Rick Pitino welcomed as coach at St. John's: 'I've earned it'

NEW YORK — The video banner above the entrance to Madison Square Garden on Tuesday read: «Welcome Rick Pitino.»

More like welcome back for the new St. John's coach.

Back to the Garden, where he once coached the Knicks.

Back to the Big East, the conference that launched his stardom and where he won his most recent NCAA championship.

Back to big-time college basketball after a series of scandals made it seem as if that part of his career was over.

«So, when I went to Iona, I said that Iona was going to be my last job,» Pitino said at his introductory news conference at MSG. «And the reason I said that is who's going to hire a 70-year-old? No matter how much I think I'm Peter Pan, who's going to hire a 70-year-old?»

St. John's gave the Hall of Famer a six-year contract to turn back the clock on a program that once stole New York City tabloid headlines away from the Knicks in the 1980s under coach Lou Carnesecca but has been mired in mediocrity for more than two decades.

The Red Storm once played most of their biggest home games at the Garden. Pitino said the goal is to have all their Big East games played there going forward.

«Lou built a legendary program. Legendary,» Pitino said. «I'm all-in with everything that St. John stands for. I'm excited about it. I can't wait to get started.

»And it's going to start with a culture of work."

Pitino, who was born in New York City and grew up on Long Island, has won 832 games in 34 full seasons as a college head coach, including NCAA championships at Kentucky in 1996 and Louisville in 2013.

The title at Louisville was vacated because of NCAA violations, and another NCAA case related to the FBI's investigation into corruption in college basketball recruiting led to Pitino being fired