Sources: St. John’s intends to rent Rick Pitino as head basketball coach

St. John’s has one aim in thoughts now: Complete a cope with Rick Pitino to be the Red Storm’s subsequent head coach.

Sources near this system inform FOX Sports that the college plans to finalize a cope with the Hall of Famer within the coming days. It has been reported that Pitino has a mutual curiosity in taking on the Red Storm.

Pitino’s Iona Gaels concluded their season with an 87-63 loss to UConn on Friday within the first spherical of the NCAA Tournament. 

Pitino, 70, is the one coach in faculty basketball historical past to guide three applications — Providence, Kentucky and Louisville — to the Final Four, and has received 711 video games in his teaching profession. He received nationwide championship in 1996 (Kentucky) and 2013 (Louisville, which was later vacated).

For St. John’s college president Brian Shanley and athletic director Mike Cragg, this teaching search is about turning the Red Storm again right into a related drive in faculty basketball, sources inform FOX Sports. The program missed 4 straight NCAA Tournaments beneath Mike Anderson and has not received a sport within the huge dance in 23 years.

For Pitino, who lives at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y., the prospect of teaching St. John’s means he doesn’t have to maneuver, with the course being roughly 23 miles from the St. John’s University campus.

The transfer again to Queens offers him the chance to step foot again within the Big East Conference, the place he was from 1985-87 whereas at Providence, then from 2005-13 whereas at Louisville.

For a St. John’s program that has spent a number of years off the nationwide map in faculty basketball, this transfer to accumulate Pitino, who’s not tied all the way down to NCAA investigation or menace of sanctions, indicators a transparent want to win by the Red Storm and to return to relevance in New York City.

John Fanta is a nationwide faculty basketball broadcaster and author for FOX Sports. He covers the game in a wide range of capacities, from calling video games on FS1 to serving as lead host on the BIG EAST Digital Network to offering commentary on The Field of 68 Media Network. Follow him on Twitter @John_Fanta.

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