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Kevin Willard didn’t have to imagine what the inside of the St. John’s basketball practice facility looked like in the days following their embarrassing 72-40 loss to UConn. He’s lived it.
As an assistant coach for ten years under Rick Pitino when he led the Boston Celtics and Louisville men’s basketball, Willard experienced plenty of success working under the Hall of Fame head coach with the Cardinals. He helped win 142 of 200 games in his six seasons on Pitino’s staff, clinch four NCAA Tournament appearances, and make a Final Four in 2005.
Rarely has Willard seen the bad days, and those were likely the stuff of nightmares when you answer to one of the most passionate coaches the sport of basketball has ever seen.
So when reporters asked him on Saturday night what his former superior’s disposition was in the wake of horrible losses after his own team fell victim to a 32-point blowout to Pitino’s Red Storm, Willard spoke candidly like he often does.
“I’m not bullsh*tting you, I don’t have hair because of him. I had a full head of hair when I started working for him,” Willard said when working under Pitino, “It’s the most miserable experience in life, like you fear for your life every day. Everyone laughs when I say that, but you think you’re going to get fired.”
Willard left Louisville ahead of the 2007-08 season to become the head coach at Iona, and only crossed paths with Pitino on the sidelines in nine matchups. So far, the teacher bested the student in eight of those meetings, including their two games against each other this season. Half-jokingly, he figured the Red Storm head coach is even more fiery at the age of 73.
“As [Pitino’s] gotten older, he’s probably become more of a cranky old b***h than he was when I worked with him,” Willard said in his trademark tone of dry sarcasm. “When he walks in the facility, he’s walking in at 6:30, and you’ve been there since 5:30 thinking you have everything right, and he comes in and asks you the one question that you don’t know.”
If it was not apparent that Willard spoke with the utmost respect for his former mentor, he stated that Pitino has the most energy of any coach he has ever been around, and that Rick and Zuby Ejiofor were the perfect match of player and coach.
“That’s why he’s got 900 wins and National Championships because he does it better and more intensely than anybody else.”
St. John’s and Villanova will most likely clinch the second and third seeds in this year’s Big East Tournament, so the two head coaches’ teams could see each other again in the conference tournament semifinals later this month. The Red Storm will be back in action on Tuesday, March 3, for their Senior Night game against Georgetown (7 p.m., Peacock).