Rick Pitino has in mind when to end succession planning.
his son, Richard;
The first-year St. John’s coach was asked about the possibility of his son, who is currently the head coach at New Mexico and took the DePaul position this offseason, but in typical Pitino fashion he took a detour.
“Personally, I want him to stay in New Mexico. I want him to stay in New Mexico until I leave St. John’s, so he can take my place.” said Pitino after the Johnnys defeated DePaul 85-57 on Tuesday night at UBS Arena.
Additionally, the Hall of Fame coach added: I did that when he was my assistant coach. he is his own man. So if he wants to go to DePaul or somewhere else, that’s his decision.”
Richard, 41, is having a great year in New Mexico.
The Lobos are ranked No. 25 in the nation and are a team scheduled to make the NCAA Tournament.
New Mexico State won 22 games and reached the NIT last year in Richard’s third season as head coach.
He previously served as head coach at Minnesota for eight seasons and worked for his father at Louisville from 2007-2009 and 2011-12.
“Most fathers would brag about their sons, but I like to brag about my assistant coaches,” the older Pitino said. “Richard was responsible for one of the Final Fours. Without him, we wouldn’t have gotten there. Richard is one of the smartest players in the game today.
“He’s a great coach and has great communication skills.”
Tuesday’s game was the second of three games played at UBS Arena in St. John’s.
There was a light audience of 6,035 people.
The Johnnys’ first game at Islanders Arena was a nonconference game against Hofstra. 7,486 people gathered.
“I think the bobblehead totally confused this crowd. They were protesting that bobblehead,” Pitino said jokingly about the gift of his portrait. “Look, Mike Cragg is a great athletic director, he’s really great. This is my fault. He just misread things.
“Oh, I didn’t know about Carnesecca.” [Arena] It was still a strong home court. B, I thought there would be 13,000 or 14,000 people. I thought it would be a good Long Island crowd. This is a really good place.This is the lowest team [we’re facing]. It’s not that they don’t want to support us. I’m not blaming the fans. ”
St. John’s third and final game at UBS Arena will be on Feb. 18 against Seton Hall.
