“Richard loves his alma mater but he is totally devoted to building back Xavier basketball to national prominence!” Rick Pitino, the St. John’s coach, told NJ Advance Media. NJ Advance Media broke the news Wednesday that Providence will part ways with head coach Kim English following the season. English is 47-50 in nearly three full seasons at the Big East school that Rick Pitino took to a Final Four in 1987.
Richard Pitino has been linked to the Providence job because of his connections, but said himself this week that he’s not going anywhere. Xavier is currently 14-16, 6-13 in the Big East. “I promise you I will never leave after a 14- or 15-win season because that’s not my intent at all,” Richard Pitino, who has also coached at Florida Atlantic, Minnesota and New Mexico, said before his team lost to Seton Hall, 77-68, on Tuesday.
“You know, I appreciate greatly what Xavier has given me. Will I say I’m never going to leave? I have no idea…what I can tell you, what I really, really, really pride myself in is building a championship program.”