Richard Pitino Named Xavier’s New Head Coach After Leaving New Mexico

After four seasons, Richard Pitino is leaving New Mexico to take the head coaching job at Xavier. On Tuesday evening, a final deal was made public.

Richard Pitino, 42, will take over for Sean Miller, who left the Musketeers to take a position as Texas’ head coach. During his second career at Xavier, Miller had two NCAA tournament bids and finished 65-40. This month’s tournament bids the Musketeers lose to Illinois in the first round.

“Xavier is one of the great brands in all of college basketball,” Pitino said in the school’s official announcement. “It has always been a dream of mine to coach in the BIG EAST. The Cintas Center is going to be rocking. I can’t wait to get to work.”

Rick Pitino, who is now at St. John’s, will play his son at least twice a season in the Big East Conference. Pitino had two NCAA tournament berths, an 88-49 record in Albuquerque, a regular-season Mountain West championship, and a conference tournament title while at New Mexico.

The Lobos went 27-8 before defeating Marquette in a first-round South region matchup and then falling to Michigan State in the second round. According to CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander, Pitino had also been in contact with Villanova and West Virginia about their head coaching positions. Pitino will sign a six-year contract with Xavier, according to Jeff Goodman of Field of 68.

Pitino coached for eight seasons at Minnesota before joining New Mexico, finishing with a 141-123 record and two trips to the NCAA tournament. Following the 2020–21 season, in which the Golden Gophers ended 14–15, he was sacked.

Before moving to Minnesota, Pitino spent his first season as a head coach at Florida International, where he finished with an 18–14 record. Before rejoining Louisville as an associate head coach under his father, Rick Pitino, he spent seven seasons as an assistant coach at Charleston, Northeastern, Duquesne, Louisville, and Florida.

Before suffering an unexpected defeat to Arkansas, Rick Pitino led the Red Storm to regular-season and conference tournament championships this year, as well as a first-round victory over Omaha in the NCAA tournament.