We are still a couple of months away from the tip-off of a new college basketball season, which means that we have plenty of time to start preparing for the action ahead. We will do so via a series of season previews featuring the best players/coaches in the country. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel continues our coverage with new Xavier coach Richard Pitino, who talked about his birthday plans and his expectations for this season.
In the 2014 NIT as coach at Minnesota you won 5 straight games by single-digits en route to winning the title: what did it mean to you to win a title? It feels like a long time ago, but I felt that if we could have some success then we could parlay that into more success. It was fun for the guys to believe in a 30-year-old coach and end up winning a title.
In 2017 you were named conference COY: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? We had a terrific year: it was 1 of the best regular seasons in school history so I was very proud of it. The landscape had changed, and we had brought in some transfers to build around our young core.
In 2022 as coach at New Mexico you started 14-0 including a win over your Hall of Fame father Rick’s Iona team: did it reach a point where the fans expected you to win every time that you stepped onto the court? The momentum was huge: New Mexico has a phenomenal fanbase but had not had that kind of success in a long time. We sold out the Pit and got people around the nation talking about our team.
In the 2024 MWC tourney you won 4 games in 4 days to clinch the title: what is the key to winning games in March? We were squarely on the bubble and just wanted to take the matter into our own hands and leave no doubt. You need to be tough and be smart about substitutions to make sure that everyone is fresh: the tank must be full. It was a testament to a team with a very good culture that stuck together.
Last year your team was top-15 in the nation with both 16.2 fast-break PPG and forcing 15.2 TO/game: what makes your coaching philosophy so effective? Those 2 stats go together: if you turn teams over, then you can get out on the break and go against a non-set defense. We want to be very aggressive and disrupt and gain the advantage of getting out on the break. You must recruit to that, and our guys bought into that: being aggressive without fouling.
Xavier had a history of hiring coaches who had ties to the program, but last March they hired you: why did you take the job, and how is it going so far? I never dreamed of having an opportunity to coach at Xavier. With the shifting of the landscape, I felt that the Big East would be at a competitive advantage because we do not need to share money with football. It is going well: last year everyone broke the bank to create a roster. You try to build the culture: the biggest thing I do is put together a plan and then help everyone implement it.
You had zero returning scholarship players from last year: how difficult was it to build an entirely new roster from scratch? Each team has 14-15 free agents each year. It is not conducive to building the type of championship program we want…but that is the hand we were dealt. When there is a coaching change a lot of players will graduate or move on to another school. We figured out what our budget was and then identified who would fit within that budget.
Today is your birthday: other than chatting with me, any plans for the big day?! I have 3 little kids playing all types of sports so after our practice I will head home to my 2nd job and drive them around to their own practices/games.
Now that you are in the Big East you get to play 2 games each regular season against both your father at St. John’s and your alma mater at Providence: do you feel like you have entered a time warp where you are reliving your adolescence? It is weird. The conference hosts a chat among the coaches…and I remember the 1st time that I saw a group chat with my dad in it! At the end of the day, it does not matter who you are playing: the competitor in you wants to beat whoever you face. I am a Big East kid through and through and have connections to a lot of the schools, which makes it special for me.
What are your goals for the upcoming season, and what are your expectations for the upcoming season? When you take over a program you want to compete for championships and make the NCAA tourney, but it does not happen overnight. Times have changed but you want to build that foundation in Year 1. Xavier is relevant in college basketball and many coaches have won here. We want to compete for a Big East title and be champions in everything we are trying to do because our community deserves a winner.
