The last week has been nothing short of a whirlwind at Xavier, who made the NCAA Tournament as one of the last teams in, won at the First Four, then saw head coach Sean Miller poached away by Texas. The Musketeers didn’t waste time finding their next leader, bringing Richard Pitino back to the Big East after his recent success with New Mexico.
A native of Boston and the son of longtime head coach Rick Pitino, the younger Pitino graduated from Providence in the mid 2000’s and has spent more than two decades in collegiate coaching. He had several assistant coaching jobs, notably working for his father in multiple stints at Louisville as well as under Billy Donovan at Florida.
Pitino’s first head coaching opportunity came in 2012 at FIU and his lone season with the Panthers was a great success, rebuilding a program that had bottomed out under Isiah Thomas. That lone season raised his profile enough for Minnesota to offer him their head coaching gig.
His first shot at power conference hoops wasn’t the best, but those eight years in Minneapolis had some good moments. He won the NIT in his first season with the Golden Gophers and made a pair of trips to the Big Dance, winning an NCAA Tournament game in 2019. The Golden Gophers chose a new direction for their program in 2021.
Pitino wasn’t down for long and he’s bounced back nicely since taking the New Mexico job a few weeks later. After a rebuilding effort in his first season, he’s won at least 20 games in the next three years, earning an NIT bid in year two followed by consecutive trips to the Big Dance. His Lobos won the MWC Tournament in 2024 before claiming the regular season title and a first-round upset win over Marquette this year.
Now, Pitino bounces back to the East Coast, joining a Xavier program that’s had relative success in recent years. These Musketeers were just in the NCAA Tournament after all and held their own in a strong Big East. Ironically, he joins the conference that his father Rick just won with St. John’s this season, as both father and son will helm Big East programs in the years to come.
What’s even more interesting here is that this is Xavier’s first outside hire in a long time. You have to go all the way back to Thad Matta in 2001 to find the last Xavier head coach who wasn’t a former Musketeer player or assistant, though that hire certainly worked well for all involved. Pitino has his work cut out for him in a Big East that’s much stronger than the MWC, but he’s shown these last few seasons that he’s reason for another big job like this.
On the other side, New Mexico is thrown into their own head coaching hunt just a few days after the program’s first NCAA Tournament win in more than a decade. Many if not all of the pieces from that success likely transfer and the next leader has his work cut out for him. Who should the Lobos consider as Pitino’s successor and can they recapture that magic and continue competing for MWC titles?