Rick Pitino is returning to Big East as brand-new head coach at St. John’s

Rick Pitino is back in the Big East Conference.

St. John’s employed the Hall of Fame coach Monday to increase a storied program that’s been stuck in mediocrity for much of this century.

The school revealed the relocation on Twitter, and Pitino is anticipated to be officially presented throughout a news conference Tuesday at Madison Square Garden.

Following a effective run at close-by mid-major Iona, the 70-year-old Pitino was plucked away to change Mike Anderson, who was fired on March 10 after 4 seasons in charge of the Red Storm without making the NCAA Tournament.

Leading up to Iona’s NCAA Tournament videogame, Pitino stated he hoped he can coach for 12 more years.

“But I’ll take 6 or 7,” he stated.

ESPN reported on Monday that Pitino had concurred to a six-year agreement. 

Pitino published tweets thanking Iona administrators and “all those individuals who touched our lives.”

“To my gamers, the last 3 years. All I can state is you understand how much I love you,” he tweeted. “Follow up, I’m not unfortunate it ended. I’m so grateful it tookplace.”

Pitino’s Gaels concluded their season with an 87-63 loss to UConn on Friday in the veryfirst round of the NCAA Tournament. On Saturday, FOX Sports’ John Fanta reported that St. John’s planned to hire Pitino and that the coach was interested in the position.

Pitino, 70, is the just coach in college basketball history to lead 3 programs — Providence, Kentucky and Louisville — to the Final Four, and has won 711 videogames in his training profession. He won nationwide champion in 1996 (Kentucky) and 2013 (Louisville, which was lateron abandoned).

St. John’s university president Brian Shanley and athletic director Mike Cragg seen their training search as an chance to turn the Red Storm back into a appropriate force in college basketball, sources informed Fanta. The program missedouton 4 straight NCAA Tournaments under Mike Anderson and has not won a videogame in the huge dance in 23 years.

For Pitino, who lives at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y., the possibility of training St. John’s indicates he does not have to move, with the course being approximately 23 miles from the St. John’s University school.

The relocation back to Queens provides him the chance to action back into the Big East Conference, where he was from 1985-87 while at Providence, then from 2005-13 while at Louisville.

For a St. John’s program that has invested anumberof years off the nationwide map in college basketball, this relocation to acquire Pitino, who’s no longer connected down to NCAA examination or hazard of sanctions, signals a clear desire to win by the Red Storm and to return to importance in New York City.

St. John’s has the ninth-most wins amongst Division I groups, with 90 winning seasons in its 116-year basketball history.

The school has reached 2 Final Fours (1952, 1985) and won the NIT a record 6 times — consistingof back-to-back crowns in the 1940s when that occasion was still frequently thoughtabout the nation’s leading postseason competition.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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