Big East basketball media day is set for Tuesday, and Xavier will have a new coach answering questions. Richard Pitino is the new head coach for Xavier, and will be leading the program into the 2025-26 campaign. He will be answering more than the normal questions at media day this year though.
Richard Pitino will be answering questions about his dad, Rick Pitino. Rick is the head coach of St. John's basketball, who is also in the Big East conference. Now, the father and son duo will both be at Big East Media Day answering questions on Tuesday.
“PTSD of the time I didn’t make my bed,” said the younger Pitino on X in regards to his father's motivation of the St. John's team.
There is sure to be more of those anecdotes about his dad during his debut at Big East Media Day. While the coach will surely be focused on his team, there will be questions coming about facing his dad. The two will face as conferece foes for the first time this year, as St. John's visits Xavier on January 24th. This will not be the first time the two have faced.
It will be the fifth meeting between the father and son. The elder Pitino owns a 3-1 record over his son, winning twice as the Louisville coach, and then again just last season when St. John's defeated New Mexico. New Mexico did defeat Iona when the elder Pitino was coaching there, for the only win of son over father.
Richard Pitino will hope to continue his success from New Mexico at Xavier. His time at Minnesota led to one NIT Championship and just two NCAA Tournament berths in eight years. He then led New Mexico to an NIT berth, a conference title, and two NCAA Tournaments berths in just four years with the Lobos.
Meanwhile, his dad has coached at seven different programs, winning 761 games, after seeing 123 wins vacated. He has won the NCAA tournament twice, plus 16 conference tournaments. To add too it, he took the New York Knicks to the conference semi-finals and won a Greek Cup with Panathinakios.
Now, the son will face his legendary father twice this upcoming season. Hopefully, he does not end up with PTSD like the time he forgot to make his bed.
