There wasn’t any place Rick Pitino would rather have been on Saturday night than Madison Square Garden, coaching for St. John’s, the program he resurrected in his hometown, the Big East Tournament championship on the line, against a future Hall of Fame coach like Dan Hurley and a UConn team with national championship ambitions.
“He loves it,” Mike Pitino, the oldest son, told The Post. “He is so competitive that he loves it, and that’s why I don’t think he’ll ever retire is just because he’s extremely competitive and he can’t sit still, so I can’t imagine him in retirement.”
Mike Pitino, 48, was watching his father reach for a historic back-to-back Big East tournament championship triumph along with his mother, brothers Ryan and Richard, and sister Jacqueline. Brother Christopher had his flight canceled out of Tampa.
“Last year was pretty special because I know that St. John’s had such a long drought from the Big East championship, both regular season and tournament, so that was really special,” Mike Pitino said.