Xavier basketball hires New Mexico coach Richard Pitino, son of Rick Pitino
(This story was updated with new information)
There's another Pitino in the Big East.
Xavier men's basketball announced the hiring of New Mexico coach Richard Pitino as the school's next coach of the Musketeers on Tuesday.
Richard Pitino, who is the son of St. John's coach Rick Pitino, will replace Sean Miller in Cincinnati after Miller left Xavier for Texas on Sunday after three seasons at the school. Miller was formerly introduced at Texas on Tuesday.
"We are excited to welcome Richard Pitino as our new men's basketball head coach," said Xavier athletic director Greg Christopher said in a statement. "He has proven himself as a winner as a head coach at New Mexico and has an impressive resume of success before that as a head coach at Minnesota. His success as an assistant stood out, especially his time working for his father, Rick Pitino, at Louisville and Billy Donovan at Florida."
The 42-year-old Pitino went 88-49 in his four seasons with New Mexico, including appearances in the NCAA Tournament the past two seasons. The Lobos won the Mountain West regular-season title this past season and conference tournament in 2023.
Prior to his time at New Mexico, Richard Pitino spent eight seasons (2013-2021) in the Big Ten at Minnesota, where he led the Golden Gophers to a 141-123 overall record. In his eight seasons at Minnesota, the Golden Gophers made two NCAA Tournament appearances under Richard Pitino. He was fired after the 2020-21 season after Minnesota finished with back-to-back losing seasons.
Next year's two regular-season games between Xavier and St. John's won’t be the first time that the father-son duo will coach against each other. Back in November, New Mexico and St. John's met at Madison Square Garden in New York City for a non-conference matchup, which the elder Hall of Famer Pitino emerged victorious. Rick Pitino is 3-1 against Richard Pitino, per ESPN.
Xavier is coming off a 22-11 overall season under Miller this past year, which finished with an appearance in the NCAA Tournament and a First Four win against Texas.
"Xavier is one of the great brands in all of college basketball. It has always been a dream of mine to coach in the Big East," Pitino said.
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