Richard Pitino ’05 has entered the chat
Richard Pitino ’05 has entered the chat
By Brendan McGair ’03
As he prepares for his first season as basketball coach at Xavier University, Richard Pitino ’05 is getting accustomed to facets of running a BIG EAST program — such as the text message group chat featuring the league’s head coaches.
It includes Providence’s Kim English, UConn’s Dan Hurley, Georgetown’s Ed Cooley, and of course, his father, Rick Pitino, the former PC coach now at St. John’s.
Whenever Dan Leibovitz, BIG EAST senior associate commissioner, messages the group, “it’s a surreal moment,” Richard Pitino said.
“To see Ed Cooley say, ‘Thanks,’ and Dan Hurley say, ‘OK,’ and then my dad says, ‘Thanks, Dan’ … Oh my God, my dad is in the group chat that I’m part of. To see his name pop up as one of the 11 coaches, that’s still a little bit weird,” Pitino said.
Pitino was named head coach at Xavier on March 25, 2025, after guiding the University of New Mexico to a conference title, a 27-8 overall record, and being honored as Mountain West Coach of the Year. As cameras flashed at his introductory press conference in Cincinnati, he was struck by how familiar it all seemed. It reminded him of his days as an assistant for Friar men’s basketball during his junior and senior years at PC.
“Oh my God, I’m back at Providence College right now,” Pitino thought. “It’s all come full circle, being at Xavier.”
BIG EAST fans can’t help but feel that all is right in the college basketball universe. A storyline involving the son of a Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame coach squaring off against his father and against his alma mater in a conference already rife with rivalries is almost too good to be true.
But beneath the hoopla lies the story of how Richard Pitino was determined to forge his own path in basketball without relying on the doors that could potentially open with the name “Pitino.” He was only 4 years old in 1987 when his father led the Friars to the NCAA Final Four before becoming coach for the New York Knicks, University of Kentucky, Boston Celtics, and University of Louisville.
Richard Pitino, who attended high school and played basketball at St. Sebastian School in Needham, Massachusetts, while his father coached the Celtics, chose to attend PC knowing that he would not be able to play basketball there.
“I knew I wasn’t going to play at the highest level … maybe Division II or Division III,” Pitino said. “Providence College pulled at the heartstrings, for sure. It just felt right, and a lot of that had to do with the amazing memories that my family has of Providence. That certainly impacted my decision to go there.”
During his first two years at PC, where he majored in history, Pitino commuted to St. Andrew’s School in Barrington, Rhode Island, to serve as a volunteer coach for the basketball program. He arranged his class schedule so that he could make the 20-minute drive from campus to the prep school for early-morning workouts. Then he would return to Providence, attend class, and hustle back to St. Andrew’s to complete his apprenticeship responsibilities.
In taking those steps, he made it clear that he fully intended to enter the family business.
St. Andrew’s head coach Mike Hart counts Pitino’s father as a close friend. At some point, Rick Pitino let Hart know that Richard was heading to PC and was interested in coaching.
“Work him hard. Have him do all the grunt work,” Rick Pitino told Hart.
Pitino’s willingness to perform all the menial tasks — washing uniforms, sweeping the court, breaking down film — earned him high marks at St. Andrew’s, which won 50 games during his two years on the staff.
“I did a little bit of everything. No job was too big or too small,” said Pitino. “With those volunteer spots, what you put into it is what you get out of it.”
“From Day 1, I knew he had talent. Even with his last name, he had a work ethic to make it at the level he sought to reach,” said Hart. “He comes in as an 18-year-old college kid, and I have 18-year-old seniors who he played against the previous year at St. Sebastian’s. The St. Andrew’s players loved him and instantly respected him.”
Midway through Pitino’s time in college, he touched base with Tim Welsh, PC’s men’s basketball coach from 1998-2008 and now an analyst for ESPN and NBC. Welsh suggested Pitino join the Providence staff in the role of a graduate assistant, even though he was still an undergrad.
“It was an opportunity for me to jumpstart my career even more,” recalled Pitino. He was on the staff when PC reached the NCAA Tournament in 2004. The following year, he was there when Ryan Gomes ’05 became the program’s all-time leading scorer.
“I learned a lot and was part of a great program, but it also helped me skip that step of having to go to grad school somewhere else to get the experience. It was really beneficial,” said Pitino. “I was fortunate that Coach Welsh allowed me to be a part of it.”
For Welsh, the decision was obvious.
“Richard was very close with Ryan Gomes and very good with working him out,” said Welsh. “Basketball-wise, he was mature beyond his years. When you grow up in a household around one of the greatest coaches of all time, as long as you pay attention, you’re going to have that passion. He did and still does. I’m so happy for his success.”
After PC, Pitino was finding his way, making stops as an assistant coach at the College of Charleston, Northeastern University, and Duquesne University. Then came a master class in the art of coaching courtesy of sitting on the same bench as his father at the University of Louisville, which at the time competed in the BIG EAST.
“That stint made me much more prepared than I thought I would ever be,” said Pitino, who was at Louisville from 2007-2009.
Still, he yearned for more. He went to the University of Florida to absorb lessons from head coach Billy Donovan ’87, a key member of his father’s Final Four team who had coached the Gators to back-to-back NCAA titles in 2006 and 2007.
“That was as impactful a decision as I have ever made in my life,” said Pitino. “I thought it would take me out of my comfort zone and that’s exactly what it did. If I hadn’t made that decision, I’m not sure I’d be sitting here today at this level professionally. If I hadn’t left Louisville to branch out and work elsewhere, I wouldn’t have been as competent or confident going into the head coaching jobs that I’ve been fortunate to have.”
After a brief stint back at Louisville, Pitino became a head coach for the first time at Florida International University in 2012, succeeding Isaiah Thomas. After just a year there, he was hired by the University of Minnesota, where he spent eight seasons before going to New Mexico in 2021.
The 2025-2026 college basketball season will mark his 14th as a head coach. His career has run the typical emotional gamut. He was named the 2017 Big Ten Coach of the Year at Minnesota and reached the NCAA Tournament four times. He’s been pursued for jobs, yet he’s also been asked to leave. All the while, he remembers the advice of his father.
“One thing about my dad is that he’s always had an unwavering confidence throughout storms,” Pitino said. “To him, confidence means more than anything. It’s so very important. He’s always had an unbelievable belief in what he does. I’ve seen it and tried to model my approach based on what he’s done.”
He remembers his father being apprehensive of his plan to follow him into basketball.
“It’s a profession that’s going to take you to a lot of places. You have to be mentally tough because you’re going to experience a lot of highs and lows,” Richard Pitino said.
A coaching career can be difficult on a family. Pitino and his wife, Jill, are the parents of three children, who in short order went from living in New Mexico to Ohio. Even in a cutthroat industry, Pitino makes every effort to be present in the lives of his kids. It ranks up there with game-planning for the next opponent on the schedule.
“Our generation of coaches is different from my dad’s generation. If there’s one thing that my generation values, it’s being more present and making time to pick your kids from school or drop them off,” said Pitino.
Pitino’s debut with Xavier at the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence is scheduled for February 24, 2026. He is no stranger to being the visiting coach there. In 2017, he brought Minnesota to Providence and came away with an 86-74 win.
“I was wondering if the fans were going to be nice to me because I’m an alum,” said Pitino. “They weren’t very nice to me when I got there, but fortunately, we got the win, which is certainly all that I cared about.”
It will be another return-to-sender moment for someone who appreciates that his alma mater set him on an accelerated path to coaching.
“I love Providence College. It molded me. It shaped me. It’s a place that’s very near and dear to my heart,” Pitino said. “I know people have come to identify me with my dad and maybe a little bit with Billy Donovan, but my couple of years working for the basketball team at Providence College and working for Coach Hart at St. Andrew’s shaped me more than anything.”
