Rick Pitino backed fellow legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski’s proposal to merge two major NCAA conferences to protect college basketball against the growing popularity of college football.
Pitino’s St. John’s ranked first in the Big East in 2024-25, posting an 18-2 record to beat Creighton, defending champions UConn and Marquette. Over the years, the idea of merging two conferences has appealed to some people, including one of the best coaches of all time.
Coach K believes that a merger between the Big East and the ACC would be beneficial for college basketball. Talking with college basketball analyst Jon Rothstein on Friday, Pitino raved about a potential “megaconference,” agreeing that college football has taken over.
Rick Pitino agrees with Coach K’s merger idea
“Well, I am in total agreement with Coach K,” Pitino said on Friday, via CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein. “See, when I started, John, before you were born, 51 years ago, football, college football and college basketball were on the same plane. The NFL and the NBA were on the same plane. Today, the NFL is here, the NBA is here. Not globally, I’m talking about the U.S.”
Rick Pitino
“A bad college football game will surpass an NBA playoff game as far as viewership is concerned,” Pitino said. “If we want to survive basketball-wise with the ACC and the Big East and preserve the Dukes, the Carolinas, the Lobos of the world, and the Big East, combining it into a megaconference would be an awesome thing.”
Time will tell if this idea ever comes to fruition. It seems highly unlikely, but when two legendary coaches like them talk, everybody else should listen.
