Cooley, Pitino find new homes in the Big East
Pitino returns to New York while Cooley leaves his ‘dream job’
NEW YORK — Rick Pitino is back in the Big East Conference.
St. John’s hired the Hall of Fame coach Monday to boost a storied program that’s been mired in mediocrity for much of this century.
The school announced the move on Twitter, and Pitino is expected to be formally introduced during a news conference Tuesday at Madison Square Garden.
Following a successful run at nearby mid-major Iona, the 70-year-old Pitino was plucked away to replace Mike Anderson, fired on March 10 after four seasons in charge of the Red Storm without making the NCAA Tournament.
Reports quickly surfaced that indicated St. John’s planned to target Pitino, who grew up on Long Island not far from the school’s Queens campus in New York City.
Pitino has been to seven Final Fours and won a pair of NCAA championships, one each at Kentucky (1996) and Louisville (2013).
He was dismissed at Louisville in 2017 after an FBI investigation into college basketball corruption led to allegations of NCAA violations. It was the third scandal, professional and personal, in an eight-year period with the Cardinals — but Pitino was eventually exonerated in the FBIrelated case.
Now, he’s tasked with invigorating a Red Storm squad that hasn’t won an NCAA Tournament game — or even reached the Big East semifinals — since 2000. The school has made only three NCAA appearances over the past two decades, the most recent coming in 2019 under Chris Mullin.
The Red Storm went 18-15 during a turbulent 2022-23 season, including 7-13 in Big East play to finish eighth in the conference standings. Pitino has a .740 winning percentage in 34 full seasons as a college basketball coach. He has guided five schools to the NCAA Tournament, including Boston University (1983) and Iona (2021, 2023).
After two years coaching in Greece, he got the job at Iona — a small, private Catholic school located in New Rochelle, just north of New York City.
Pitino went 64-22 in three years with the Gaels, guiding them to two regular-season titles in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances.
PROVIDENCE: Ed Cooley is the new men’s basketball coach at Georgetown, hired away from Big East rival Providence in the hopes of rebuilding a once-proud program that dropped to new lows under former star player Patrick Ewing.
Georgetown announced the move on Monday, after Providence issued a news release saying that Cooley had resigned.
“I plan on hitting the ground running, getting to work on the court and cultivating relationships in and around the District,” Cooley said in a statement released by his new employer. “Accepting this opportunity with Georgetown is not a decision I took lightly.”
He leaves the Friars with a 242-153 record after 12 years and seven March Madness appearances with a total of three wins in the tournament; the highlight was a trip to the Sweet 16 in 2022. His team went 21-12 this season, closing with four consecutive losses, including in the first round of the Big East Tournament against Connecticut and the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Kentucky.
Cooley’s name was linked to the Georgetown job even as Providence’s season was still in progress, and so he was asked after the 61-53 defeat against Kentucky on Friday whether he would be returning.
When a follow-up query came about whether there was a chance that was his last game with the Friars, Cooley avoided a direct answer.
“There’s all kinds of rumors and speculation, and I know you guys are trying to do your job. I get it,” said Cooley, whose daughter is a student at Georgetown. “But after a game like this, I just think it’s fair to talk about our players. I think it’s fair to talk about the game.”
The Hoyas will be the 53-year-old Cooley’s third school as a college head coach; before Providence, he was at Fairfield for five seasons. He is the first Georgetown head coach in about a half-century without a direct tie to the late John Thompson Jr., who took the job in 1972, was in charge of the team when Ewing was a player, then was succeeded by assistant Craig Esherick.
Ewing was fired on March 9 after going 75-109 in six seasons, 13-50 over the past two.