Richard Pitino takes over the Xavier program after four years at New Mexico, where he led the Lobos to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances. New Mexico went 27-8 this season and was eliminated by Michigan State 71-63 in the second round of the NCAAs on Sunday.
“Xavier is one of the great brands in all of college basketball,” Richard Pitino said in a statement. “It has always been a dream of mine to coach in the Big East. The Cintas Center is going to be rocking. I can’t wait to get to work.”
The younger Pitino was the Mountain West Coach of the Year this season after the Lobos won the conference's regular-season title. He went 88-49 at New Mexico and has an overall mark of 247-186.
Xavier moved quickly after Chris Mack announced he would remain at the College of Charleston. Had Mack decided to return to Xavier, where he led the Musketeers for nine seasons, it would have marked the second time he followed Miller as coach at the Cincinnati school.
This will be Richard Pitino's fourth head coaching job. He was at Florida International in 2012-13 before spending eight seasons at Minnesota.
“He has proven himself as a winner as a head coach at New Mexico and has an impressive resume of success before that as a head coach at Minnesota. His success as an assistant stood out, especially his time working for his father, Rick Pitino, at Louisville, and Billy Donovan at Florida,” athletic director Greg Christopher said in a statement.
“We had tremendous interest in our head coaching position. It became clear that Richard was the right fit for Xavier to take us to championship success in the Big East and NCAA Tournament.”