Bruce Pearl has turned Auburn into a basketball school and may have his best team yet. Rick Pitino has done what he does best at St. John’s, ushering in a quick turnaround.
Their successes this season led to the first tie in the 58-year history of The Associated Press men’s college basketball coach of the year award.
Pearl and Pitino each received 20 votes in balloting released Friday from the national media panel that picks the AP Top 25 during the season. Louisville’s Pat Kelsey received eight votes and Duke’s Jon Scheyer got five. Dennis Gates (Missouri) and Tom Izzo (Michigan State) each received three and Drake’s Ben McCollum and UC San Diego’s Eric Olen each got one vote.
Pitino is the first St. John’s coach to be named AP coach of the year and the sixth in Big East Conference history. Marquette’s Shaka Smart won the award two years ago.
When Pitino was hired in 2023, the Red Storm had been mired in mediocrity. St. John’s hadn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2019 and the March Madness trips had been sporadic since the late 1990s.
Pitino led the Red Storm to 20 wins his first season and back into into national prominence this year. St. John’s won the Big East regular-season title by going 18-2 and took its first Big East Conference Tournament title since 2000.
The Red Storm matched a school record with 31 wins — marks set in the 1980s under Lou Carnesecca — and had their highest ranking in the AP Top 25 in in 34 years by reaching No. 5 in the final regular-season poll. St. John’s was a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and opened with a win over Omaha before losing to Arkansas in the second round.
Pitino’s quick success follows a pattern he set in previous stops at Boston University, Providence, Kentucky, Louisville and Iona. He is the first coach to lead six different programs to the NCAA Tournament.
“I have been blessed for a long period of time — fifty-plus years of coaching,” Pitino said. “It’s going to stop, so why not have a blast? Why not get the most out of it? Laugh, have fun, get great experiences.”
Pearl has certainly been doing that since taking over at Auburn in 2015.
The Tigers had not been to the NCAA Tournament since 2003 and Pearl got them back into the bracket by his fourth season. Auburn took a huge leap the following year, earning the program’s first trip to the Final Four in 2019.
The Tigers have been close to unstoppable this season.
Led by All-American Johni Broome, Auburn spent eight straight weeks at No. 1 this season, earned the SEC regular-season title and has won a school-record 32 games. The Tigers were the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and bulled their way through the bracket, beating Michigan State 70-64 to reach the Final Four for the second time.
Pearl joins Cliff Ellis in 1999 as the only Auburn coaches to win AP coach of the year honors. He is first SEC coach to win the award since Kentucky’s John Calipari 10 years ago.
“You want to be on a great team, you’ve got to make sacrifices,” Pearl said. “You’ve got to share and you’ve got to hold each other accountable. I think that’s a big part of what this locker room is all about. This is a team of faith.”
With a national coach of the year — just like St. John’s.
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