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Speaking on the Str8 to Da League podcast, Jermaine O'Neal shared that Kentucky was his top choice coming out of high school and that Pitino had heavily recruited him, making multiple in-home visits with O'Neal and his family. "I was going to go to Kentucky. Shout out to Rick Pitino, man. Like he recruited me, and this was like the realest thing, man. My mother loved him, man. She loved him," O'Neal said. According to O'Neal, Pitino's honesty ultimately convinced him to skip college and enter the NBA Draft.
Jermaine O'Neal: I was going to go to Kentucky. Shout out to Rick Pitino man. Like he recruited me and this was like the realest thing man. My mother loved him man. She loved him. He was sitting in our living room he said look man, he said Jermaine he came all four times on the visits and he said look everything I know about you and your family, you know, the struggles the things you’re going through. He said we’re going to be good with you or we going to be good without you. Would love to have you, but you should go pro. And that was the realest thing, bro.
Also seen at the home game the Knicks lost were billionaire Jets owner Woody Johnson, “Marty Supreme” director Josh Safdie, Woody Allen, President Trump, Fat Joe, Mayor Mamdani, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez Eli Manning, Rick Pitino, Francisco Lindor, Patrick Ewing, Walt “Clyde” Frazier, Allan Houston, John Franco, Juan Soto, Todd Zeile and hockey stars Jonathan Quick, Adam Fox and Vincent Trocheck.
Rich Kleiman: You miss coaching, commentating more, you think? Mark Jackson: I would say coaching. And the reason why I would say that because when I'm commentating, I'm commentating what's taking place on the court. When I'm coaching, I'm impacting lives and I'm making a difference and I'm giving birth to something that I may not be able to be part of it when it's over with, but I'm able to identify and say not just look at Steph Curry, the four-time champ. No, look at Steph Curry, the man, the husband, the father. I take pride in that. There are certain guys and I'm 60 years old I still call them coach and I'll never call him Rick Pitino. That’s coach Pitino to me. Rick Pitino is the best coach I ever played for. And I say that with respect. I don't play 17 years. I don't win rookie of the year. I don't go to an All-Star game. I don't have all any of those things if Rick Pitino is not the first coach I ever played for. The dude had me believing I was better than Magic Johnson. I'm on the court believing I'm Magic. I know I'm not better than Magic Johnson, but if you put me on the lie detector test, I would have passed it because he instilled something in me that I'll forever be grateful.
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Thanks to Tom Thibodeau for stopping by practice this week! 🤝 pic.twitter.com/Gm4dDeTmMG
— St. John's Men’s Basketball (@StJohnsBBall) September 4, 2025
On Wednesday night, Pitino threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the New York Yankees game. He then made an appearance on the broadcast and was asked about the job. Pitino didn't leave the door open at all. “Absolutely not,” Pitino said when he was asked about the Knicks job.
Knicks Videos: Rick Pitino says he "feels bad" for Tom Thibodeau "He captured all of New York and captured something very, very special. A lot of us don't comprehend what happened, but Thibs is going to be well taken care of"
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Jermaine O'Neal: "Rick Pitino was my guy. Shout out to Rick Pitino, man. He recruited me himself. Sometimes it’s just the assistant coaches—but he came every time to the house. He sat in my house and told my mother: 'Look, I’ve seen everything your son went through. I’ve got relationships in the NBA. They say he’s projected between 10th and 17th.' Then he said: 'We’re going to be good with you—and we’ll be good without you. We’d love to have you. But knowing what I know: Go pro.'"
Rick Pitino: It's interesting, in my 40+ years I've never shown clips to my teams of NBA defense. Offensive sets and individual moves, but never defense. Until this past season. We watched the Thunder at least 3x a week. Their switching, loading up to help, and rotations are awesome. And they are still so young!!!
Rick Strom of The Rick Strom Show allowed Antoine Walker to reflect on the harsh words from Ryan that defined his career, pulling back the curtain on what it was like to be on the receiving end of such ruthless commentary. “The simple fact of the matter is that Antoine Walker is a punk,” Ryan wrote. “Antoine Walker is such an arrogant, misguided, yes, punk, that there’s nothing either M.L. Carr, Rick Pitino, or The Pope could do with this kid.” “His juvenile mugging is classless. It irritates opponents – yes, Antoine, people on other clubs really do hate you – and it embarrasses the organization.” “He is a classic product of the modern basketball system. He is an AAU baby who has never worked at anything other than basketball in his life, and who has only met one coach – Rick Pitino – who has ever told him ‘no’ about anything. He is arrogant and clueless about his profession.” “He is merely a punk who can play a little basketball. Join me in wishing him well at his next destination.”
Legendary basketball coach Rick Pitino’s office at St. John’s University was broken into by a pair of thieves who ransacked it for memorabilia, cops and sources said. Two as-yet-unidentified men ran off with $375 worth of goods, including a basketball and bullhorn, during the Tuesday burglary in Carnesecca Arena, where Pitino’s office is located a floor above the basketball court, sources said.
