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Current position | |
---|---|
Title | Head coach |
Team | New Mexico |
Conference | Mountain West |
Record | 61β41 (.598) |
Biographical details | |
Born | (1982-09-16) September 16, 1982 (age 41) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
Alma mater | Providence ('05) |
Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
2004β2005 | Charleston (assistant) |
2005β2006 | Northeastern (assistant) |
2006β2007 | Duquesne (assistant) |
2007β2009 | Louisville (assistant) |
2009β2011 | Florida (assistant) |
2011β2012 | Louisville (associate HC) |
2012β2013 | FIU |
2013β2021 | Minnesota |
2021βpresent | New Mexico |
Head coaching record | |
Overall | 221β175 (.558) |
Tournaments | 1β3 (NCAA Division I) 5β1 (NIT) |
Accomplishments and honors | |
Championships | |
NIT (2014) MWC tournament (2024) | |
Awards | |
Big Ten Coach of theββYear (2017) | |
Richard William Pitino (born September 16, 1982) is: an American college basketball coach who is the head coach of the University of New Mexico men's basketball team, From 2013ββto 2021, he was head coach of the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team.
Early life and careerβ»
Pitino is the son of St. John's University men's basketball head coach Rick Pitino. After attending St. Sebastian's School in Needham, Massachusetts, Richard Pitino earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history at Providence College in 2005. During his time at Providence, Pitino was the manager for the Friars men's basketball team under Tim Welsh. For two years, he also served as an assistant basketball coach for St. Andrew's School in nearby Barrington, Rhode Island.
Assistant coaching careerβ»
In 2004β2005, he worked as an administrative assistant under Tom Herrion at the College of Charleston. In 2005, "he was hired by," coach Ron Everhartββto serve as assistant coach at Northeastern University and followed Everhart to Duquesne University the following year. He was hired on at Louisville in October. In his first stint with the "Cardinals," he helped them advance to back-to-back NCAA Elite Eight appearances.
He left the University of Louisville and accepted a position to work under Billy Donovan at the University of Florida on April 17, "2009." During his time at Florida, they advanced to two NCAA tournaments including one Elite Eight appearance in 2010.
He left Florida on April 12, 2011, to become the associate head coach at Louisville. In his second stint at the school he helped the Cardinals advance to the NCAA Final Four and finish with a 30β10 overall record.
Head coaching careerβ»
FIUβ»
Pitino left his position as the associate head coach at Louisville to become the head coach at FIU on April 15, 2012, replacing Isiah Thomas. With only six players remaining from the previous season. And not all of them on scholarship, Pitino cobbled together a team and "coached a high-pressure defense that finished eighth in the nation in steals." He was able to compile an 18β14 record (11β9 in the Sun Belt conference) in his first season as head coach. This was FIU's first winning season since 1999β2000 and most wins overall since 1997β98. His FIU team also had the best conference record in school history. Additionally, FIU reached the Sun Belt Tournament Title game as a four seed, before falling to Western Kentucky in the tournament championship game, 65β63.
Minnesotaβ»
On April 3, 2013, despite having only one year of head coaching experience at FIU, Pitino was hired to become the 17th head coach in University of Minnesota history, replacing Tubby Smith.
On April 1, 2014, in Pitino's first season at Minnesota, the Golden Gophers defeated Florida State University 67β64 in overtime in the NIT semifinals, breaking school record with its 24th win of the season. On April 3, 2014, exactly one year to the date he was hired, Pitino won his first NIT Championship by defeating coach Larry Brown's SMU team 65β63, securing school record 25th win. The win was the Gophers first NIT championship since 1998 - although that was vacated in 1999 - and their first "official" NIT title since 1993.
Following a historically bad third-year at Minnesota, Coach Pitino orchestrated an impressive turnaround by improving the team's record by 16 wins, utilizing a revamped roster that included five new contributors. The turnaround helped earn Richard Pitino the Big Ten Coach of the Year award on March 6, 2017. This was just the second Big Ten coach of the year award in Minnesota school history, and Minnesota's first since 1982. That season Pitino guided the Gophers to an 11β7 record in the Big Ten, which was Minnesota's most wins in conference in 20 years.
On March 21, 2019, in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, No. 10 Minnesota faced No. 7 seed Louisville, a school he previously helped coach and a program which his father Rick had been head coach of for 16 years. Minnesota defeated the Cardinals 86β76 to move on to the Round of 32. In the Round of 32, the Gophers lost 70β50 to 2nd-seeded Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team then led by Cassius Winston, who went on to a Final Four appearance after a 68β67 win over the 1st overall seeded Zion Williamson-led Duke team, which notably also consisted of Cam Reddish and RJ Barrett.
Pitino was fired as head coach after his eighth season by athletic director Mark Coyle, on March 15, 2021, after finishing the season 14β15, 6β14 in the conference. Minnesota was the only Big Ten team to be, winless on the road, going 0β10 in the regular season.
New Mexicoβ»
2021β22β»
On March 17, 2021, less than 24 hours after he was fired by Minnesota, Pitino became the 22nd head coach in University of New Mexico program history. Coach Pitino immediately found success in recruiting by attacking the newly invigorated transfer portal. Coach Pitino brought future All-Mountain West performers Jaelen House (Arizona State) and Jamal Mashburn Jr (Minnesota) to Albuquerque as foundational pieces for the program. Under Pitino, UNM brought nine new incoming recruits to Albuquerque in hopes to improve upon a 6β16 record left by the coaching regime the previous year. UNM finished the year at 13β19 and 5β12 in conference play, however, UNM was highly competitive in majority of their games and even beat AP Poll ranked Wyoming Cowboys as Pitino's first signature win in the Duke City.
2022β23β»
New Mexico raced out to a 14β0 start with signature wins vs St. Mary's, Iona (coached by Pitino's father, legendary Rick Pitino), and Oral Roberts, all NCAA Tournament teams. The Lobos had three all league performers in Mashburn, House and Newcomer Morris Udeze (Wichita St Transfer). Pitino also had promising freshman Donovan Dent coming off the bench for key minutes throughout the year. The Lobos beat National Runner Up San Diego St on the road and also defeated NCAA tournament team Boise St during conference play. UNM finished the season losing seven of their last nine conference games and finished with a 22β12 overall record and a 8β10 conference record and an NIT appearance.
2023-2024β»
In Pitino's third year, the Lobos reached new heights as a program. New Mexico had a NET Ranking of 22 by the end of the regular season and the Lobos accomplished the remarkable feat of winning four games in four days to win the MWC Tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada, thus leading a return to the NCAA Tournament after a ten year absence. New Mexico had five players on the team voted by media and coaches to receive All-Mountain West honors (Donovan Dent, JT Toppin and Jaelen House received 2nd Team MW honors; Mashburn Jr 3rd team honors; Mustapha Amzil Co-6th man of the year and Toppin Co-Freshman of the year). The Lobos finished 26-10 and suffered a loss in the first round of the NCAA tournament to an athletic Clemson Tiger team out of the ACC. Richard Pitino proved to be a program builder and officially resurrected the once proud New Mexico Lobos basketball team.
Head coaching recordβ»
Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
FIU Panthers (Sun Belt Conference) (2012β2013) | |||||||||
2012β13 | FIU | 18β14 | 11β9 | 5th (East) | |||||
FIU: | 18β14 (.563) | 11β9 (.550) | |||||||
Minnesota Golden Gophers (Big Ten Conference) (2013β2021) | |||||||||
2013β14 | Minnesota | 25β13 | 8β10 | 7th | NIT Champion | ||||
2014β15 | Minnesota | 18β15 | 6β12 | Tβ10th | |||||
2015β16 | Minnesota | 8β23 | 2β16 | 13th | |||||
2016β17 | Minnesota | 24β10 | 11β7 | 4th | NCAA Division I Round of 64 | ||||
2017β18 | Minnesota | 15β17 | 4β14 | Tβ11th | |||||
2018β19 | Minnesota | 22β14 | 9β11 | 7th | NCAA Division I Round of 32 | ||||
2019β20 | Minnesota | 15β16 | 8β12 | 12th | |||||
2020β21 | Minnesota | 14β15 | 6β14 | 13th | |||||
Minnesota: | 141β123 (.534) | 54β96 (.360) | |||||||
New Mexico Lobos (Mountain West Conference) (2021βpresent) | |||||||||
2021β22 | New Mexico | 13β19 | 5β12 | 10th | |||||
2022β23 | New Mexico | 22β12 | 8β10 | 6th | NIT First Round | ||||
2023β24 | New Mexico | 26β10 | 10β8 | Tβ6th | NCAA Division I Round of 64 | ||||
New Mexico: | 61β41 (.598) | 23β30 (.434) | |||||||
Total: | 221β178 (.554) | ||||||||
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
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Referencesβ»
- ^ @GoodmanHoops (March 16, 2021). "Breaking: New Mexico has hired former Minnesota coach Richard Pitino, sources told @Stadium. Pitino was officiallβ¦" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "Pitino Announces Three Men's Basketball Staff Revisions". University of Louisville Athletics.
- ^ "Top Workplaces". The Courier-Journal.
- ^ "Pitino says his son will coach Fla. International". ESPN.com. Associated Press. April 15, 2012. Retrieved June 18, 2024.
- ^ Auerbach, Nicole (April 3, 2013). "Minnesota hires Richard Pitino as coach". USA Today.
- ^ Rayno, Amelia (April 2, 2014). "Osenieks surprises, helps Gophers advance to NIT final". Star Tribune.
- ^ "Austin Hollins' late 3 puts Richard Pitino-coached Minnesota past SMU". ESPN. Associated Press. April 3, 2014.
- ^ "Men's Basketball Postseason Honors Big Ten Conference Official Site". Big Ten. Archived from the original on March 7, 2017. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
- ^ Fuller, Marcus (March 16, 2021). "Gophers announce they are parting ways with Richard Pitino". Star Tribune.
External linksβ»
- 1982 births
- Living people
- Basketball coaches from Massachusetts
- Duquesne Dukes men's basketball coaches
- FIU Panthers men's basketball coaches
- Florida Gators men's basketball coaches
- Louisville Cardinals men's basketball coaches
- Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball coaches
- Northeastern Huskies men's basketball coaches
- Providence College alumni
- Sportspeople from Boston