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Nobody really knows how much longer Rick Pitino will coach.
Even himself, at the age of 72.
The Hall of Fame coach has said as long as he has his health, he doesn’t plan to stop.
His new athletic director, Ed Kull, has seen that passion up close.
“His enthusiasm, his passion, is as high as ever. His energy level is remarkable and it’s contagious, in terms of what it means not only for the players, for the staff and our administrators and our supporters,” Kull said over Zoom this week. “He’s as focused as I can imagine him being, and his energy is so incredible in terms of his attention to detail. We talk about the practice facility, we talk a lot about seating in the arena, we talk a lot about what other schools have when we’re on the road, different things and initiatives they have or bells and whistles they’ve added to their campus or facility.”
He doesn’t seem to have lost anything off his fastball.
Pitino has St. John’s off to its best start, at 17-3 overall, since the 1998-99 season.
The Johnnies, who defeated Xavier 79-71 in overtime on Wednesday night are all alone atop the Big East, having won eight of their nine league games.
Returning players, RJ Luis and Zuby Ejiofor, have taken major leaps under Pitino’s leadership and transfers Kadary Richmond (Seton Hall), Aaron Scott (North Texas) and Deivon Smith (Utah) have made a significant impact.
“He’s as locked in, as focused, as I could ask for,” Kull said. “He talks a lot about being here for a while and seeing the projects, whether that be the practice facility or renovations for the arena, through. I have the utmost [confidence] he’s going to go as long as he wants. He’s in tremendous condition.”
The two haven’t discussed Pitino’s contract, which has three years remaining on it after this season.
But Pitino doesn’t talk like someone with an end date in mind.
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He regularly speaks about bringing St. John’s fans back, of establishing a winning culture and making the program matter again on a national level.
Back in October, Pitino recounted how unhappy he was in retirement, the year between when he was fired at Louisville in October of 2017 and started coaching again in Greece with Panathinaikos.
“If you have something that’s very stimulating to go into retirement it’s not a bad thing, but for somebody who’s coached as long as I have, I can’t live without teaching young players to play the game,” he said then. “My perspective on it all, I took a year off and I didn’t enjoy it.”
“I missed it too much,” Pitino added. “I got a chance to recognize what it would be like without it, and I didn’t like it too much.”
He seems to be enjoying his latest coaching stop in Queens.
St. John’s is in position to reach the main draw of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in a decade and Pitino is looking to win a tournament game with his fourth different school.
He would also become the first coach to take six different programs to the tournament.
