Ranking Rick Pitino’s best looks, from iconic all-white suit to Lou Carnesecca sweater originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Basketball gyms hardly resemble runways. For all the desire for athletes and coaches alike to sport the finest furs, they typically save their best looks for outside of the spotlight. Players walk into stadiums in outfits worth thousands of dollars. Coaches regularly rock quarter-zips and khakis while barking out instructions to their players.
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Then, there’s Rick Pitino.
The St. John’s coach has stalked sidelines longer for nearly five decades. Unlike the vast majority of his coaching counterparts, he has done so in style, sporting outfits that wouldn’t look out of place in a fashion show. Armed with Armani and Brioni, Pitino is undoubtedly college basketball’s best dressed coach.
Pitino is one of college basketball’s greatest-ever minds. While it’s hard to chalk all — or even most of that — reputation on his fashion sense, it has amplified his status on the sidelines. But just what is the Johnnies’ boss’s greatest-ever look? Here’s what you need to know.
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Ranking Rick Pitino’s best suits
1. All-white suit
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Pitino strode into Madison Square Garden on a brisk February day cloaked in swagger. He was adorned in cream, rocking an all-white Armani number when St. John’s hosted Creighton in 2024.
Pitino wasn’t the only Johnnie shrouded in snow-white attire. There was a blizzard in the stands, with the Red Storm faithful spurning its traditional red-and-black disposition for its annual white out.
Pitino responded in kind, enlisting the nearby Armani store to whip him up something for the occasion. He wasn’t able to fit in his old one, he told college basketball reporter John Fanta. His wife made him buy a new piece, instead.
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Thus began a tradition that has continued throughout Pitino’s tenure at St. John’s. Whenever the calendar turns to that annual “White Out” contest game Pitino dons his signature shade of egg-shell. It’s unlike any other outfit in his repertoire.
“It looks clean on him,” Oziyah Sellers said, according to FanSided.
2. Lou Carnesecca sweater
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Pitino isn’t the first Italian-American coach to shine on the St. John’s sideline. He was preceded by Lou Carnesecca, who spent 24 years with the Red Storm.
Carnesecca is St. John’s greatest-ever coach. He led the Red Storm to two Big East titles and a Final Four berth in 1985. The Manhattan native was known for his game-calling chops, as well as his assortment of wool sweaters. Carnesecca’s most iconic knit look? The brown sweater with a red and blue “V” pattern he sported during that famous 1985 season.
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Carnesecca died on Jan. 25, 2024 at the age of 99. Pitino honored his former Big East counterpart by sporting a Carnesecca-like sweater later that year.
The look worked a charm; the Johnnies claimed an 88-72 win over Kansas State.
3. National championship game
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Pitino technically only has one national title in his collection — the NCAA vacated his second crown after he was found to have given improper benefits to players during his time at Louisville.
Still, his suit from that national title contest lives on in college basketball lore. It wasn’t a particularly unique look — Pitino rocked a simple black jacket with a glint red tie.
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The devil was in the details for Pitino, though, adorned his outfit with a sleek white handkerchief, a white pendant and a glistening championship ring.
Pitino might not be able to claim the second of his national crowns. But his outfit has lingered in college basketball lore long after the final horn sounded.
4. Candy red number
Pitino tends to go with simple hues when picking out his outfits — namely blue and blacks. But sometimes he shows out. While manning the sideline during Louisville’s 2010 match with Syracuse, Pitino sported a cherry red jacket.
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It was an audacious attempt for the then-57-year-old. Perhaps it doesn’t suit the average onlookers’ taste. But the outfit certainly offered a window into the rolodex of looks that crowd Pitino’s closet.
5. A man of many ties
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Pitino has expensive tastes in suits. More often than not, his outfits bear the names of Armani and Brioni, high-end fashion retailers known for their intricately-woven efforts. According to ESPN, Pitino’s ensembles regularly run up bills of more than $3,000.
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And yet, it’s Pitino’s ties that might be the most alluring part of his outfits. Sometimes they’re patterned. At other points, they’re awash in color. This look, rocked during Louisville’s 2009 NCAA tournament tilt with Morehead State, comes with white-and-black stripes that rest nicely between his two jacket flaps.
