Auburn’s Pearl and St. John’s’ Pitino Share AP Coach of the Year Honours, 1st equality in History of Award

Bruce Pearl has transformed Auburn into a basketball school and can have its best team to date. Rick Pitino did the best it does to St. John’s, inaugurating a quick turnaround.

Their successes this season have led to the first equality in 58 years of history of the price of the university basketball coach of the year of the association Press Men’s College.

Pearl and Pitino each obtained 20 votes in elections published Friday from the national media committee which chooses the top 25 of the AP during the season. Pat Kelsey de Louisville obtained eight votes and Jon Scheyer de Duke obtained five. Dennis Gates (Missouri) and Tom Izzo (Michigan State) each received three and Ben McCollum from Drake and Eric Olen from UC San Diego each obtained a vote.

Pitino is St. John’s’s first coach to be appointed coach AP of the year and the sixth in the history of the Big East conference. Shaka Smart Marquette won the prize two years ago.

When Pitino was hired in 2023, the red storm had been mired in mediocrity. St. John’s had not been to NCAA tournament Since 2019 and March Madness’s trips have been sporadic since the late 1990s.

Pitino led the Red Storm to 20 victories from his first season and return to national notoriety this year. St. John’s won the title of the regular season of Big East by going 18-2 and won his first title of the Big East Conference tournament since 2000.

The Red Storm equaled a school record with 31 victories – brands taking place in the 1980s under Lou Carnesecca – and had their highest ranking in the AP TOP 25 In 34 years by reaching n ° 5 in the last survey of the regular season. St. John’s was a seeded n ° 2 in the NCAA tournament and opened with A victory over Omaha Before lose against arkansas in the second round.

The rapid success of Pitino follows a model he put in previous judgments at the University of Boston, Providence, Kentucky, Louisville and Iona. He is the first coach to lead six different programs to the NCAA tournament.

“I have been blessed for a long time – more than fifty years of coaching,” said Pitino. “It will stop, so why not have fun?” Why not get the most out of it? Riche, have fun, take great experiences. ”

Pearl certainly does it since taking over in Auburn in 2015.

The Tigers had not been to the NCAA tournament since 2003 and Pearl brought them back to the support by its fourth season. Auburn made a huge jump the following year, winning the first trip to the program in the Final Four in 2019.

The tigers were almost unstoppable this season.

Led by All-American Johni Broome, Auburn spent eight consecutive weeks at No. 1 this season, won the regular SEC season title and won a 32 game school record. The Tigers were the Global Sear N ° 1 of the NCAA tournament and spawn a path through the support, Beat the state of Michigan 70-64 To reach the last four for the second time.

Pearl joined Cliff Ellis in 1999 as the only coaches in Auburn to win the honors of the coach of the year AP. He is the first dry coach to win the prize from John Calipari from Kentucky 10 years ago.

“You want to be part of a large team, you have to make sacrifices,” said Pearl. “You have to share and you have to hold each other. I think that is a large part of what this cloakroom is. It is a team of faith.”

With a national coach of the year – just like St. John’s.

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