Pearl, Pitino share AP coach award in first-ever tie

Bruce Pearl has turned Auburn into a basketball school and may have his finest group yet. Rick Pitino has actually done what he does best at St. John’s, introducing a fast turnaround.Their successes this season resulted in the first tie in the 58-year history of The Associated Press males’s college basketball Coach of the Year award.Pearl and Pitino each got 20 votes in balloting launched Friday from the nationwide media panel that selects the AP Top 25 during the season. Louisville’s Pat Kelsey received 8 votes, and Duke’s Jon Scheyer got 5. Dennis Gates( Missouri)and Tom Izzo (Michigan State)each got three, and Drake’s Ben McCollum and UC San Diego’s Eric Olen each got one vote.Editor’s Picks 2 Related Pitino is the very first from St. John’s to be called AP Coach of the Year and the 6th in Big East history.

Marquette

‘s Shaka Smart won the award two years ago.When Pitino was worked with in 2023, the Red Storm had been mired in mediocrity. St. John’s had not been to the NCAA tournament considering that 2019,

and the March Insanity journeys had been erratic since the late 1990s. Pitino led the Red Storm to 20 wins his first season and back into nationwide prominence this year. St. John’s won the Big East regular-season title by going 18-2 and took its very first Big East competition title considering that 2000. The Red Storm matched a school record with 31 wins– marks set in the 1980s under Lou Carnesecca– and had their greatest ranking in the AP Top 25 in 34 years by

reaching No. 5 in the final regular-season poll. St. John’s was a No. 2 seed in the NCAA competition and opened with a win over Omaha before losing to Arkansas in the second round.Pitino’s fast success follows a pattern he embeded in previous stops at Boston University, Providence, Kentucky, Louisville and Iona. He is the first coach to lead six programs to the NCAA tournament.”I

have been blessed for an extended period of time, 50-plus years of training, “Pitino said.”It’s going to stop, so why not have a blast? Why not get the most out of it? Laugh, have fun, get terrific experiences.”Pearl has definitely been doing that because taking control of at Auburn in 2015. The Tigers had actually not been to the NCAA tournament since 2003, and Pearl got them back into the bracket by his fourth season. Auburn took a huge leap the list below year, earning the program’s very first trip to the Last 4 in 2019. The Tigers have actually been close to unstoppable this season.Led by All-American Johni Broome, Auburn spent eight straight weeks at No. 1, earned the SEC regular-season title and has actually won a school-record 32 games. The Tigers were the No. 1 general seed in the NCAA competition and bulled their way through the bracket, beating Michigan State 70-64 to reach the Final Four for the second time.Pearl signs up with Cliff Ellis in 1999 as the only Auburn coaches to win AP Coach of the Year. He is very first SEC coach to win the award because Kentucky’s John Calipari 10 years earlier.”You want to be on a fantastic group, you have actually got to make sacrifices,”Pearl said. “You’ve got to share, and you’ve got to

hold each other liable. I believe that’s a big part of what this locker space is all about. This is a team of faith.”With a nationwide coach of the year,

just like St. John’s.