Rick Pitino’s St. John’s Red Storm men’s basketball team fell 78-66 to his former program, the Kentucky Wildcats, on Saturday in Atlanta. Kentucky is now led by Mark Pope, who served as a team captain on Pitino’s 1996 national championship squad.
With the win, Pope evened his head-to-head record against Pitino at 1-1, becoming only the third ex-Pitino mentee to do so, alongside Travis Ford and Steve Masiello. Pitino now holds an 18-5 record against players he previously coached.
Rick Pitino Looks Back With Regret on Decision to Leave Kentucky for Boston
Pitino served as Kentucky’s men’s basketball head coach from 1989 to 1997, when he led the Wildcats to the 1996 NCAA national title. He departed Lexington to become head coach and president of the Boston Celtics from 1997 to 2001. During his NBA journey, Boston had a 102-146 regular-season record and failed to reach the playoffs in each of his four seasons.
This week, Pitino reflected on whether he regretted leaving Kentucky for the Celtics.
“I think if it wasn’t, I was offered about seven or eight pro jobs before the Celtics,” Pitino said. “Obviously I was a Knicks coach, and that’s a dream for me, being a New Yorker. But if, in hindsight, it’s 2020, if I had to do it all over again, I’d probably never leave Kentucky. You know, Dick Vitale, every time I speak to him, he says, ‘If you would have stayed at Kentucky, you’d have more wins than any coach.’
“And you think back on that, but I learned a lot to coach the Boston Celtics. Even if you didn’t do a great job, it’s just too much. You got Red Auerbach, you got Bill Russell on, and so many greats. It was worth the experience, but if I had to do it all over again, if I had a choice to bring back time, I probably would have stayed at Kentucky.”
Pitino initially made the jump to Boston, believing the franchise would land a high draft pick (which turned out to be Tim Duncan) to accelerate a rebuild. When the Celtics missed out on the top selection, he realized the situation was far from ideal. After leaving the NBA in 2001, Pitino returned to college basketball at Louisville, where his tenure ended in 2017 amid major program scandals.
Meanwhile, Pitino’s run at Kentucky is viewed as one of the most successful eras in program history. He took over the Wildcats, recovering from NCAA sanctions, and revived them, leading them to a 219-50 record and three Final Four appearances in his final five seasons.
Pitino has been the head coach at St. John’s since March 20, 2023. The Red Storm currently sit at 8-4 and will face Bellarmine on Tuesday night at Rupp Arena.
