Rick Pitino and Bruce Pearl have been named co-winners of The Related Press males’s faculty basketball Coach of the Yr award on Friday.
It was the primary tie in voting within the 58 years that the award has been introduced.
Each Pitino, of St. John’s, and Auburn’s Pearl acquired 20 votes from a nationwide media panel.
Additionally receiving votes have been Pat Kelsey of Louisville (eight votes), Jon Scheyer of Duke (5), Dennis Gates of Missouri (three) and Michigan State’s Tom Izzo (three). Ben McCollum of Drake and Eric Olen of UC San Diego — each of whom have moved on to new jobs — every received one vote.
Pitino, 72, simply accomplished his thirty seventh season as a head coach, with Pearl, 65, in his twenty first season. It’s the first award for each veteran coaches.
Pitino is the primary St. John’s coach to earn the AP honors. In his second season there, he led the Pink Storm to a 31-5 report and its first journey to the NCAA Match since 2019.
Pearl is in his eleventh season at Auburn, which is the No. 1 general seed within the NCAA Match and can meet Florida within the Closing 4 on Saturday.
That is Auburn’s sixth look within the match underneath Pearl and its second Closing 4.
Cliff Ellis (1999) is the one different Auburn coach to win the AP award.
–Area Degree Media