Rick Pitino, who has brought glory back to the St. John’s basketball program in just his second season as coach, takes a timeout for some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby.
Q: What adjectives would you use to describe your team?
A: Gritty … focused … relentless.
Q: On a scale of 1-10: Heart.
A: Ten.
Q: Grit.
A: Ten.
Q: Poise.
A: Seven.
Q: Pride.
A: Nine.
Q: Mental toughness.
A: Eight.
Q: Killer instinct.
A: Eight.
Q: Are you happy with 8s for those last two?
A: Yes.
Q: Why?
A: Well, 8 to me is like a A-minus.
Q: Why a 7 for poise?
A: Because they haven’t been together. Four new starters, so they’re not always the most poised group.
Q: What else would they need, what quality would they need to get to a Final Four?
A: The way I tell them this: Teams that think about the Final Four get beat in the second round. What you have to do is what I did the other night against Marquette. I said, “OK, this is the Sweet 16. There’s four minutes to go in the game. We win the first round. Now if you want to get to the Sweet 16, you gotta win the next four minutes. Let’s see what ya got.”
Q: Why do you think you’re still “Passionate, Hungry and Driven”?
A: I think because of adversity of not coaching … I found out what life was like not coaching. Missed it terribly. So I’m not in any rush. … I appreciate what I have, because of learning what I didn’t have.
Q: Are you still at that same “PHD” level you’ve always been?
A: I think more so today than ever before. Because St. John’s has made me more ultra-focused.
Q: At the top of John Wooden’s pyramid of success is “competitive greatness.” What is your definition?
A: I think that failure has to enter the equation of greatness. I think that failure is often a good thing. We failed in the Creighton game because we didn’t do certain things, and that type of failure is fertilizer, to help you win the next game. I worry more about success than I do adversity. I think tough people handle adversity very well, we’re tough. I worry about handling success and not embracing it and always looking to get better. That’s the critical part.
Q: Are you optimistic that this team is not embracing success?
A: I think when they go through my practices and preparation, I don’t think they have time to embrace it. I think they realize that there’s so much work to be had, and I talk to ’em about it. … We’ve gotta improve our transition defense, we have to improve our free-throw shooting in crucial situations, ’cause that’s what it comes down to. … [The] 3-point shot I’m not worried about. I’m worried about the free-throw shooting.
Q: In your book “Success Is a Choice: Ten Steps to Overachieving in Business and Life,” can you elaborate on being “ferociously persistent.”
A: Yeah, I think persistence is not enough. If you really want to win, you’ve gotta be ferociously persistent. You can’t take no for an answer. You can’t say you can’t do this, you have to do this. So being ferociously persistent, you say you’re gonna get it done — even if you don’t think you can do it.
Q: Another step from the book: “Master the art of communication.”
A: That’s the ability to listen four times to the amount you speak. So many people are looking to get the next word in — even the president of our United States (chuckle) — always looking to get the next word in rather than listen. Somebody said, “How long will you coach?” I said, “Well, it all depends on mentally and physically, but I’ll coach when I’m still listening and learning.” I’ll go as long as I can. I sent all our coaches out to different universities this year for the opening of practices. “I’ll handle the beginning of practice. You go out and come back with a different drill that you just witnessed; come back with a different offensive set that you just witnessed.” We want to keep growing and learning, and listening four times to the amount you speak. If I find out, if I listen to my players, I find out exactly how to motivate them. If I just try to teach them without listening, I don’t know how to motivate them.
Q: How do you explain your ability to get players to buy in?
A: I was a head coach at 24 [years old]. I’ve been a pro coach with the Knicks, Celtics, in Europe. And when you deal [with] pro players, you really have to listen. You really have to pay attention to them because their egos are so massive. Not necessarily the EuroLeague, but in the NBA.
Q: But you have a knack for figuring out what makes each guy tick.
A: I think that comes from communicating and listening. You have one guy from a rural area who just wants to make his town proud, another one wants to take care of his grandmother and mother, another one wants to make it because his ego is a little bit. … I call [it] EGO: Edging Greatness Out. If it’s challenged in the right direction, because you want your family to be proud, something like that is OK. If you’re just looking to stand on the podium by yourself, it’s not OK.
Q: Another step from the book: “Survive your own success.”
A: I wrote a book called “One-Day Contract,” after we [Louisville] won the [NCAA] championship in ’13. Other books I’ve written for motivational purposes, this one I wrote for myself, because we just came off the second championship, and now what are you gonna do to make it better? To break it, and make it better. And I came up with every day — from the time you go to bed, to the time you go to sleep — that day was a one-day contract. Are you getting rehired with the person in the mirror? And I believe in that wholeheartedly. What I got out of it the most is the way I treat people. Calling up everybody, just shooting them a text before I leave the house: “Who wants a Starbucks? Who wants a Dunkin Donuts? Who wants a bagel sandwich?”
Q: And those texts are sent to who?
A: The whole staff.
Q: When did you start doing that?
A: When I wrote that book, I did it with Louisville. Even without asking them, I’d bring in sandwiches, munchkins, whatever it may be. When we go on the road, getting them to my room, buying their favorite drink, and bringing them up for a drink. Just more you’re conscious of your staff and the people around you than ever before.
Q: More from the book: “Learn from adversity.” Is this team where you want it to be?
A: They’ve been riddled with injuries — riddled. And nothing has impeded our will to win, which I think is quite remarkable.
Q: “Build your self-esteem.” How did you do that when you first got here?
A: Well, I think when you look down there on the court, you have a makeshift weight room. We had no conference room, we had no refueling room. Think about this: Film work is so big today, the analytics are so big. They wheeled a TV out on the court. You can’t pay attention that way. They had a closet for a weight room. So, you had to do many things here, that you had to raise the self-esteem of the players. And I told them this the other day, I did, “Guys, been to seven Final Fours. We’ve won two national championships [Kentucky and Louisville]. We never got invited on Jimmy Fallon.” So I said, “This is New York, guys. Understand Madison Square Garden and the significance of that, and understand the significance of winning in New York.”
Q: “Set demanding goals.” How did the goals you demanded change from Year 1 to Year 2?
A: I really didn’t have demanding goals the first year, I just wanted to build a culture. This year I wanted to make the [NCAA] Tournament, and I wanted to win the Big East. We said that from Day 1.
Q: You won the Big East. What’s your next demanding goal?
A: Well, I speak a lot about championships. In the beginning of the year, I would have said that’s not a demanding goal, that’s a pipe dream, because it doesn’t happen that quick, it takes time in building a culture and everything else. And I’m not sure yet where we are in the great scheme of things. You find out more and more. ’Cause our injuries are so great — I equate it to the Yankees right now: You may be without their great pitcher [Gerrit Cole], you may be without their home run hitter [Giancarlo] Stanton … and now they go on, and they’re in first place at the end of the year. Well, that’s pretty much what we’re doing right now, and I expect the Yankees to do that.
Q: “Always be positive.”
A: Yeah, that’s a difficult one in this climate. It’s difficult. Because New York, being the greatest city in the world, you turn on the news or you speak to someone: “Trains suck, this sucks, this thing (laugh).” … But one of the greatest things that happened to me this year — anytime I see the homeless my heart breaks, in the streets of New York, “How can we let these people suffer like this?” So I was walking out of a restaurant, Avra, and I see a homeless person, he didn’t have any money, right on Madison Avenue. I always give them something, and I didn’t have anything on me but a credit card. So I walked a little quicker and just kept my eyes forward, and he said: “Coach P, Johnnies are doing great!.” And I turned around and said: “Thank you, are you keeping up with us?” He said, “Keep up with every game.” … So now I’m thinking to myself, “How is a homeless person keeping up with this?” And I just said, “Well, thanks so much for your support.” And I walked away with such a great feeling inside, that a homeless person is following the Johnnies.
Q: But you never gave him any money, though.
A: I had nothing on me!
Q: You could have given him your credit card!
A: It was a St. John’s credit card (laugh)!
Q: “Establish good habits.”
A: I organize my day by hours. What I hope to accomplish every hour. We have three individuals in the morning, 8 o’clock meeting, three individuals in the morning, lunchtime. … I worked out this morning at 5 o’clock. I organize it from the time I get up to the time I go to bed. I will say I go to bed earlier than I’ve ever gone to bed.
Q: Is it harder for you to sleep after a tough loss than it used to be?
A: Well, I made a commitment not to lose (smile). I’m much better at accepting losing for what it is: a way of getting better. I could never be that way. I started in Greece and went to Iona and went here, that I accept losing for what it is: a way to get better.
Q: What changed?
A: Just that to beat myself up, it’s not gonna make us better.
Q: “Learn from good role models.”
A: Most of my role models pretty much moved on. Vince Lombardi growing up was always a guy that we always looked up to as Italian coaches. I always looked up to John Wooden, I have a great picture of us together. I always thought Dean Smith was a guy who handled players the right way, treated ’em with great dignity. I’ve always liked football coaches to a certain degree.
Q: Bill Belichick I know you like.
A: Yes. I took him to the Kentucky Derby … seven years ago, maybe.
Q: Did he pick your brain or did you pick his brain?
A: You know, he’s much different than … great guy. I found out what a car bomb was from him. It’s a glass of Guinness and you put a shot of Jameson with the glass into the beer. “You gotta drop with a shot glass into the beer.” I said, “I’m gonna drink it like that?” That’s a car bomb (laugh).
Q: “Thrive on pressure.”
A: Are you a golfer at all?
Q: No.
A: I think if you go out and you just play for $2, you try to win, not for the $2, but obviously it’s a competitive thing. So when there’s something on the line, when there’s something at stake, regardless of what it is, something so insignificant, a game of chess — the pressure is the greatest gift that you can have as a competitor. Because pressure, whether you think it’s a Billie Jean King, a privilege, I call it our ally, it makes you get to a certain level. Stress is your enemy … but pressure’s a great, great thing.
Q: When did this team begin to understand “edging greatness out”?
A: So I gave them a speech at the beginning of the year about getting on Broadway. I said I met a guy at a coffee shop, and he said, “Coach P, I’m glad you’re at St. John’s, big things are gonna occur.” And I said, “Well, what are you doing?” He said, “I’m a bartender right now, and doing a little bit waiting, anything to make money. I’m an aspiring actor trying to get on Broadway.” And I told the story about how this guy’s working, trying to get on Broadway. “See guys, once you get on Broadway, you’ve arrived. Now, are you gonna stay there? Once you make the Tournament, are you gonna stay there, or is your show gonna be canceled?” I told them in a speech that went on Vice, I said, “If you play for the front of your jersey, all about the team, the back’s gonna prosper.” I said, “If you don’t play for the front, you’re not gonna win, and the back will never prosper.”
Q: Are any of your players over 10 percent body fat?
A: No.
Q: Is that a threshold?
A: Yeah, we want everybody under 10. We want our guards around 5-7, and we want our bigs under 10.
CHECK OUT THE LATEST BIG EAST STANDINGS AND ST. JOHN’S STATS
Q: Is there any darkness of doubt in this team now?
A: No. There was throughout the season, yeah. Because you’ve got a guy from Portugal, a guy from Greece, a guy from Ghana as well as the Sudan, and you got guys that hardly talk. One of the keys to becoming a really good team is to communicate defensively and offensively. I got Ruben Prey, who speaks five languages fluently, but to get him to talk on the court is very difficult.
Q: A Wooden quote: “Talent is God-given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.”
A: I think that is so to the point. Every single player today, because of social media, cares too much what other people think. You just need to look in the mirror and say, “Was I a good person today? Did I get the most out of my potential today? That’s enough, I don’t need any more gratification.”
Q: An Adolph Rupp quote: “Your defense will save you on the nights that your offense isn’t working.”
A: Well, we [Louisville] had to beat Wichita State to get to Michigan, and Wichita State was the best defensive team in the country, and I told me team in a pregame speech, “If you’re not better than them defensively, we’ll never get to the championship game.” And we were better that night.
Q: A Rick Pitino quote: “Failure is fertilizer. … I’ve learned from making mistakes.” What’s the biggest mistake you’ve learned from?
A: We all make mistakes, and I guess what I learned the most was: Stop trying to convince people that you’re innocent. Stop trying that. Because those who love you will believe you, those who won’t will never believe you. So stop saying to the media, “I had no knowledge of that at all.” I don’t believe in that. Stop doing that. It’s irrelevant. If you take the smallest grain of sand on the biggest beach in the world, you’re less than that. So stop trying to think you’re bigger than that. Nobody really cares whether you’re innocent, guilty or not. Nobody cares. So get over yourself, and move on.
Q: Is recruiting still fun?
A: I don’t mind the tedious parts of the job. It’s different. It’s now negotiating, they’re free agents. It’s just different.
Q: Have you shown them clips of famous athletes?
A: In the middle of the night, 3 in the morning, I send them Instagram Reels. I’ll send them everything that he says and does, M.J., send them all the time. But I send them Instagrams at least 10 a week.
Q: To each guy?
A: I’m on a thread with the team. I send it at that point ’cause I can’t sleep.
Q: How many hours of sleep do you get?
A: I’m hopeful I get five, but I probably average four.
Q: A quick scouting report on your assistant coaches: Steve Masiello.
A: He’s a basketball junkie ever since he was a little kid. Always eager to learn and get better. Was a terrific coach at Manhattan, in a very, very difficult job.
Q: Ricky Johns.
A: Ricky Johns plays a lot with our players even though he’s older. We’ve been riddled with injuries this year and he has played more, and the great thing, he’s gotten better (smile).
Q: Bob Walsh.
A: Bob Walsh is extremely analytical. An outstanding mind for the game. Very good with the players one-on-one.
Q: Van Macon.
A: Van had heart surgery, missed a little bit of time. But Van is very well liked by our staff and players. He’s back to normal now.
Q: Taliek Brown.
A: Taliek is very well respected, he won the national championship at Connecticut as a point guard, so he’s very well respected, because of his résumé, by the players.
Q: Looie Carnesecca was the Godfather. But people call you the Godfather. What are your thoughts on that?
A: I’m gettin’ old (laugh).
Q: If Kentucky was the Camelot of college basketball, what is this?
A: Home! (Smile).
Q: Is that as good as Camelot?
A: Well, I think New York City’s the greatest city in the world, so it’s home.
Q: How does your wife Joanne enjoy it?
A: She enjoys it more than me. … She’s a New York gal.
Q: Well, you’re a New York guy.
A: Yeah, but she thought New York was better than … and if you said to her Paris, or Rome, or wherever, outside of heaven, she thinks New York is the greatest place on earth.
Q: Any goose bump moments this season?
A: Every time I walk out at Madison Square Garden I get goose bumps. … I know most of the ushers. Inside is just euphoria for me, personally.
Q: You’d be a terrific late-night talk show host. Who is your favorite comedian?
A: You know, I think after meeting Jimmy Fallon, I would say it’s him. I was watching him, studying him, even the people that just traveled with the team taking pictures, and the support staff, he treated them as if they were kings and queens. And he met the cameraman, he said, “Put down your camera, I want to see your face and meet you.” And he’s got all these other people, he goes from room to room greeting people, and he’s gotta do that every night. And I said, “What a great gift. What a great gift.”
Q: Give me your All-Pitino restaurant starting five.
A: My favorite restaurant by far, in Greece, it’s called Ithaki. It’s on the sea in Athens. I like Avra a lot, I take all the recruits there, it’s in walking distance from my apartment. The people know me there. It’s a Greek restaurant. That’s my go-to restaurant in New York City. Il Mulino, the old one, was always my favorite. I like Smith & Wollensky. I like the people, I like the fun, I like the bar. And probably No. 2 on the list, and I’ve only eaten there twice, is The Polo Bar. It’s tough to get into. I had a friend in Chicago get me into The Polo Bar. Who knew the owner (laugh).
Q: How would you describe your fashion style?
A: Well, for years — when I was the Knick coach, and then on to Kentucky — I had a deal with Brioni. Umberto Angeloni, who was a CEO at Brioni at the time, read a book before that and then read “Success is a Choice.” I had a Brioni contract for like 12, 15 years, and I canceled it, because I was doing nothing for them. I had always admired the way Pat Riley looked on the sidelines. I always thought he was impeccably dressed. Pat and I had the same motivational speakers bureau, this guy Mark Reed, and I got all of Pat’s rejects. Pat didn’t want to do it, he came to me.
Q: Would The Post’s Zach Braziller be able to pull off wearing a white suit?
A: Zach can pull off a lot — that he could not.
Q: What do you think your late brother-in-law Billy Minardi would think of this team?
A: Billy was a big party guy. He has a lot of Bill Raftery in him. When the bartender says “Last call,” he says, “Let’s find another bar (laugh).” He had a great time when I was with the Knicks. He would have a better time with St. John’s because he loved college basketball.
Q: You think about him every day?
A: I have so many pictures in my house of him, it’s impossible not to think of him every day.
Q: What adjectives would you use to describe you as a coach?
A: I don’t know. … I don’t really think about it too much. I don’t know what I would say about myself. I would have to let other people describe me. I don’t know.
Q: How about Rick Pitino the man? What adjectives would you hope people say about you?
A: I think I’m a great family man. Everything is family first. I think I’m a great friend to people. Not only in need, but in support. There’s not a player alive today, that if he’s in a jam, won’t call me. So I’m a friend to everybody I’ve encountered in my life, and that friendship never leaves. … I had a young man who had a flood in eastern Kentucky, and said, “Can you help me?” It never leaves. … Advice … friendship never leaves. So friends are really important to me, family and friends. And all I want in my life is for those people to admire me. I don’t care if anybody else does.
Q: Were you more like your mother or your father?
A: Combination of both. They were hard workers. My dad and I had a great story. I was in college. Drinking age was 18 back then. After work in the summertime I would run an elevator up and down in New York, giving garments up and down an industrial building. And at the end, he would take me to the American Legion, and said, “Let’s grab a beer before we pick up your mom,” who was working at Bellevue. So we have a beer at the Legion, he would have a scotch. We had two or three beers. And then we had a small car, we had to pick my mother up. I don’t want to drive, I’m sitting in the small back of the Karmann Ghia. He’d open the door: “Sal, I can smell alcohol on your breath. Ricky, you’re driving.” (laugh) “I can’t drive mom.” And she would wind up driving. (laugh) “You let your son drink, Sal?” (laugh).
Q: What do you hope your legacy is?
A: That I built a bridge for all my players to cross over, and they learned discipline, they learned hard work, focus and all the things that make a person successful, they learned. And they cross that bridge and they become great family members themselves.
Q: Your message to the fan base heading into March Madness?
A: I just think the fun is just beginning for the program. It’s not just this year. That the fun is just beginning. It’s gonna be a heckuva ride, because we believe we have the blueprint, we believe we have the city, we believe we have the Garden, we have the money for free agency. … So it’s gonna be a helluva ride for everybody involved.
