Pitino vs. Pitino: Fashion family feud rocks college basketball world

Nov. 15—In recent years, the college basketball world has been forced into change.

Some of it comfortable, some of it not so much.

There's been the expansion of the transfer portal and NIL affecting player recruiting and retention, not to mention the realities of football forcing radical conference realignment.

But maybe nothing is rocking the college basketball world quite like the debate about whether head coaches should return to the pre-COVID custom of wearing suits on the sideline or stick with the far more comfortable, and more uniform look of the entire coaching staff wearing polos or the more common quarter-zip pullover look during games.

The poster children on either side of the debate happen to be UNM Lobo men's basketball coach, and casual attire proponent, Richard Pitino vs. his dad, Hall of Fame St. John's basketball coach and high-priced suit aficionado Rick Pitino.

Wednesday morning, Richard Pitino went public with his crusade for the quarter zip.

"Up early doing some research on this season," Richard Pitino posted early Wednesday morning on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter. "Found it interesting that the coaches who have opted for suits haven't won a game and the staffs that have adapted to the modern, more comfortable pants and quarter zips are in fact undefeated."

The younger Pitino is not one to let facts get in the way of making his point.

In fact, he recently was talking with Kimani Young, his good friend and Connecticut associate head coach, about the fashion topic that is all anyone in the industry is talking about.

"I said, 'You're the problem,' " Richard Pitino said. "He said, 'Coach, we won the national championship wearing suits.' I said, 'Alright. You may be the outlier.' "

Richard Pitno said he does, in fact, keep tabs on the coaches still wearing suits in games — several from his father's well-documented coaching tree. The vast majority of coaches, he insists, prefer to stick with the casual look taking over most every other sport, including the NBA.

"I've got a list of all the coaches that continue to try to ruin the fun for everybody," Richard Pitino said. "It's like going to a Christmas party and everybody's casual and there's a guy wearing a tux and you're looking at him like, 'Why the hell are you wearing a tux? You're making us all look bad.'

"And that's what my dad and the (UConn coach) Danny Hurleys of the world, these guys — I have a lot of respect for them as coaches, but not a lot of respect for them in their attire."

Lest you think the debate is one-sided, Papa Pitino is already on record with his stance on his son's clothing campaign.

In December 2022, Rick Pitino and his Iona Gaels made a Pit stop in Albuquerque to play the Lobos in what was originally signed on to be a home-and-home series but also served as a convenient stop for the New York based team on its way to play a tournament in Hawaii, not to mention an easy excuse for Rick Pitino to see his grandkids around Christmas time.

While in Albuquerque, the elder Pitino sang his son's praises as a coach and his ability to do things his own way despite the shadow his name may cast.

"He feels comfortable. His family loves it here. Richard's not into what a lot of coaches are (into)," Rick Pitino said. "It's never about money. It's never about — you can tell by the way he dresses — it's not about money."

Dads will be dads.

So, was the holiday mood and his son's pro-casual pitch going to sway Rick Pitino into not suiting up for last season's game in the Pit? As it turns out, maybe neither Pitino coach has a say in the matter.

"I really don't want to wear a suit, to be perfectly honest, but my wife just harasses me about that," Rick Pitino said when the Journal probed into the pressing matter. "She just won't stop with that. And she's getting her way. Now, I'm away from the tie if it's an afternoon game. But Richard's right. It is more comfortable in a zip."

Wednesday, after the shots-fired social media post putting the old school, suit-wearing college coaches of the world on notice, Richard Pitino said he received plenty of feedback.

"Several coaches texted me today from a lot of different programs, and told me thank you for championing the cause," Richard Pitino said. "... If the NBA can stick to the quarter zips, and they're the pinnacle of our sport, I think that we should all do the same. I don't think I'm getting to my dad, that's for sure. But hopefully we can shame some other people to stop doing it. One tweet at a time."