Rick Pitino is nearly midway through the six-year contract he signed in 2023 to become the head coach at St. John’s.
He recently expressed his desire to reach 1,000 career wins, which would likely require coaching at least three more seasons after this one.
But when he was asked about the possibility of coaching beyond his current deal, which runs through the 2028-29 season, Pitino said he plans to reassess his future at St. John’s much sooner than that.
“I said to everybody when I took the job, been on record, that I’m going to give it three great years at St. John’s, see if we can turn the thing around, build it, and then after three years, make a decision. [Does] the future have upward mobility?” Pitino told CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein in an interview released this week.
“I’m going to make my decision after this year to see, ‘Can I keep it going at this level with the intensity and passion I have?’ If I can, then it would be great. I’d love to coach three to five more years if I could.”
Pitino, 73, has indeed turned St. John’s around. Last year, he led the program to its first outright Big East regular season championship since 1985 and to its first conference tournament title since 2000.
No. 22 St. John’s entered Friday night’s marquee matchup with No. 3 UConn at Madison Square Garden on an eight-game winning streak and was second in the Big East standings.
St. John’s Athletic Director Ed Kull has made it clear the program wants to keep Pitino, including telling NJ Advance Media in October that he is willing “to go fundraise more money and chase more dollars” if that’s what it takes.
When CBS asked what he needs to see from St. John’s as he considers his future, Pitino replied, “I don’t think it’s necessarily St. John’s. It’s where I think the Big East is.”
“Can I get the program legitimately as a top-10 program?” Pitino said. “Those are things I have to look at more than anything else. But I’m very happy at St. John’s. I love competing at Madison Square Garden. There’s nothing negative about St. John’s. It’s just about where I’m at in my lifetime.”
Pitino, who last month became the fourth Division I coach with 900 on-court victories, often says the biggest challenge of the NCAA’s NIL and transfer portal era is having to coach numerous new players every year.
The Red Storm returned only one starter in Zuby Ejiofor this season. They are set to lose at least four starters next season, as Ejiofor, Bryce Hopkins, Dillon Mitchell and Oziyah Sellers are each in their final year of eligibility.
But Pitino does expect several rotation players to return, including 6-11 sophomore Ruben Prey, who is behind Ejiofor on the depth chart.
“He deserves to start here,” Pitino said of Prey. “I think that Joson [Sanon] has a great future here. I think Ian [Jackson] has his head in other places and [is] trying to make the pros. That was the intention, and we wish him nothing but the best. He’s a terrific young man. And, certainly, Dylan Darling’s going to come back.”
