"We hated each other": St John's HC Rick Pitino spills the beans on coach he considers his biggest rival

Rick Pitino has faced many coaches in his illustrious NCAA career. But the St. John’s coach opened up about the one and only coach he never got along with during his time on the sidelines during a Wednesday press conference ahead of the Red Storm’s opening game in the 2025 March Madness.

A reporter asked Pitino to reflect on his coaching career, with the St. John’s coach set to embark on another NCAA Tournament run Thursday against the Omaha Mavericks in the first round. Pitino took a trip down memory lane and shared an interesting tidbit about former UConn coach Jim Calhoun.

"There is only one coach I really considered a rival in my whole career," Pitino said (Timestamp 11:05). "And I’ve been blessed to coach against Frank McGuire his last game, coach against Dean Smith."

"There is only one coach I had a strong rivalry with and today I respect him as much as anybody in the game and that was Jim Calhoun. We hated each other, BU and Northeastern. Hated each other and there were 300 people at each arena."

Rick Pitino shared that his intense rivalry with Calhoun continued as they moved on to bigger schools.

"He goes on to coach Connecticut, I go on to coach at Providence and we hated each other there as well. And today, I don’t think I respect any coach in the game as much as I respect Jim Calhoun."

Rick Pitino and Jim Calhoun's championship pedigree

Rick Pitino and Jim Calhoun will go down in history as two of the greatest coaches in NCAA men’s basketball. They won a combined five national championships during their stellar coaching careers.

Pitino won his first NCAA title with the Kentucky Wildcats in 1996, defeating the Syracuse Orange 76–67 in the national championship game. His team was loaded, with nine players going on to the NBA, including Ron Mercer, Nazr Mohammed, Antoine Walker, Tony Delk and current Kentucky coach Mark Pope.

Louisville Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino holds the trophy with his team after they defeated the Michigan Wolverines in the NCAA title game at the Georgia Dome. Photo: Imagn

Pitino captured his second NCAA championship with the Louisville Cardinals in 2013, defeating the Michigan Wolverines 82–76 in the title game.

Jim Calhoun helped UConn become a college basketball powerhouse, leading the Huskies to three NCAA titles in 1999, 2004 and 2011. UConn defeated Duke, Georgia Tech and Butler in those championship games.