Less than an hour after Chris Mack announced he would return to Charleston, CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein announced that Xavier will hire Richard Pitino Jr. as its next head coach.
Pitino, 42, has posted an 88-49 record over the last four seasons in turning New Mexico into one of the top programs in the Mountain West.
Richard Pitino: Five things to know about the new coach of Xavier basketball
Reactions: Richard Pitino is Xavier’s new head coach, replacing Sean Miller
The Lobos finished 27-8 this season and beat Marquette in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to No. 2 Michigan State Sunday night in Cleveland. New Mexico won the Mountain West tournament in 2024 and were regular season champions this year.
FOLLOW THE MADNESS: NCAA men’s tournament bracket, scores, schedules, teams and more.
“We are excited to welcome Richard Pitino as our new men’s basketball head coach. He has proven himself as a winner as a head coach at New Mexico and has an impressive resume of success before that as a head coach at Minnesota,” Xavier Vice President and Director of Athletics Greg Christopher said in a statement from the school. “His success as an assistant stood out, especially his time working for his father Rick Pitino, at Louisville and Billy Donovan at Florida.
“We had tremendous interest in our head coaching position. It became clear that Richard was the right fit for Xavier to take us to championship success in the Big East and NCAA Tournament.”
Pitino had an eight-year run as the head coach at Minnesota from 2013-2021. He posted a record of 141-123 with the Golden Gophers with a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances and an NIT title in 2014. Minnesota parted ways with Pitino after a 14-15 record during 2020-2021 campaign.
“Xavier is one of the great brands in all of college basketball,” Pitino said in a press release. “It has always been a dream of mine to coach in the Big East. The Cintas Center is going to be rocking. I can’t wait to get to work.”
Pitino began his head-coaching career at Florida International, going 18-14 in 2013.
Pitino will join the Big East alongside his father, Hall-of-Famer and St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino, who just let St. John’s to Big East regular season and conference tournament titles before a second-round exit in the NCAA Tournament.
Pitino twice served on his father’s staff at Louisville, first from 2007-2009 as an assistant for a pair of Elite Eight runs, then in 2012 as the associated head coach for a run to the Final Four.
In between stints at Louisville, Pitino was an assistant coach at Florida from 2009-2011. He also has assistant coaching stops at Duquesne, Northeastern and the College of Charleston.
