Rick Pitino rips St. John's players, describes 'most unenjoyable' tenure of career in epic rant
Rick Pitino is straight up not having a good time at St. John’s.
If that sounds like a joke, rest assured Pitino made it very clear his tenure at St. John’s has been the worst of his coaching career. Following a 12-point blown lead against Seton Hall, Pitino went to the postgame press conference and ultimately shredded his own team.
“I think they’re unathletic,” said Pitino in reference to his Red Storm. “I don’t think they move well laterally, I don’t think they can pick it up in the next week. I think they’re slow laterally… about 5 guys who are slow laterally.”
The game against Seton Hall was also a crucial one between a pair of teams positioned on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament. St. John’s had a brilliant first half and was in position to secure a key win before a huge second-half letdown. Fans can track all the latest March Madness news and odds via Caesars Sportsbook North Carolina as NC prepares for an upcoming live launch!
If Pitino’s initial comments weren’t clear enough, Pitino went on to say coaching this St. John’s team has been “the most unenjoyable” time of his coaching career. He even used a contrast with his time coaching the Boston Celtics to describe his disgust.
“Even with the Celtics when we lost, I enjoyed every minute of being the Boston Celtics head coach. I didn’t like the fact we lost the next year. But this has been the most unenjoyable experience I’ve had since I’ve been coaching,” Pitino described.
As a follow-up, Pitino was asked if he has any regrets about taking the job at St. John’s, to which he said he does not:
“No, not at all,” said Pitino about regrets of taking the job. “It’s not St. John’s, it’s my team… I think they’re very respectful. They hear but they don’t listen. It’s taken me a month to get them to throw bounce passes — actually, two months.”
Here are the game highlights and the key snippets of Pitino’s epic postgame press conference: