After attending St. Sebastian's School in Needham, Massachusetts, Richard Pitino earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history at Providence College in 2005.

For two years, he also served as an assistant basketball coach for St. Andrew's School in nearby Barrington, Rhode Island.

[4] With only six players remaining from the previous season, and not all of them on scholarship, Pitino cobbled together a team and coached a high-pressure defense that finished eighth in the nation in steals.

[6] On April 3, 2014, exactly one year to the date he was hired, Pitino won his first NIT Championship by defeating coach Larry Brown's SMU team 65–63, securing a school record 25th win.

Following a historically bad third-year at Minnesota, Coach Pitino orchestrated an impressive turnaround by improving the team's record by 16 wins, utilizing a revamped roster that included five new contributors.

The turnaround helped earn Richard Pitino the Big Ten Coach of the Year award on March 6, 2017.

[9] On March 17, 2021, less than 24 hours after he was fired by Minnesota, Pitino became the 22nd head coach in University of New Mexico program history.

Coach Pitino immediately found success in recruiting by attacking the newly invigorated transfer portal.

Coach Pitino brought future All-Mountain West performers Jaelen House (Arizona State) and Jamal Mashburn Jr (Minnesota) to Albuquerque as foundational pieces for the program.

Under Pitino, UNM brought nine new incoming recruits to Albuquerque in hopes to improve upon a 6–16 record left by the coaching regime the previous year.