Background
He is the son of Louisville"s head coach, Rick Pitino.
He is the son of Louisville"s head coach, Rick Pitino.
Providence College.
After attending Saint Sebastian"s School in Needham, Massachusetts, Richard Pitino earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history at Providence College in 2005. During his time at Providence, Pitino was the manager for the Friars men"s basketball team under Tim Welsh. Foreign two years, he also served as an assistant coach for Saint Andrew"s School in nearby Barrington, Rhode Island.
In 2004-2005, he worked as an administrative assistant under Tom Herrion at the College of Charleston.
In 2005, he was hired by coach Ron Everhart to serve as assistant coach at Northeastern University and followed Everhart to Duquesne University the following year. He was hired on at Louisville in April 2007.
He left the University of Louisville and accepted a position to work under Billy Donovan at the University of Florida on April 17, 2009. He left Florida on April 12, 2011, to become the associate head coach at Louisville.
Florida International University
Pitino left his position as the associate head coach at Louisville to become the head coach at FIU on April 15, 2012 replacing Isiah Thomas.
With only six players remaining from the previous season, and not all of them on scholarship, Pitino cobbled together a team and coached a high-pressure defense that finished eighth in the nation in steals. He was able to compile an 18-14 record (11-9 in the Sun Belt conference) in his first season as head coach. His FIU team had the best conference record in school history.
Additionally, FIU reached the Sun Belt Tournament Title game as a four seed, before falling to Western Kentucky in the tournament championship game, 65-63.
University of Minnesota
On April 3, 2013, despite having only one year of head coaching experience at FIU, Pitino was hired to become the head coach at the University of Minnesota replacing Tubby Smith.
On April 1, 2014, in Pitino"s first season at Minnesota, the Golden Gophers defeated Florida State University 67–64 in overtime in the National Institute of Technology semifinals, breaking a school record with its 24th win of the season. On April 3, 2014, exactly one year to the date he was hired, Pitino won his first National Institute of Technology Championship by defeating coach Larry Brown"s SMU team 65–63, securing a school record 25th win.
