Rick Pitino and Bruce Pearl shared a tie for the 2025 AP Coach of the Year honors. In 58 years of voting, this marks the first time voting occurred in a tie. Both Pitino and Pearl earned the AP COY honors for the first time in their respective careers.
After narrowly missing the NCAA Tournament in 2024, Rick Pitino led the Red Storm to a 31-win season, their highest single-season win total since the late Lou Carnesecca era in the mid-1980s.
Bruce Pearl is back in the Final Four for the first time since 2019. He’s led the Tigers to the program’s two deepest runs in the NCAA Tournament. Yet the postseason run is far from complete for the Tigers, who will square off against Florida in the Final Four on Saturday evening.
For Pitino and Pearl -- who have amassed 1,467 combined victories together -- earning AP Coach of the Year honors not only marks a prestigious accomplishment for their success this season, but it signals a testament to the long and winding road both coaches have taken.
While Pearl and Pitino may coach nearly 1,000 miles away, their connection, admiration and level of respect for each other runs deep.
“The best coach I have ever gone up against is Rick Pitino,” said Pearl. “To have earned coach Pitino’s respect would be one of my greatest achievements as a basketball coach.”
“I didn’t know then that that young coach would become one the greatest coaches in the history of the game at any level,” said Pearl. “I tried to emulate so many things about the way coach Pitino coached, the way he loved his players, the way he built a staff, the way he won everywhere he had been.”
Bruce Pearl and Rick Pitino jump-started their coaching journeys in Massachusetts 45 years ago. Pearl, a Boston native, served as a student manager for the Eagles during his college days at Boston College under Tom Davis. During Pearl’s time at Boston College, Pitino served as the head coach at Boston University, three miles east of the Chestnut Hill campus.
Pearl would follow Tom Davis from Stanford to Iowa as an assistant coach before landing his first head-coaching gig: NCAA Division 2 Southern Indiana (now D1). He won the national championship in just his third season. After nine seasons in Evansville, Pearl climbed up the D1 ranks: Milwaukee to Tennessee to now Auburn.
But for Pearl, this achievement is not a reflection of his personal success. It’s a reflection of the hard work and diligent effort of his staff that has paved the way for his team’s success.
“If you want to judge me, judge me by the men and women I surround myself with, judge me by my staff,” said Pearl.“This (award) is ours. Without question.”
Pitino’s journey to St. John’s has been anything but conventional. From interim head coach at Hawaii to the New York Knicks to coaching arch-rivals in the Bluegrass state -- Kentucky and Louisville -- to even coaching across the Atlantic Ocean in Europe, the HOF coach has seen it all, with many stops in between. These stops have equipped Pitino to adjust to the transfer portal, even at 72 years old.
Put simply, Pitino shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. His enthusiasm, dedication and drive haven’t wavered since his young coaching days.
“I remember being a manager at Boston College (and) this young Italian kid would be sneaking to practice or coming and watching Tom Davis’ game, even when they weren’t on the schedule because he was a sponge,” said Pearl.
While the landscape has changed from 40+ years ago, that same sponge-like drive is what is keeping Pitino’s historic career moving.
Pitino will not be recruiting a single freshman player on next year’s roster. All of next year’s incoming recruits will hail from the transfer portal. So far, the Red Storm have landed two key transfers: Providence's Bryce Hopkins and Arizona State’s Joson Sanon. Expect the Red Storm to keep swinging.
While the Red Storm have made splashes in the early portal cycle, Pitino is more motivated than ever to continue to have success in the NCAA Tournament.
“I've lost in the first round to Morehead State and been blessed enough to go to seven Final Fours,” said Pitino. “It’s all about matchups....Now we got to take the next step.”
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