Rick Pitino doesn’t anticipate his son following his footsteps in Rhode Island.
The St. John’s head coach firmly denied the rumor that his son and current Xavier head coach, Richard Pitino, could ditch the Musketeers after one season to chase the soon-to-be vacant coaching gig at Providence — not only Rick’s former employer, but also Richard’s alma mater.
The Hall of Fame coach confirmed as much during an appearance on the debut episode of Post Sports’ new weekday YouTube show, “Schein Time,” with Adam Schein.
“[Richard] can’t take the Providence job,” Pitino said Tuesday, touching on the Big East landscape with Schein ahead of this week’s conference tournament at Madison Square Garden.
“He loves his alma mater, but he can’t,” he added. “He has a gigantic buyout. And also, he would never leave a job after one year.
“He just doesn’t believe in that. He loves the city of Cincinnati, and he would never, ever leave Xavier after one year.
“He wants to rebuild that up and certainly loves living there, although he loves Providence — it is his alma mater, and he’s like me. I absolutely love P.C., one of my favorite jobs of all time.”
Asked by Schein if Richard could officially be taken out of the conversation, Rick, 73, doubled down.
“He’s not even a candidate,” he said.
Richard, 43, received the keys to Xavier’s basketball program in March 2025, following several successful stops at FIU, Minnesota, and finally New Mexico, where he led Lobos to back-to-back NCAA tournament berths.
The Musketeers went 14–17 overall and 6–14 in the Big East in Richard’s first regular season at the helm.
Richard became linked to Providence — where his father coached from 1985–87, and he earned a bachelor’s degree and served as manager for the Friars men’s basketball team — as Friars head coach Kim English tottered on the hot seat.
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English is set to be fired after the season, reports said last week, following a disappointing 14-16 (7-12 Big East) campaign that culminated in Wednesday’s 78–56 home loss to Marquette.
Richard fielded questions on the possibility of taking over the “family business” even before English’s dismissal — to which he answered by reaffirming his current commitment to Xavier.
“I promise you I will never leave after a 14 or 15 win season because that’s not my intent at all,” he said earlier this month.
“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.”
St. John’s earned a first-round bye for this week’s Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden, while Xavier and Providence will each play the opening round on Wednesday against Marquette and Butler, respectively.
