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Pitino vs. Pitino, twice a season
Xavier hires Richard Pitino as its new coach, meaning a father-son Big East showdowns will be a regular thing. He wasn't the only son of a famous coach who got a new job on Tuesday. We break down the coaching news, some huge names that entered the transfer portal (like one of Richard's players), the biggest names in the portal thus far, and the then rank the Sweet 16 games.
Sean Paul
March 26, 2025
Good morning. St. Francis (PA) had itself a great month of hoops, pulling off a surprise NEC Tournament win, then nearly earning a First Four victory.
A week later, it decided it’ll reclassify to D-III. It won’t be the only school doing that, either.
Let's get to the rest of Tuesday’s news.
1. Big East adds a Pitino, while VCU makes a smart hire
Tuesday was mostly quiet when it came to coaching carousel news — until about 8 pm ET when a couple of coaching sons made news.
After four seasons at New Mexico, Richard Pitino will return to the power conference ranks as Xavier’s newest coach. New Mexico confirmed Tuesday night that he accepted another job.
Pitino was 88-49 in four seasons with the Lobos, including back-to-back NCAA Tournaments, and a tourney win this season. At 42, this will be his fourth head coaching job, which had one season at FIU and eight seasons at Minnesota.
Does his second stint with a power conference team go better than the first? And what multiple regular-season matchups with his dad and St. John’s? That’s all part of the intrigue (and fun!) with this hire.
Tuesday’s other big news was VCU’s intention to hire Phil Martelli Jr.
Martelli Jr, 43, will join the A-10 where his father, Phil, made his mark at St Joe's. Martelli Jr. spent two seasons at Bryant, posting a 43-25 record with an NCAA Tournament appearance this season.
The fun wrinkle here is that the elder Martelli, who spent this season in broadcasting, is expected to join his son at VCU in an unnamed role.
VCU has an excellent history of recent hires, dating back to Jeff Capel in 2002. From Capel, Anthony Grant (2006-09), Shaka Smart (‘09-’15), Will Wade ‘(15-’17), Mike Rhoades (‘17-’23) and most recently Ryan Odom (‘23-’25), all six coaches reached at least one NCAA Tournament … and eventually left for a power conference job. We’ll see if Martelli Jr. has the same approach and follows the same path.
Two more coaching moves from Tuesday:
Alabama A&M coach Otis Hughley will resign.
McNeese State hired Bill Armstrong.
2. Top portal targets: Donovan Dent (and 10 more guys)
We’re just two days into the portal, but we might not see a bigger name get into the mix than we had on Tuesday.
