Coach deflects from Storm of intrigue
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Rick Pitino didn’t say he was interested in the vacant St. John’s job, but he didn’t say he wasn’t.
Amid reports linking the two parties after St. John’s fired coach Mike Anderson on Friday, Pitino was asked Saturday night about his interest in the Queens school.
“My interest lies with my team. I’m very thankful to Iona University,” the 70-year-old Pitino said after his Gaels punched their NCAA Tournament ticket with a commanding 76-55 victory over Marist in the MAAC Tournament title game at Boardwalk Hall.
Pitino speculated the rumors have surfaced because he and current St. John’s president Rev. Brian Shanley both worked in the past at Providence College.
“But you have to understand one thing: The biggest factor in my life is winning,” Pitino said. “More so than the Big East, more so than anything. Winning is the most important thing in my life. In two years in league play, we are 35-6 — 35-6. … If I ever moved, I’d have to have a firm belief that the job I take, wherever it may be, can win like Iona, and I’m not sure there are [many] of those out there.”
When asked if St. John’s was capable of winning like that, Pitino responded: “I haven’t thought about it yet, because all I’m thinking about is getting these guys to where they want to go.”
When Shanley was Providence president, he nearly hired Pitino to return to coach the Friars 12 years ago, before choosing Ed Cooley after Pitino stayed at Louisville, according to sources. Pitino was originally head coach of the Friars from 1985-87.
Texas Tech has also expressed serious interest in hiring Pitino, spurces said, after former coach
Mark Adams’ resigned following his suspension for making a racially insensitive remark. Pitino doesn’t have a buyout, meaning it wouldn’t cost his next school anything if he does in fact leave Iona.
Pitino and Iona president Seamus Carey haven’t discussed the possibility of him leaving, according to Carey, but the MAAC school won’t be blindsided if he opts to go elsewhere.
“We’re aware he might go,” Carey told The Post.