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Rick Pitino Named The AP's National Coach of the Year After Quick Turnaround At St. John's

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Basketball

St. John's men's basketball Head Coach Rick Pitino was named the 2025 Associated Press (AP) National Coach of the Year in San Antonio.

Pitino will be recognized alongside co-recipient Bruce Pearl of Auburn at a press conference held at the Alamodome, the site of the 2025 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Final Four. The award presentation will begin today at 12:45 p.m. ET.

For the first time in the 58-year history of the AP National Coach of the Year award there was a tie in voting as Pitino and Pearl will both receive the accolade. The Johnnies lead man becomes the first coach in St. John's history to earn the honor and just the sixth in the history of the BIG EAST. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer joins Marquette's Shaka Smart (2023), Notre Dame's Mike Brey (2011), Syracuse's Jim Boeheim (2010), Pittsburgh's Ben Howland (2002) and Connecticut's Jim Calhoun (1990) as the league's representatives in an elite fraternity.

A New York native, Pitino, in just his second season in Queens, captivated the Big Apple by bringing the Red Storm back to a championship-winning pedigree. The Johnnies won both the BIG EAST Regular Season and Tournament titles and matched a program record for victories, finishing with a 31-5 overall record. St. John's won 20 of its 21 contests from Jan. 4 to March 20 and earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, its highest in 25 years.

In BIG EAST play, St. John's tied a conference record with 18 regular season league wins, matching last year's Connecticut squad. The Red Storm recorded a plus-10.0 scoring margin in conference contests and claimed its first regular season title in 40 years, three games ahead of second place Creighton. The Johnnies concluded the regular season slate with a 27-4 mark, losing the four contests by a combined seven points.

Heading into the BIG EAST Tournament as the top-seed for the first time since 1986, St. John's dominated at Madison Square Garden winning all three games by 16 points or more defeating Butler, Marquette and Creighton as Pitino brought the BIG EAST Tournament trophy back to Queens for the first time since 2000. The Red Storm finished the season with a 21-0 overall record in New York City and went undefeated at home for the first time since the 1931-32 season.

After earning the BIG EAST's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, Pitino became the first-ever coach to bring six different NCAA Division I programs to the Big Dance by making his 24th appearance. He guided the Johnnies to a 30-point win over Omaha in their First Round matchup, marking St. John's first NCAA Tournament win since 2000.

Pitino developed three players into All-BIG EAST selections in RJ Luis Jr., Kadary Richmond and Zuby Ejiofor. Luis was named to all four major All-America teams and became St. John's first BIG EAST Player of the Year since Walter Berry in 1986.

In addition to the AP National Coach of the Year award, Pitino was named the U.S. Basketball Writers' Association National Coach of the Year and he is a finalist for the Naismith National Coach of the Year award. For the first time in his career, Pitino earned BIG EAST Coach of the Year honors, joining Dana Altman as the only coach to win a conference coach of the year award in four different leagues.