INDIANAPOLIS (USBWA) – St. John's head coach Rick Pitino rejuvenated the Red Storm’s program this season with a 30-4 record to date, reaching the 30-win mark for just the third time in program history and first time since 1985-86 as they head into the NCAA Tournament on Thursday. For guiding St. John’s to its first Big East Conference title in 40 seasons as well as the conference tournament title, Pitino has been named the winner of the 2024-25 Henry Iba Award, awarded annually by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association to its national coach of the year.
Pitino will be formally honored on April 17 at the USBWA Awards Dinner hosted by the Missouri Athletic Club in St. Louis.
This is the first Henry Iba Award for Pitino and the second in three seasons for the Big East Conference. Pitino is the second St. John’s coach to earn the USBWA honor and the school’s first in 40 seasons following Lou Carnesecca in the 1984-85 season. Carnesecca also won it for the 1982-83 season. Marquette’s Shaka Smart won the award in the 2022-23 season.
As they open the NCAA Tournament facing Omaha at 9:45 p.m. ET Thursday in Providence, R.I., Pitino and No. 2 seed St. John’s (30-4) have won nine straight and hold a 19-1 mark in the calendar year. The 19 wins in a 20-game span is the most since the 1984-85 season, when St. John's last made the Final Four. It is St. John’s 30th overall trip to the Big Dance and its first since 2019.
After winning the outright Big East Championship, St. John's orchestrated a dominant run last week at Madison Square Garden to win its first Big East Tournament Championship since 2000. The top-seeded Red Storm defeated Butler, Marquette and Creighton in consecutive days all by 16 points or more to run away with the title. The Johnnies boasted an average margin of victory of 17.7 points during the conference tournament, marking the largest winning margin by a Big East Tournament Champion since Villanova recorded a 19.0 scoring margin during its 2017 title run.
St. John’s four losses came by a combined margin of seven points, the total lowest margin of defeat by an NCAA Division I program with four or more losses since 1950.
This will be Pitino’s 24th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and he becomes the first head coach to lead six different schools to the tournament (Boston University, Providence, Kentucky, Louisville, Iona and now St. John's) and the first to lead three different schools (Providence, Kentucky, Louisville) to the Final Four. The 2025 Big East Coach of Year holds an all-time record of 54-21 (.720) in the NCAA Tournament – the third-best all-time coaching mark – and has advanced to 13 Sweet 16s, 12 Elite Eights, seven Final Fours and three National Championship games, winning two of them at Kentucky (1996) and Louisville (2013).
The Big East Coach of the Year coached several players who also earned all-conference accolades this season. RJ Luis Jr., a 6-7 guard/forward from Miami, Fla., yesterday earned a second-team spot on the USBWA’s All-America team. Luis was the Big East’s Player of the year – the first at St. John’s since Water Berry in 1986 – and tournament Most Valuable Player averaging 18.4 points and 7.2 rebounds. He is the first USBWA All-American from St. John's since guard/forward Malik Sealy in 1992. Zuby Ejiofor and Kadary Richmond were also All-Big East selections.
St. John's went undefeated at home this season, winning all 18 contests for the first time since 1931-32, when the Redmen went 16-0 at home. The Red Storm were 10-0 at Madison Square Garden, their second longest streak in program history in that arena and have won 14 straight at Carnesecca Arena dating back to the beginning of the 2023-24 season, which ties for the eighth longest streak in program history.
Pitino became the second coach in NCAA Division I men's basketball history (joining Dana Altman) as the only coaches to win the conference coach of the year award at four different schools and in four different conferences. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer has garnered six league coach of the year honors at Kentucky (1991, '96), Louisville (2005), Iona (2022-23) and St. John's (2025).
Pitino recently surpassed revered coaches Adolph Rupp and Dean Smith on the all-time wins list, sliding into seventh place with 882 career victories.
The Henry Iba Award is named in honor of the legendary coaching great at Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State) who won two NCAA championships and two gold medals and one silver as coach of the U S. Olympic teams. Iba held the dual position of basketball coach and athletic director until he retired in 1970. He was elected to the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, the Missouri Hall of Fame, the Helms Foundation All-Time Hall of Fame for basketball, and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame at Springfield, Mass. Henry Iba passed away in 1993 in Stillwater, Okla.
The U.S. Basketball Writers Association was formed in 1956 at the urging of then-NCAA Executive Director Walter Byers. With some 900 members worldwide, it is one of the most influential organizations in college basketball. For more information on the USBWA and its award programs, contact executive director Malcolm Moran at 814-574-1485.
ALL-TIME HENRY IBA AWARD WINNERS
2024-25: Rick Pitino, St. John's (Big East)
2023-24: Kelvin Sampson, Houston (Big 12)
2022-23: Shaka Smart, Marquette (Big East)
2021-22: Tommy Lloyd, Arizona (Pac-12)
2020-21: Juwan Howard, Michigan (Big Ten)
2019-20: Anthony Grant, Dayton (Atlantic 10)
2018-19: Rick Barnes, Tennessee (SEC)
2017-18: Tony Bennett, Virginia (ACC)
2016-17: Mark Few, Gonzaga (West Coast)
2015-16: Chris Mack, Xavier (Big East)
2014-15: Tony Bennett, Virginia (ACC)
2013-14: Gregg Marshall, Wichita State (Missouri Valley)
2012-13: Jim Larrañaga, Miami, Fla. (ACC)
2011-12: Frank Haith, Missouri (Big 12)
2010-11: Mike Brey, Notre Dame (Big East)
2009-10: Jim Boeheim, Syracuse (Big East)
2008-09: Bill Self, Kansas (Big 12)
2007-08: Keno Davis, Drake (Missouri Valley)
2006-07: Tony Bennett, Washington State (Pac-10)
2005-06: Roy Williams, North Carolina (ACC)
2004-05: Bruce Weber, Illinois (Big Ten)
2003-04: Phil Martelli, St. Joseph’s (Atlantic 10)
2002-03: Tubby Smith, Kentucky (SEC)
2001-02: Ben Howland, Pittsburgh (Big East)
2000-01: Al Skinner, Boston College (Big East)
1999-00: Larry Eustacy, Iowa State (Big 12)
1998-99: Cliff Ellis, Auburn (SEC)
1997-98: Tom Izzo, Michigan State (Big Ten)
1996-97: Clem Haskins, Minnesota (Big Ten)
1995-96: Gene Keady, Purdue (Big Ten)
1994-95: Kelvin Sampson, Oklahoma (Big 8)
1993-94: Charlie Spoonhour, Saint Louis (Great Midwest)
1992-93: Eddie Fogler, Vanderbilt (SEC)
1991-92: Perry Clark, Tulane (Metro)
1990-91: Randy Ayers, Ohio State (Big Ten)
1989-90: Roy Williams, Kansas (Big 8)
1988-89: Bob Knight, Indiana (Big Ten)
1987-88: John Chaney, Temple (Atlantic 10)
1986-87: John Chaney, Temple (Atlantic 10)
1985-86: Dick Versace, Bradley (Missouri Valley)
1984-85: Lou Carnesecca, St. John’s (Big East)
1983-84: Gene Keady, Purdue (Big Ten)
1982-83: Lou Carnesecca, St. John’s (Big East)
1981-82: John Thompson, Georgetown (Big East)
1980-81: Ralph Miller, Oregon State (Pac-10)
1979-80: Ray Meyer, DePaul (Independent)
1978-79: Dean Smith, North Carolina (ACC)
1977-78: Ray Meyer, DePaul (Independent)
1976-77: Eddie Sutton, Arkansas (Southwest)
1975-76: Johnny Orr, Michigan (Big Ten)
1974-75: Bob Knight, Indiana (Big Ten)
1973-74: Norm Sloan, N.C. State (ACC)
1972-73: John Wooden, UCLA (Pac-8)
1971-72: John Wooden, UCLA (Pac-8)
1970-71: John Wooden, UCLA (Pac-8)
1969-70: John Wooden, UCLA (Pac-8)
1968-69: Maury John, Drake (Missouri Valley)
1967-68: Guy Lewis, Houston (Independent)
1966-67: John Wooden, UCLA (AAWU)
1965-66: Adolph Rupp, Kentucky (SEC)
1964-65: Butch Van Breda Kolff, Princeton (Ivy League)
1963-64: John Wooden, UCLA (AAWU)
1962-63: Ed Jucker, Cincinnati (Missouri Valley)
1961-62: Fred Taylor, Ohio State (Big Ten)
1960-61: Fred Taylor, Ohio State (Big Ten)
1959-60: Pete Newell, California (AAWU)
1958-59: Eddie Hickey, Marquette (Independent)