The St. John’s Red Storm will start their 2026 Massive East Match journey after they face the rival Providence Friars at midday ET on Thursday.
Main as much as that showdown, an enormous replace concerning the working relationship between St. John’s and legendary head coach Rick Pitino emerged.
St. John’s desires to lock Rick Pitino down earlier than NCAA Match?
On Wednesday night time, Roger Rubin of Newsday and Adam Zagoria of NJ Advance Media confirmed that St. John’s has supplied Pitino a restructured contract that will make the 73-year-old the second-highest paid coach within the Massive East behind solely Dan Hurley of the Connecticut Huskies.
When he accepted the St. John’s job in 2023, Pitino suggested that he was “going to present it three nice years at St. John’s, see if we are able to flip the factor round, construct it, after which after three years, decide of, does the longer term have upward mobility.” Since that point, the Johnnies have claimed the Massive East regular-season and match championships for the 2024-25 season.
Final weekend, St. John’s turned outright Massive East regular-season champions in back-to-back seasons for the primary time in program historical past. The Purple Storm are coming into the Massive East Match with an total report of 25-6 (18-2 in convention play).
How lengthy might Rick Pitino preserve teaching?
In keeping with Rubin, St. John’s plans to transform the three remaining years of Pitino’s present contract. One supply advised Rubin that St. John’s desires “to be sure that [Pitino] finishes his profession” with the college.
“Sure [they made an offer], however I haven’t signed it or seen it,” Pitino advised Zagoria by way of a textual content message. Whereas Pitino appears to be specializing in his workforce’s upcoming video games, Rubin shared that the contract “could possibly be finalized within the coming days.”
Final spring, the Purple Storm suffered a disappointing 75-66 loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks within the second spherical of the NCAA Match. If the Johnnies are in a position to maintain serve at Madison Sq. Backyard by way of this week, they may as soon as once more be seen as favorites to go on a noteworthy run within the upcoming Massive Dance.
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