In entrance of 98-year-old Lou Carnesecca, and seated subsequent to St. John’s College President, Reverend Brian J. Shanley, Rick Pitino was launched as the brand new St. John’s College coach at Madison Sq. Backyard at midday on Tuesday.

The saint, the Father, and the prodigal son.

First query: “Are you able to win straight away?”

Pitino, now 70, sounded assured notes all through the press convention. Like this one: “It’s not about when or if, it’s going to occur for St. John’s and it’s going to occur in a giant method,” Pitino mentioned.

The arc of our cultural reminiscence is an odd factor. Pitino is a flawed man, who left faculty teaching underneath a cloud of prices at Louisville a decade in the past. This press convention, nevertheless, was like time touring again to the glory days of St. John’s basketball, when the Large East Convention dominated the faculty basketball universe and coaches almost bought into fistfights on the road after a sport. Earlier than the cash got here in. When playing was nonetheless unlawful and the night time’s shedding bettors may come after you as you left the sector.

“We walked sluggish once we gained and we walked quick once we misplaced,” mentioned Pitino, who grew up on twenty sixth St. between Second and Third Avenues in Manhattan. He even named the parish.

The Large East convention has modified rather a lot since Pitino coached at Louisville a decade in the past. (Full disclosure, I work for Seton Corridor College, one other member of the Large East Convention.)

St. John’s needs these days again. Not the half about being broke, and the playing is now all authorized, however St. John’s needs the wins like Carnesecca may stack them up. And there was the person himself to supply a benediction of types with a face that bore every of his years however nonetheless these eyes.

“I believe it’s a house run with the bases loaded,” Carnesecca cracked.

However regardless of the flaws, oh, Pitino is a wonderful coach. Iona overachieved with Pitino on the helm, reaching the NCAA males’s basketball match twice in his three seasons with the MAAC’s computerized bid. He couldn’t, nevertheless, win a sport, and for a convention with an computerized bid, getting a spherical deeper unlocks actual cash.

He actually bought them so far as he in all probability may. He proved he may take a small program simply as critically as a nationwide contender. That he may lead a program with out scandal. A Roman Catholic program even. It’s becoming that Iona and now St. John’s have been those to supply Pitino a second likelihood after he coached in Greece. Basketball’s roots are entwined with the church throughout New York Metropolis.

Why did he deserve this opportunity, he was gently requested.

“It doesn’t matter what you consider or don’t consider… I by no means cheated the sport,” Pitino mentioned.

The place Large East Commissioner Val Ackerman and St. John’s athletic director Mike Craig talked about what it will imply for St. John’s to achieve success once more, Pitino was the one one which alluded to his time in exile.

“No one actually wished to rent me at that time,” Pitino mentioned. “The NCAA sadly strikes at a snail’s tempo.” It took 5 years for the case to return up, and Pitino mentioned the place different individuals have been discovered culpable, his involvement was deemed extra minimal.

Pitino is obsessive about basketball. “A variety of these gamers in all probability gained’t be again on this staff as a result of they’re in all probability not an excellent match for me,” Pitino mentioned, alluding to a basketball-first mindset.

And that may be good and dangerous. It’s nice for the wins column, however St. John’s might want to put constructions in place to be sure that the non-basketball issues don’t fall by means of the cracks. It’s thrilling to have Pitino come again to New York, however St. John’s must be taught from historical past. Pretending nothing occurred isn’t an excellent technique.

Billy Donovan put in an excellent phrase for Pitino

Father Shanley mentioned what tipped the scales in Pitino’s favor was a name from Billy Donovan, one other coach within the New York Metropolis orbit who performed for Pitino way back.

“He didn’t speak concerning the wins,” Shanley mentioned, “Billy talked concerning the influence Pitino had on his life.”

At their finest, that is what faculty coaches do. Win-first coaches ought to coach within the professionals, the place gamers are adults. The school stage is the place that steerage is essential, so it’s proper that that type of info swayed Shanley. And Pitino has to dwell as much as the very best of these hopes for his gamers.

This isn’t the second anybody wished to consider something apart from the glory days to return, the place outdated New York merges with the brand new one. The place it was at all times the Crimson Storm. It’s a freshly minted begin for a wonderful coach, and a day for New York basketball to dream.