St. John's HC Rick Pitino credits Al Pacino's Scarface as reason behind iconic white suits

St. John's coach Rick Pitino donned some stylish outfits when he was on the sidelines this season. However, his white suits in particular grabbed the attention of many.

Although Pitino wore a black suit when he arrived in San Antonio on Saturday, a day before the Naismith Awards ceremony, he revealed that his iconic white suit was inspired by Tony Montana, the famous character from Scarface, portrayed by legendary actor Al Pacino, who shares his Italian heritage.

"So, when we started at Kentucky, it was a fun thing for the students, Pitno said. "We wanted everybody to wear white. So I broke out the white suit, I think Scarface was coming out at that time. And it was my Tony Montana impersonation. And then it carried on through Louisville. We had a lot of fun with it, and broke it out at St. John's, and it's just been a lot of fun for the students and all the fans to take part in."

Pitino has been named a finalist for the Werner Ladder Naismith Men’s College Coach of the Year. The other three finalists for the award are Auburn’s Bruce Pearl, Houston’s Kelvin Sampson and Duke’s John Scheyer. The winner will be announced at Sunday's award ceremony.

Since no St. John's coach has won a Naismith award, Pitino could make history with the program.

Rick Pitino led St. John's to a March Madness appearance for the first time in six years

NCAA Basketball: St. John's HC Rick Pitino - Source: Imagn

This season was the second year at the helm for Rick Pitino at St. John's. He led the team to its first outright Big East regular-season title since 1985 and its first Big East Tournament triumph since 2000, which also booked a March Madness spot for the Red Storm.

It was the first time that St. John's made it to the NCAA Tournament since 2019. Pitino's team got the No. 2 seed in March Madness and started with a win over No. 15 seed Omaha in the first round.

However, the Red Storm suffered an upset in the second round when they lost 75-66 to No. 10 seed Arkansas. It was an abrupt end to the season for Pitino's St. John's, who were tipped to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.