Richard Pitino leaving UNM to take head coaching position at Xavier

Men's basketball coach Richard Pitino will be leaving the University of New Mexico and has accepted the head coaching position at Xavier University in the Big East, the Journal confirmed on Tuesday night.

"Xavier is one of the great brands in all of college basketball," Pitino said in a news release from his new school. "It has always been a dream of mine to coach in the BIG EAST. The Cintas Center is going to be rocking. I can't wait to get to work."

Pitino takes over for Sean Miller, who left that job as head coach to coach at Texas on Sunday. Miller was reportedly being paid $4.5 million per season at the Big East school located in Cincinnati.

Pitino was being paid $1.2 million this season at UNM and the Journal has confirmed through UNM administrators and donors to the program that he was offered north of $2 million to stay on as the Lobos coach.

Following Miller's departure, former Xavier Coach Chris Mack talked with his old school about the position. At 7:18 p.m. on Tuesday, he posted on social media that he would not be returning to Xavier and was excited to announce he would stay at the University of Charleston.

The Journal confirmed Pitino was going to Xavier shortly after 8 p.m.

UNM Athletic Director Fernando Lovo, who will launch a national search for a new head coach, put out a statement late Tuesday on social media that read, in part:

"For more than a month, we have been engaged with Coach Pitino and his representatives in extensive contract discussions and made an extremely aggressive retention offer — reflective of our commitment to him, his staff, and our basketball program."

Lovo also said the search for a new coach has already begun.

Asked Sunday night in Cleveland if he had a timetable for a decision on his future at UNM since his name was so actively being linked to several job openings, Pitino said there was no decision to make because there was no offer he had at the time.

“We’re working on next season this week — me and the staff,” Pitino said.

Pitino, 42, completed his fourth season at UNM on Sunday night with a 71-63 loss to No. 2 seed Michigan State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament — two days after beating No. 7 Marquette for the Lobos' first win in the NCAA Tournament since 2012.

Pitino was hired in March 2021 after being fired at Minnesota following an eight-year stint at that Big Ten program.

He took over a Lobos team that had won just six games the previous season (only four vs. Division I opponents) and was rated No. 303 in the NCAA's NET rankings.

He had the Lobos back in the NIT in 2023 for the program's first postseason appearance of any kind in nine seasons and back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in a decade in 2024. This season, the Lobos went 27-8 and won the Mountain West championship and an NCAA Tournament game.

The news of Pitino's departure came on a day star junior point guard Donovan Dent earlier in the day announced he will enter the NCAA transfer portal.

Pitino‘s name had been regularly coming up for jobs this offseason. He had turned down in previous offseasons a job at South Florida and interviewed for, but did not get, the job at Louisville last April.

The Journal has learned Pitino talked this offseason with Virginia, Villanova, VCU and West Virginia.

Pitino had a buyout of $750,000 that was reduced by 50% due to a clause stipulating it would be cut in half for an entire contract year if Athletic Director Eddie Nuñez left that post, which he did in August to become AD at Houston.