OT: Watching St. John's-UConn
- Thread starter Kbe4
- Start date
Paying for hookers on recruiting trips I believe
I believe he was investigated by the Feds about pay for play with recruits. Also couple that with a sex scandel....I think he was doing a woman on a table at a restaurant. That did it for him.
Who cares now? Really? It's all about winning. If he came to RU I'd welcome him with open arms. It's all about winning. Even at a Catholic School like St, John's.
Who cares now? Really? It's all about winning. If he came to RU I'd welcome him with open arms. It's all about winning. Even at a Catholic School like St, John's.
I remember getting a book signed by Pitino at the Rutgers Louisville game I went to in Kentucky during flood years
great coach and would welcome him to Rutgers but that’s a pipe dream
great coach and would welcome him to Rutgers but that’s a pipe dream
SJUs program was basically dead before he arrived. WE had more juice at the Garden then they did. Unreal the turnaround
The man can coach, and works the portal as well as anyone. How about this kid Darling from Idaho St ?
Half our fanbase would say they wouldnt want him here
Some fans would have absolutely hated it, but I would have bet he would have accepted an offer from RU, when looking for a job and winding up at Iona
He would have built RU into a powerhouse despite the negatively
He can thank Mike Repole for that...
https://frontofficesports.com/how-mike-repoles-millions-pulled-st-johns-into-the-nil-era/
Did Repole scout Idaho St and find the kid for Pitino?
Kid was ranked # 327 last year
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Pitino is negotiating an extension to stay at St. John’s. He earns less than Pike but wins more, a lot more.
Tired of people citing Repole $ as the main driver of St. John’s basketball success. He is a contributor and Pitino is a brilliant coach. Back in old days benchwarmer Billy Donovan was going to quit Providence team and young coach Pitino convinced Billy to stay because because Pitino knew what nobody else did, the new 3-point shot would revolutionize college basketball. Pitino was right, Billy led Providence to the Final Four.
Tired of people citing Repole $ as the main driver of St. John’s basketball success. He is a contributor and Pitino is a brilliant coach. Back in old days benchwarmer Billy Donovan was going to quit Providence team and young coach Pitino convinced Billy to stay because because Pitino knew what nobody else did, the new 3-point shot would revolutionize college basketball. Pitino was right, Billy led Providence to the Final Four.
Great atmosphere at MSG last night. Glad I bought a ticket. Even split between UConn and St. John's supporters in the building. Great fans. LIRR put on extra trains to get St. John's fans home more comfortably.
Pitino says he wants to play more games at MSG next year, Newsday reported. This season, St. John's played two SEC teams at the Garden, Alabama and Ole Miss, along with Iona whose president convinced Rick to get Iona a game at MSG. Then St. John's played eight Big East regular season games there, followed by three more in the conference tournament.
UConn played six games at MSG this season. Two out-of-conference ranked teams (Illinois, Florida), St. John's regular season, and then the three Big East tournament games.
Rutgers played zero games at MSG. The home out-of-conference games were against cupcakes, most of whom the Rutgers athletic department paid to show up.
Next season, Rutgers should aim for two games at MSG, St. John's and a B1G opponent. Keli's leadership is needed to get this done.
A regular MSG schedule would help recruiting too. "In virtually every visit by prospective transfers and recruits, St. John’s includes a tour of the Garden. Almost all who commit say it makes a major impression," said Newsday.
Some will whine and say the RAC is so special how could a home game be played at MSG, St. John's is an automatic loss, and the B1G might count MSG as a Rutgers home game, dinging Rutgers NET ranking, as if a Pike team has a chance at the NCAA tournament again. Who cares. This athletic department needs to think bigger, like UConn and St. John's do.
Pitino says he wants to play more games at MSG next year, Newsday reported. This season, St. John's played two SEC teams at the Garden, Alabama and Ole Miss, along with Iona whose president convinced Rick to get Iona a game at MSG. Then St. John's played eight Big East regular season games there, followed by three more in the conference tournament.
UConn played six games at MSG this season. Two out-of-conference ranked teams (Illinois, Florida), St. John's regular season, and then the three Big East tournament games.
Rutgers played zero games at MSG. The home out-of-conference games were against cupcakes, most of whom the Rutgers athletic department paid to show up.
Next season, Rutgers should aim for two games at MSG, St. John's and a B1G opponent. Keli's leadership is needed to get this done.
A regular MSG schedule would help recruiting too. "In virtually every visit by prospective transfers and recruits, St. John’s includes a tour of the Garden. Almost all who commit say it makes a major impression," said Newsday.
Some will whine and say the RAC is so special how could a home game be played at MSG, St. John's is an automatic loss, and the B1G might count MSG as a Rutgers home game, dinging Rutgers NET ranking, as if a Pike team has a chance at the NCAA tournament again. Who cares. This athletic department needs to think bigger, like UConn and St. John's do.
Most RU fans have no issue with playing out of conference games at the Garden.
Dont give away home conference games.
Dont give away home conference games.
I agree with your thought however Pike won’t be scheduling any games at MSG.
Not with Vegas Tourney and not with next year being do or die for him.
This is where Keli's leadership must change the status quo.
Let's see if Rutgers participates in the Players Era again next year. Still no word on whether Rutgers players have received the money. "Two and a half months after the Players Era Championship men’s basketball multi-team event took place over 2025 Thanksgiving week, multiple participating teams are still waiting for their athletes’ NIL funds to be released," Sportico reported last month.
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One game a year at MSG should be mandated!!! Brings out fans who typically can’t get to go to the RAC and has such energy!
never play at Trenton or PRU ever again
no more than one game though unless it’s NCAAs…and should not be a home game
never play at Trenton or PRU ever again
no more than one game though unless it’s NCAAs…and should not be a home game
That’s because the money doesn’t exist. Crowds of less than 2,000 killed the revenue projections.
So true.
BTW, Pitino was such a p-o-s that Louisville cut ties with him....yet some think there would ever be a chance that Rutgers would bring him here after that scandal ?
Exactly. Great coach but probably not nearly as successful at SJU without a virtually limitless bankroll.
You may be tired of hearing it, but SJU was one of the absolute top spenders in the transfer portal last year, spending more than 3X what RU did. If you don’t think that money matters, you are not being honest with yourself.
I don't dispute St. John's pays this year's team more than Rutgers does. Where do you get the 3x amount?
yep...the idea of the vegas tourney and the crown are much better in theory than practice....thanksgiving week and when no one cares about college hoops as we head toward the end of the football regular season. They can say they want to expand to 32 but its a house of cards waiting to collapse.
not singling you out but in the end all that matters is winningI believe I said that.
Maybe because of fans like me winners aren't hired.
Don't mind being singled out.
If I said or did it, I own the results.
I still have a hard time thinking RU should hire a HC that has a sketchy past, but like you implied, making a winning program that can compete with the best means fans must look past the sketchy part and embrace the winning one.
Numerous reports say SJU spent in excess of $10 M, while Carino reported RU spent $3.5M.
see for example: https://www.nj.com/sports/2025/11/s...ut-nil-pay-to-college-basketball-players.html
I would not want him here!! I do not want to cheer for a team with a scumbag as a coach.
Winning is not everything IMO. Winning with class is far more important to me. Thank goodness RU has never considered garbage like him for a coach.
I am proud to have this perspective. I am guessing those who love him would sell their soul to the devil too in order to win!
I would agree 100% and at one time did.
But now College Basketball has changed and loyalty of players is set by the NIL money they receive .
Coaches have always been mercenaries moving from job to job trying to find the best position for money and fame, but that's the way the coaching profession is ,startling low and working your way to top and finding your permanent spot in a top conference program .
Now the players are doing the same and with NIL money driving their decisions the game just isn't the same to me.
I always accepted the one year wonders coming from High School with the intention of turning pro after their freshman season, but have a hard time accepting them playing a year or two and going to another college program because the money is better.
How many times have we seen a play start off at a small school prove his talent there , transfer to a program in a good conference and do well then jump to another program that offers a better payday then he was getting.
Also Rutgers paying portal players to come and seeing them have the type of year that has other programs give them offers they won't refuse because Rutgers can't match it.
I now see college players more like mercenaries doing their best to help, but ready to move on after the season if they get a better offer
So now the bar I set on a coach's behavior is going lower because my respect for the amateur part of college basketball has been tainted by the way NIL has made a lot of college players greedy simi pros looking for the best payday they can find.
With College programs operating on the pay to play NIL system, coaches moral standards seem out of place and
the just win baby attitude is more easily accepted.
I haven't completely turned the corner into thinking that way, but am getting close to it and now don't disagree with others saying just win and forget how the HC is as a person
Winning with class is a thing, but unfortunately our thing is losing with class right now with Pike.
This is the missing context.
Obviously everyone wants to win with class.
Its "win without class" vs "lose with class"
Its like the "win with mercenaries" thing.
Obviously everyone wants to win with a team of 4 year Rutgers players.
But I'd 100% rather "win with mercenaries" than lose with Davis, Ogbole, Grant and Dortch leading the way.
I'm so glad you posted this. I agree completely.
I draw the line at using hookers to recruit kids to a school. And anyone who thinks such things are OK is rooting for the wrong school. I suggest they try Pedd State.
I don't think so, more like 10 so called fans with a megaphone...
Actually they ae not so called fans but purests that are haning on to the outdated threay College Baketball is an amature sport with HC hired to win but also moled the playerts under them into productive citizans when their college career is over.
It never really was that way, but "so called " fans like myself deluded ourselves to think that way and want that to be the way the RU MBB program was/is.
Now some, like me, are feeling that the era of amateur sports passed a long time ago , the players are mercenaries
willing to jump for a buck and coaches now have no reason to mold their players into responsible citizens, just make sure they help the team win before they find a better paying spot to go to .
It's a just win system in which coaches having great moral fiber sounds nice, but is secondary to being considered a winner .
I'm still not sure if I want a Slick Rick or Houston's Keven Sampson or the retired Bruce Pearl,but online years ago I wouldn't oppose them or a known winner like them being hired.
I accept the just win state of mind ,because I know winning is everything now and winners are forgiven their transgression while those that play be the rules and lose fill the unemployment line