The Xavier Musketeers have made the largest profile hire of their program with the hiring of Richard Pitino from New Mexico State. Obviously the son of legendary coach Rick Pitino, the Musketeers are hoping to bring some of the same magic that he brought to the Lobos this NCAA Tournament.
Xavier as a program has had moments of great success and Elite Eights, and also down years here and there, but they are a fairly sustainable program. Miller’s second tenure started off on fire with a Sweet Sixteen appearance, but after reaching the Tournament yet again, the Texas job was too enticing for him.
The Musketeers, unlike other programs, immediately took care of business and made a big-time hire with a proven and successful coach. A bit on the younger side of head coaching at 42 years of age, Pitino still has had success with an NIT Championship in 2014, a Big Ten Coach of the Year season in 2017, and solid success in the Mountain West with New Mexico.
Now that Xavier has established who will lead the way in the future, what do the next few years look like for the Musketeers with Pitino at the helm?
As we have no choice but to begin with first, NIL is immediately factored in with this hire. Getting a brand name like Pitino will bring newfound support to the program from alumni who may not have been giving to the program previously. Especially given his father’s success with fellow Big East team St. John’s, Xavier is looking to recreate a situation similar to what the Red Storm had last season.
Richard Pitino is not Rick Pitino, at least not yet, the younger Pitino has still shown the ability to maximize programs and similarly build rosters. And now the way to go about that is the transfer portal, which is an area Xavier is looking to take a major step in with this hire. Sean Miller was able to bring in some solid transfer talents during his time with the Musketeers, but Pitino with his brand and name should have an easier time working the portal.
What is clear for Xavier is that they are looking to steer their program in an entirely new direction, with this hire being the first without any ties to the school since Thad Matta became head coach in 2001. This also comes with Xavier basically needing to rebuild their entire roster, Trey Green, Cam Fletcher, Dailyn Swain, Josh Hugley IV, and Ryan Conwell have all entered the transfer portal. The Musketeers also had seven total players run out of eligibility, so this team will look very different.
The obvious next move for Pitino is to reunite himself with his former point guard Donovan Dent, the Mountain West Player of the Year. But even if they can acquire him, there is still the whole rest of the roster left to build. Even with Pitino at the helm, the next focus for Xavier needs to be raising NIL funding, and using this swing for the fences hire to establish an already solid brand in Cincinnati. What effectively was the Zach Freemantle era ended with their coach leaving the day the transfer portal opened, but the Musketeers had to adapt quickly, and they did so.
So with this hire, there should be no double this team will continue to mold themselves to the constantly changing world of college basketball. The hope is that Pitino has plenty of momentum as a coach that he will bring to Xavier after a weak year for the Big East Conference. The hope is that this will help bring them closer to the usual contenders of UConn, Creighton, Marquette, and now St. John’s.
There may be some growing pains in year one given the roster reconstruction, but a situation like this is what you bring in Pitino for. The Musketeers have an interesting road ahead of them this offseason, but at the very least, they have put themselves in a position to move this program forward, not backward after Miller’s departure.