become the 17th head coach in

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

history, replacing

Tubby Smith Orlando Henry "Tubby" Smith (born June 30, 1951) is an American college basketball coach. He was the men's basketball coach at High Point University, his alma mater. Smith previously served in the same role at the University of Tulsa, the Univer ...

. On April 1, 2014, in Pitino's first season at Minnesota, the Golden Gophers defeated Florida State University 67–64 in overtime in the NIT semifinals, breaking a school record with its 24th win of the season. On April 3, 2014, exactly one year to the date he was hired, Pitino won his first NIT Championship by defeating coach Larry Brown's SMU team 65–63, securing a school record 25th win. The win was the Gophers first NIT championship since 1998 - although that was vacated in 1999 - and their first "official" NIT title since 1993. Following a historically bad third-year at Minnesota, Coach Pitino orchestrated an impressive turnaround by improving the team's record by 16 wins, utilizing a revamped roster that included five new contributors. The turnaround helped earn Richard Pitino the Big Ten Coach of the Year award on March 6, 2017. This was just the second Big Ten coach of the year award in Minnesota school history, and Minnesota's first since 1982. That season Pitino guided the Gophers to an 11–7 record in the Big Ten, which was Minnesota's most wins in conference in 20 years. On March 21, 2019, in the first round of the

2019 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 2019 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 68 teams to determine the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's college basketball national champion for the 2018–19 seas ...

, No. 10 Minnesota faced No. 7 seed Louisville, a school he previously helped coach and a program which his father Rick had been head coach of for 16 years. Minnesota defeated the Cardinals 86–76 to move on to the Round of 32. In the Round of 32, the Gophers lost to #2 Michigan State 70–50. Pitino was fired as head coach after his eighth season by athletic director

Mark Coyle Mark Coyle (born 1969) is the 23rd Athletics director, director of athletics at the University of Minnesota, replacing Norwood Teague. He resigned as the athletics director at Syracuse University in May 2016 after spending only 11 months with the ...

, on March 15, 2021, after finishing the season 14–15, 6–14 in the conference. They were the only Big Ten team who went winless on the road, going 0–10 in the regular season.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Minnesota profile

Duquesne profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitino, Richard 1982 births Living people Basketball coaches from Massachusetts Duquesne Dukes men's basketball coaches FIU Panthers men's basketball coaches Florida Gators men's basketball coaches Louisville Cardinals men's basketball coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball coaches Northeastern Huskies men's basketball coaches Providence College alumni Sportspeople from Boston