Providence, ri – Rick Pitino is the first coach in college basketball history to lead six different schools to the NCAA tournament.
But at the main stage, this was all started.
“It’s one of my favorite coachingstints of all time,” said Pitino, the current St. John’s Boss who once led Providence to a Final Four. “It was really magical. I’m still talking to all players all the time, and it was 1987, so long ago, but it was a fun time.”
Pitino returns to the building itself where he orchestrated Providence’s Magi with his second-seeded, 30-4 Red Storm as Headliner for eight teams that fought for March Madness Glory 2025. But he is not the only coaching royal roaming these pages in Rhode Island.
Between Pitino, Arkansas ‘John Calipari, Kansas’ Bill Self and Purdues Matt Painter, there are 80 total tournament performances and five national championships. Maybe one of these coaches will add the collective total and start a march against San Antonio.
What a legendary range. Or, as Self described it, a showcase of all the best in coaching. Self, Calipari and Pitino – in that order – are the active leaders to train victories.
“I can’t talk to everyone else, but I think the biggest key, and I think we all go through it, is why did you really get into the profession?” SIG. “You did it because you love the sport, you want to influence the kids, but you also love to teach.”
Of course, there is much to unpack about the state of college basketball and college athletics as a whole in recent years. From zero to the transfer portal it is not as it used to be.
“Of course, Rick and Cal, they have been so good at it for so long, and we have been pretty good at it for a while too,” Self said. “We talk about how everything sucks because it was not so used to be, and there were probably some things with our sport that needed to change. We are kind of in the middle of the change where there is some discomfort, but I really think what our sport looks like today, it will look different for two or three years and will balance. We just need everyone to ride it.”
This group of incredible coaches who are together have led to floods of memories. It is a particularly high tide of nostalgia for pitino.
His return to New England is a full circle event, as the 72-year-old’s basketball trip contains lots of time spent in the region, which goes back to his days at Umass as a student athlete.
The first school he led to the great dance as head coach? Boston University 1983.
The road back in the hub, he crossed paths with the coach, which he believes he only true rival in the profession: Jim Calhoun.
“We hated each other on bu and northeastern, hated each other. And there were 300 people in each arena,” Pitino said. “He continues to train at Connecticut, I continue to coach at Providence and we hated each other as well. Today I do not think I respect any coach as much as Jim Calhoun.”
In Providence there will be many more people on the tribun, but sub -dogs too, to see if the ash potter’s slipper fits.
Calipari feels a bit like one and brought Arkansas in as a seed no. 10 that lost five in a row and six out of seven at the beginning of the SEC game. The role is not unlike what his team played early in his career, both at Umass and Memphis.
“Some of you did not live, but I’m back to the roots of the sub -dog,” Calipari said. “This was one of the years that was so rewarding to think about not this – all I think about is where we were, threw ourselves in the coffin, forgot the nails. We bust out in some way.”
The group’s largest Cinderella knows what they are up to with such excellent coaches and programs with them.
“It’s definitely one who is who of College Coaching, and I’m sure many are asking, who the hell is the other guy in the console?” Omaha coach Chris Crutchfield joked.
High Point’s Alan Huss was preparing for his current position for a six -year period at Hans Alma Mater, Creighton, where he learned from one of the country’s elites in Greg McDermott. Today he leads the Panthers to the tournament for the first time in program history as 29-5 champions in Big South.
However, came on Thursday afternoon against Purdue, but the past doesn’t matter.
“Right now it’s not about ash pots,” Huss said. “When the ball goes up, it’s about trying to win a basketball game and trying to be solid in all aspects and all phases in the game, and we do our best to do these things.”
Just as the legends would say.
