NEW YORK — It would be hard to understate how monumental a moment it was on Tuesday afternoon for St. John’s basketball. Hall-of-Fame coach Rick Pitino stood inside Madison Square Garden for the first time as the man in charge of the Red Storm men’s basketball team and promised to put the program back on the map.
Pitino was formally introduced as the head coach of the St. John’s men’s basketball team during a press conference at The World’s Most Famous Arena. The legendary college coach was hired on Monday in a move that put weeks of speculation to rest surrounding Pitino and the Jonnies’ interest in one another.
The hire is one that St. John’s fans and alumni alike have been dreaming of and one they hope will return the program to national relevancy after some lean years for the team. Their trips to the NCAA Tournament have been few and far between in recent years, with their last trip coming in 2019 and ending in a loss in the First Four round.
“Today for me, this is one of the most special moments in my life,” Pitino said. “Now I get to represent something really, really special. And it’s not about when or if, it’s going to happen for St. John’s. It’s going to happen in a big way. But the first thing you have to do is you have to build a culture. Not only a culture of great basketball, exciting basketball, but a culture of academic excellence, a culture of treating everybody with great respect. A work ethic second to none. Giving every ounce of perspiration you have in you for the name on the front, St John’s.”
Pitino spoke a lot about the culture and building a program that helps players excel on and off the court. However, the players that are there next season may look different.
The new head coach said they’d have to bring in six to eight new guys and that he didn’t expect a lot of the players to be back from last season. Joel Soriano will be the team captain next year, but it’s unclear who else will remain.
“A lot of players probably won’t be back on his team, because it probably not a good fit for me,” Pitino said. “With me, I think my players love playing for me. … But it takes a certain type of basketball player to want to play for me. He’s got to be a total, over-the-top in love with the game of basketball. And if you’re not just a bad fit with me, it doesn’t work.
“There’ll be a lot of players that will move on to, I hope, greener pastures. Joel’s the type of person that I want to build around and that’s why I asked him to come today.”
Soriano was the lone player in attendance during Tuesday’s event.
Also on hand was legendary St. John’s coach Lou Carnesecca, who Pitino mentioned on several occasions as someone he greatly admired. Carnesecca, who is the Johnnies winningest coach in program history with a 526-200 record, fully endorsed Pitino’s hire after the press conference ended.
“Great, great coach. Wonderful. I think it’s coming at the right time. We need an injection and he’ll give that, and he has that great desire,” Carnesecca said.
That was certainly noticeable during Tuesday’s event. Pitino on more than one occasion indicated that St. John’s return to college basketball dominance was on its way.
“St. John’s is one of the legendary names in all of college basketball,” Pitino said. “Has it fallen on tough times? Yes, it has. But now we’re ready to fall on great times. We’re ready to raise it up. Raise this roof up ’cause St. John’s is going to be back, I guarantee that.”
