Rick Pitino, head coach of a St. John’s team that is ranked for first time since 2019, joined Boomer and Gio on Thursday morning to talk about the season so far, which has included a lot of rotation shuffling as he gets a sense of what he has on this Red Storm roster.
“We have 10 players who are ready to play, and I can’t tell you one is better than the other,” Pitino said. “I’m trying to see who meshes the best defensively. We’ve tried different lineups…we’re going into the meat grinder now.”
Pitino also touched on his beliefs that parents have been putting too much pressure on his players to get their individual stats up, which he believes could take the focus off of winning.
“I’m one of the few coaches that is not anti-NIL. I actually like the NIL,” Pitino said. “For years, coaches had been making millions and players had gotten nothing. Now, they’re being paid a great deal of money. What I like about it, I’d say my players give about 80 percent to their parents to help them out and their families. That’s a great thing.
“The parents are great parents. They’re just a little over the top…one of my players on the team hasn’t been rebounding well, and his parents said ‘You gotta get your numbers up. You gotta get those rebounds up.’ These kids have enough pressure with social media. They don’t need that. It is a little over the top. They’re loving parents…just a little too involved. I wish they would be a little less involved when it comes to performance. Leave that up to the coaches.”
Listen to the full interview with Pitino via the clip above.