If the New York Knicks need their subsequent head coach to be one who has Large East ties, they’re going to must search for somebody aside from two of the convention’s high present coaches. UConn’s Dan Hurley and St. John’s Rick Pitino have every turned down curiosity within the Knicks’ head coach emptiness.
Hurley had been considered as a potential frontrunner for the Knicks’ head coach place after expressing curiosity within the Los Angeles Lakers‘ head coach job final offseason. Nevertheless, he ended up turning down Los Angeles after receiving a suggestion, along with his ties to the Northeast being cited as a motive why he opted to stay at UConn.
“Not one other summer time of that,” Hurley told The Hartford Courant when requested if he had any curiosity within the Knicks’ job.
Hurley wound up agreeing to a six-year, $50 million extension with UConn after turning down the Lakers. The Huskies’ bid to develop into the primary workforce to three-peat as nationwide champions in over 50 years fell quick, with UConn shedding within the Spherical of 32 final season.
Pitino’s St. John’s squad was one of many roadblocks UConn handled alongside the way in which because the Johnnies received the Large East regular-season and match titles. It marked the primary time since 1992 that St. John’s had received the common season title and the primary time since 2000 that it had received the Large East match title.
St. John’s runs to each titles captivated New York Metropolis and made Pitino some of the standard figures within the metropolis’s sports activities scene. However Pitino made it clear he did not need the Knicks job after they fired Thom Thibodeau following their run to the Japanese Convention finals on Tuesday, mentioning the large expectations the following coach should take care of.
“Completely not,” Pitino mentioned when asked during the YES Network’s broadcast of Wednesday’s recreation between the New York Yankees and the Cleveland Guardians, during which he threw the primary pitch.
“I feel whoever is available in, if he would not get to the Finals, it’ll be deemed an unsuccessful season,” Pitino added. “So, whoever is available in has received a lot strain on them to take this workforce to the following degree, ‘trigger that is why they’re doing it, clearly, of their minds.”
Rick Pitino helped coach St. John’s to its greatest season in a long time in 2024-25. (Photograph by Porter Binks/Getty Pictures).
Pitino, a 72-year-old New York native, was the pinnacle coach of the Knicks for 2 seasons within the late Nineteen Eighties (1987-89). New York went 90-74 in Pitino’s tenure. Pitino additionally had a three-plus-year stint as the pinnacle coach of the Boston Celtics from 1997-2001 earlier than resigning.
As Hurley and Pitino have taken themselves off the board, there are a handful of different notable choices for the Knicks of their search to interchange Thibodeau. Former Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone opened up as the betting favorite, through DraftKings Sportsbook. Cleveland Cavaliers affiliate head coach Johnnie Bryant has the second-best odds to develop into the Knicks’ subsequent head coach. Bryant, who was the Knicks’ affiliate head coach from 2020-24, was one of many finalists for the Phoenix Suns‘ head coach emptiness, however they agreed to a deal to rent fellow Cavaliers assistant Jordan Ott on Wednesday.
Former Villanova coach Jay Wright has additionally been a broadly speculated candidate for the job. He coached three of the workforce’s high gamers in faculty (Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart), lending some credence to the rumors he might be the workforce’s subsequent head coach. However FOX Sports activities faculty basketball knowledgeable John Fanta doesn’t anticipate Wright unretiring to coach the Knicks.
“Jay Wright is having fun with purple wine, basketball, tv and his household,” Fanta mentioned on “The Herd.” “If he wished to teach once more, he’d be the Villanova coach.
“Jay Wright is just not going anyplace.”
The Knicks even have curiosity in Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka and Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd, longtime NBA insider Marc Stein reported. After capturing the No. 2 seed within the Western Convention, Houston is not thinking about letting New York probably negotiate a deal and commerce involving Udoka, per The Athletic.
As New York will get within the trenches in its head coach search, the choice to fireplace Thibodeau nonetheless felt a little bit of a shock to many. He helped flip across the Knicks in his 5 seasons as head coach, making the playoffs 4 occasions following an eight-year postseason drought. This previous season marked their greatest playoff run in a quarter-century, with New York reaching the Japanese Convention finals for the primary time since 2000. Following their second-round upset of the defending champion Celtics, the Knicks fell to the Indiana Pacers in six video games.
Pitino gave the impression to be amongst these stunned by the transfer, too.
“I feel everyone’s sort of shocked,” Pitino mentioned. “You do not hearth people who take you to the Japanese finals and with the entire city so excited in regards to the workforce. They partied on seventh Avenue and we’re not even within the Finals. So I feel everyone’s in shock. However slightly than move judgement, Thibs has received three years left.
“They made the choice. They have to reside with it. Let’s examine.”
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