Xavier enters Richard Pitino era: How have 1st-time Big East coaches historically fared?

Richard Pitino didn’t hold back his admiration for the Big East Conference when he was named the head coach of the Musketeers.

“It has always been a dream of mine to coach in the Big East,” Pitino said.

Advertisement

When he was formally introduced April 1, Pitino explained that it would’ve taken a special place to leave his job at New Mexico.

More: ‘You want to build a culture of winning.’ Xavier’s Richard Pitino on first season

More: ‘He’s gonna have a difficult season.’ Rick Pitino on Richard Pitino’s Xavier Musketeers

“If a really good Big East job opened up, I was gonna be open to it,” he said. “Yes, my dad (Rick Pitino) being in the league (at St. John’s), yes going to Providence College, playing the conference tournament at Madison Square Garden. That is special.”

Pitino got his wish and enters his first season as a Big East head coach with the season-opener Nov. 3. But how have first-year Big East coaches historically fared?

Advertisement

Of course, not every coaching change is apples-to-apples. Pitino and his staff built a roster from scratch. Others before the NIL/portal era often already had a contending roster in-house from the previous coach’s regime or had to take over with nearly bare cupboard.

Here’s a look at how the 86 all-time Big East coaches, both from current and former members, did in their first seasons in the conference.

First-time Big East coaches have an average record of just 1.6 games over .500, and only 24.4% of coaches have led their respective programs to the NCAA Tournament in that first season.

How about March Madness success?

Advertisement

More: Xavier Musketeers basketball game-by-game projections for 2025-26

NCAA Tournament finishes

Here’s a team-by-team look at how current members of the Big East have performed.

Xavier

Xavier has a nice track record for first-time Big East coaches with winning seasons from Chris Mack, Travis Steele and Sean Miller.

Mack led Xavier to the First Four in 2014. Steele’s first team in 2019 settled for a No. 3 seed in the NIT.

Sean Miller returned for his second stint as Xavier’s head coach in 2022 and immediately led the Musketeers to the Sweet 16. Miller was the first coach to reach the regional semifinals in his first season in the Big East in 15 years.

Advertisement

More: Here’s where Xavier Musketeers were picked to finish in Big East Conference

Butler

Former Xavier head coach Thad Matta arrived at Butler for his first Big East season in 2022. The Bulldogs finished 14-18 overall.

Chris Holtmann (2015) and LaVall Jordan (2018) each took Butler to the Round of 32 in their first season.

Providence

Though Rick Pitino would take Providence to the Final Four in 1987, his first season with the Friars resulted in a NIT quarterfinals loss.

In Providence’s first nine years in the Big East, Pitino was the only coach to finish over .500 in his first season as Gary Walters, Joseph Mullaney and Gordon Chiesa combined to go 32-50. The only Big East rookie to take Providence to the NCAA Tournament was Rick Barnes in 1989. After Barnes, five consecutive coaches have come up empty: Pete Gillen, Tim Welsh, Keeno Davis, Ed Cooley and Kim English.

Creighton

The cleanest coaching sheet belongs to Creighton, which has been led by Greg McDermott since 2010.

Advertisement

When Creighton joined the Big East in 2013, McDermott led the Bluejays as high as No. 9 in the AP poll, a runner-up finish in the Big East and a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

UConn

Before he was one of the best college coaches of all time, Jim Calhoun started his lengthy UConn tenure by missing the NCAA Tournament in three consecutive seasons (47-46 overall). Calhoun’s first UConn squad went 9-19 in 1987.

Dom Perno (1980) and Kevin Ollie (2013) each won 20 games in their respective first seasons but were left out of March Madness. Dan Hurley got the Huskies into the dance in the program’s return to the Big East in 2021.

St. John’s

The late Lou Carnesecca took St. John’s to the Round of 32 without winning a game in 1980, the Big East’s first season as a conference, when the NCAA Tournament had just 48 teams.

Advertisement

Brian Mahoney (1993 Round of 32) and Steve Lavin (2011 Round of 64) each got to the NCAA Tournament, but Mike Jarvis has arguably the best run for a rookie Big East coach.

In 1999, Jarvis led the Red Storm to a No. 3 seed. St. John’s cruised to double-digit wins over Samford, Indiana and Maryland before falling to Ohio State in the Elite Eight.

Seton Hall

Of the founding members of the Big East, Seton Hall is the only one without an NCAA Tournament appearance under a first-year Big East coach. Seton Hall went 14-13 under Bill Raferty in 1980 and has finished better than sixth in the conference just one time (1998 under Tommy Amaker) with a coach making his Big East debut.

Georgetown

John Thompson Jr. was 0-3 in the NCAA Tournament before the Big East was formed. In 1980, Thompson led the Hoyas to a No. 3 seed and got wins over Iona and Maryland to reach the regional finals.

Advertisement

Of the first-year Big East coaches after him, Craig Esherick (2000), John Thompson III (2005) and Patrick Ewing (2018) combined to go 53-43 overall.

Marquette

Tom Crean (2006), Buzz Williams (2009) and Shaka Smart (2022) each took Marquette to the NCAA Tournament in their first season. Williams was the only one to win an NCAA Tournament game.

Steve Wojciechowski is the odd man out, going 13-19 in 2015.

DePaul

All four of DePaul’s first-year Big East coaches went under .500. Tony Stubblefield had the best season in 2022, going 15-16.

Villanova

Villanova joined the Big East one year after it was formed. In its first season in the league, Rollie Massimino led Villanova to an NCAA Tournament win over Houston.

Advertisement

Villanova’s three first-year Big East coaches since − Steve Lappas (1993), Jay Wright (2002) and Kyle Neptune (2023) − all missed the NCAA Tournament.

What about former Big East members?

There are 11 programs that were once in the Big East but have since left: Syracuse, Boston College, Pittsburgh, Miami, West Virginia, Notre Dame, Rutgers, Virginia Tech, Cincinnati, Louisville and USF.

Head coaches at these schools also struggled in their first season in the Big East.

Under Jim Boeheim, Syracuse was a No. 1 seed in the 1980 NCAA Tournament. Syracuse won one game to reach the regional semifinals before being upset by Iowa.

Advertisement

Boston College took the same regional semifinal route in 1983, winning one game under Gary Williams.

In the 64-team format, two former members made the regional semifinals (Sweet 16) with a coach in his first season in the Big East. Pittsburgh did it in 2004 under Jamie Dixon and West Virginia in 2008 under Bob Huggins before falling to Xavier.

Cincinnati went 21-13 under Andy Kennedy in 2006 before Mick Cronin’s tenure began with a tumultuous 11-19 campaign in 2007 with the program in shambles after Huggins’ departure.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Xavier enters Pitino era: How have 1st-time Big East coaches fared?