St. John's HC Rick Pitino Eyes 900th Win Against Son Richard in Xavier Showdown

At present, St. John's head coach Rick Pitino is credited with 899 wins at the collegiate level. Who's the person standing in the way of No. 900? That would be his son, Richard Pitino, the head coach of St. John's next opponent, the Xavier Musketeers.

"I think he [Richard Pitino] will do everything humanely possible to stop it," Pitino joked after the Red Storm got a 65-60 win over the Seton Hall Pirates on Tuesday night in his postgame press conference. "The amazing thing about it — I really don't think too much about number of wins — but the amazing thing to me when [special advisor] Kenny Klein told me about four games ago, he said ‘If you kept winning, you could have your 900th win against your son.’ I said, 'What's the chances of that happening, that you coach 900 games [over] 50 years and your 900th win is against your son?' So, I think that's a big treat for me and the family.

"Either way, we know we're going to have a difficult game against them [Xavier] because of their style of play. He's a doing a fabulous job. This is going to be a lot of fun [and] a great game. If we lose, I'll leave my team in Cincinnati."

The father and son have faced off against each other as head coaches four times, with the elder Pitino 3-1 in the all-time matchups. Rick's Louisville Cardinals got the best of Richard's Florida International Panthers in 2012 and his Minnesota Golden Gophers in 2014. Then, Richard Pitino's New Mexico Lobos defeated Rick Pitino's Iona Gaels in 2022, with the elder Pitino's Red Storm beating the Lobos in 2024.

Xavier hosts St. John's on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET.

After defeating Seton Hall in Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night, St. John's is 14-5 overall and 7-1 in Big East play this season, good for second in the conference. The Red Storm previously had three then-ranked out-of-conference losses to Alabama, Iowa State and Auburn; St. John's also lost to Kentucky.

As for Xavier, the Musketeers are 11-7 overall and 3-4 in Big East play in what's their first season under Pitino, good for sixth in the conference. Pitino was previously the head coach at New Mexico from the 2021-22 season to the 2024-25 season, highlighted by back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament and winning 2024-25 Mountain West Coach of the Year honors.

Meanwhile, Minnesota made the NCAA Tournament twice over Pitino's eight-season stint (2013-14 to 2020-21), with him earning 2016-17 Big Ten Coach of the Year honors.

As for St. John's, it's the seventh head-coaching stop in Rick Pitino's collegiate coaching career (Hawai'i, Boston University, Providence, Kentucky, Louisville, Iona and St. John's) and is in its third season under the Hall of Fame coach. The Red Storm, who were a No. 2 seed in last season's NCAA Tournament, are a combined 65-23 under Pitino.