Rick Pitino and St. John’s have reached a new deal regarding the Hall of Fame coach’s contract. The new deal sees him extend his time with the Red Storm through the 2029-2030 season.
This agreement will also see a significant pay boost for Coach Pitino. After he signed with the team back in 2023, the deal was for six years for 20 million dollars, roughly around 3.3 million dollars a year. However, this new contract will have him take home close to 6.5 million per year.
Rick Pitino’s Contract Secures Stability And Raises Expectations At St. John’s
With paychecks like these, it’s clear that Ed Kull, St. John’s director of athletics, and the rest of the school leadership have the utmost faith in Pitino. After all, he just brought them back into the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999.
St. John’s was Pitino’s second stop after his firing from Louisville back in 2017. He got back into coaching in 2020 at Iona, where he saw immediate success. He led the Gales to tournament appearances in two of his three seasons there. After which, he took his talents to St. John’s, where he revitalized a long-stagnant Red Storm team.
Expectations After The New Contract
After winning the Big East tournament this past season, Pitino gave a rousing speech where he declared that “St. John’s is back.” That is a valid statement. The glory days of the 1985 Lexington Final Four were all St. John’s fans had to rest their hat on until Pitino’s arrival. Since then, they have won back-to-back outright regular-season and tournament championships.
Yet, with this new pay increase for Pitino, a pay bump that puts him second as far as Big East coaches go, with two-time national champion Dan Hurley raking in about 2 million more than Pitino, expectations are at an all-time high for the Johnnies.
Pitino Gets Better Every Year
Great things take time. The Red Storm faced nearly twenty-five years of mediocrity before Rick Pitino led them back to Big East glory. Regarding their tournament performances, they only seem to get better year by year.
After a 2-seed draw in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, Pitino’s Red Storm fell early. Surprisingly, they lost to the 10-seeded Arkansas Razorbacks. The loss, according to Pitino, lit a fire under the returning players going into this year’s tournament. Although getting a widely believed-to-be unfair shake as a five-seed, St. John’s kept their cool. Their resilience shined when they beat up on UNI in the round of 64.
Their chance at redemption from last year’s playoff meltdown came in the form of a much-anticipated match against four-seeded Kansas. Dylan Darling‘s buzzer-beater and Zuby Ejiofor‘s excellence as a center prospect helped propel the Johnnies into the second weekend this year.
Even though they would fall in a competitive match to the championship favorite Duke Blue Devils, their trip to the Sweet 16 finally put St. John’s back on front covers and headlines across the sports world.
What Pitino Expects
In short, Pitino is a man who has cut down the nets in the national championship twice now. His expectations are sky-high for next season and the seasons to follow. It is his firm belief that St. John’s will only get better from here. Plus, with his new contract, it is safe to say he has all the incentive to keep his dream alive.
On his first day at the job, Pitino stated that St. John’s had fallen on tough times, “but now we’re ready to fall on great times.” It is safe to say that he delivered on what he promised, so we can only wonder what he will deliver to the Johnnie fans next.
Featured Image: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
