Most people imagined the two days of practice leading into the St. John’s basketball game against Villanova were fairly unpleasant after its 32-point loss to No. 6 UConn and no one has a better idea at what the Johnnies went through than Kevin Willard.
The Wildcat head coach, an assistant coach under Rick Pitino for ten years with the Boston Celtics and Louisville Cardinals explained exactly what it is like to work for the Hall of Famer.
“I’m not bullsh***ing, I don’t have hair because of him,” Willard explained after the Red Storm’s 89-57 win on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. “I had a full set of hair when I started working for him. Like, it’s the most miserable experience in life, you fear for your life every day.”
After leaving Pitino, Willard has seen a lot of success with head coaching stops at Iona, Seton Hall, Maryland, and Villanova. He’s made seven NCAA Tournaments and will take the Wildcats to the dance this season in his first year with the program.
“You think you’re going to get fired and it’s miserable,” he added about working for Pitino. “And, you know, as he’s gotten older, he’s probably become more of a cranky old b***ch than he was. Like you literally fear for your life.”
“He walks into the facility and he’s walking in at 6:30 and you’ve been there since 5:30 thinking you have everything right, and he comes and he asks you the one question that you don’t know. He’s that intense, he always has been.”
Since joining St. John’s, Rick Pitino has led the program to 74-24 record and 45-13 mark in the Big East. The Johnnies won the Big East regular season and tournament championships last season and are poised to try and defend its crown entering the final week of the season.
“He’s got the most energy of any coach I’ve ever been around and I think that’s why he’s got 900 wins and national championships because he does it better and more intense and anybody,” Willard said.
St. John’s swept Villanova this year but there could be a third meeting between the teams in the Big East Tournament next week.