St. John's parts way with Mike Anderson, Iona's Rick Pitino expected to be primary option

After being eliminated from the Big East Tournament, St. John’s made the decision to fire head coach Mike Anderson. Now Rick Pitino has emerged as a candidate to replace him.

According to Jon Rothstein, Iona head coach Rick Pitino is the primary candidate to replace Mike Anderson. St. John’s has even spent the last few weeks vetting Pitino for the job. However, as Rothstein pointed out, St. John’s isn’t Pitino’s only suitor. Texas Tech is apparently interested in having Pitino replace Mark Adams.

At 70 years old, Pitino is one of the legendary coaches in college basketball. He’s also a native of New York City, where St. John’s is located.

Rick Pitino is best known for his time coaching at Kentucky, the NBA, and Louisville. However, he was ousted at Louisville due to the 2017 men’s basketball corruption scandal. There, he was fired by Louisville due to his alleged involvement in a pay for play scandal. He would ultimately settle with the university over his termination.

In 2020, Rick Pitino returned to college coaching, when he was hired by Iona. Since then, Iona has won the MAAC regular season twice and the conference tournament once. The Gaels have a conference tournament game on Friday night.