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Two useful things happened for St. John’s on Wednesday night: First, it won a basketball game for the first time in two weeks (only the second time in seven games) and then Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino apologized for trashing his squad over the weekend.
“These guys have never let me down,” Pitino said after his team built a 21-point lead and held on for a 90-85 victory at Georgetown that snapped a three-game losing streak. “I have failed them on the fundamentals.”
That was a big change in tone from Sunday, when his team blew a 19-point lead and lost to Seton Hall, an eighth loss in 10 games that all but torpedoed St. John’s hopes of making the NCAA Tournament. . Pitino later called his first season at the helm of the program “the least pleasant experience I’ve had since I’ve been a coach.”
He didn’t stop there. Pitino went on to call his team “so unathletic that we can’t guard anyone without fouling,” and more specifically named three players who are “laterally slow” and a fourth who is “physically weak.” Just to cover all the bases, Pitino essentially threw his coaching staff under the bus.
“We lost this season with the way we recruited,” he said. “We recruited the antithesis of the way I train, with speed, quickness, fundamentals, strength and toughness. We didn’t do that. “It’s a good group, they try hard, but they’re not very tough.”
Pitino got all of that back after Wednesday’s win, which improved his team to 15-12 overall, 7-9 in the Big East. “Words matter,” he said, adding that when his staff alerted him that some of the players were hurt by his comments, he addressed the team.
“I love you so much,” Pitino said he told them. “I would never, ever want to embarrass you. It is my mistake. I’m at fault. I should never have mentioned anyone by name. It was not my intention”.
He also clarified that he personally recruited everyone on the roster and got the players he wanted.
“My staff didn’t recruit these guys,” he said. “It was all me.”
And while he apologized, “I want to apologize to all the St. John’s fans,” Pitino continued, “because they have treated me like royalty.”
As for his players, senior transfer Jordan Dingle, the Ivy League Player of the Year last season at Penn, said they still have Pitino’s support, and believe he has theirs, despite the harsh criticism .
“We know how much he loves us and cares about us,” Dingle said, “and how much he cares about winning, so I don’t think the guys take it too seriously.”
Many of Pitino’s former players say the same thing. He has always been a difficult coach to deal with, one who rarely spares his feelings, but he also led three different programs to a Final Four and won two national championships, in part because of his refusal to accept mediocrity.
His recent comments about the Red Storm’s roster “didn’t surprise me,” said former Kentucky All-American Tony Delk, whom Pitino once suggested should transfer at halftime of a game. The Athletic this week. “The only thing I can say about the coach is that he is brutally honest. This generation may have a harder time accepting that, but we accepted it, we responded, and he brought out the best in us. “If I were those kids, I would stay and listen to it.”
Required reading
(Photo: Wendell Cruz/USA Today)