St. John's coach Rick Pitino endorses salary cap for college basketball

In the throes of the stretch run of the college basketball season, St. John’s Coach Rick Pitino is making his case for czar of the troubled college sports industry.

A few days after calling for the NCAA enforcement staff to be disbanded, the two-time national title-winning coach says it is time for a salary cap in high-major college basketball.

In basketball, Pitino posted on X, Power Five and Big East conference commissioners need to unite and create a salary cap between $1.5 and $2 million.

“All contracts delivered to the league and school offices,” wrote Pitino, who won the 1996 national championship at Kentucky and the 2013 title with Louisville. “All other conferences establish their own salary cap. I would never exclude anyone from the NCAA tournament. Obviously, football is a different sport entirely and some of their talent makes more than NFL players.”

Legal experts have told On3 there is nothing wrong with a salary cap in big-time college sports under one condition: The cap and other terms need to be collectively bargained with athletes.

Where college sports finds itself early in 2024 is clear.

There are two ways for the NCAA to stave off a growing mountain of legal threats: It could secure its long-sought Congressional lifeline to afford it limited antitrust protection and codify that athletes are not employees of their universities, leagues or the NCAA.

Or, it could allow athletes to collectively bargain terms with schools, leagues or the NCAA. Athletes need to be deemed employees in order to unionize. And the wheels are in motion on numerous fronts to make that happen, the most recent being Monday’s ruling by a National Labor Relations Board regional director that Dartmouth men’s basketball players are employees of their college. Dartmouth is expected to seek a review of the decision.

Pitino has navigated multiple college basketball eras

Nearly four decades ago, Pitino was part of an entity of disruption as a young coach at Providence as the original Big East distinguished itself with its playing style, larger-than-life coaching figures and championship-level teams. The Big East catapulted the popularity of college basketball throughout the 1980s, with a strong assist from ESPN.

Pitino, who has had his share of off-court issues, navigated vastly different eras of the sport. Once, the majority of players stayed for four years. Then the best left early for the NBA in the 1990s. Then for a period of time the best went straight from preps to the pros. And then came the one-and-done era. 

Now, Pitino, 71, is assessing an era defined by NIL potential, the perpetual churn of the transfer portal and unprecedented disruption throughout college athletics. During a chaotic time when many stakeholders are merely cursing the uncertainty, here is one of the game’s most recognizable coaching faces weighing in on the industry’s most significant issues with proposed solutions.

With more to come …

“More solutions to follow in the coming days,” Pitino promised.