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“I don’t have a problem with that”: $45 million worth Rick Pitino makes his feelings clear about college players making money

Rick Pitino is one of the highest-paid coaches in college basketball, with an estimated net worth of $45 million (as per Celebrity Net Worth). On WFAN with Brandon Tierney and Sal Licata on Monday, Pitino weighed in on the issue of players making money off of their name, image, and likeness.

He made his stance clear on the topic while bringing up other big names to show the difference in opinion among coaches.

“I’m not anti-NIL. Tom Izzo’s anti-NIL, Jay Wright was, Tony Bennett was anti-portal. I’m not anti that at all. I felt that we’ve been making millions of dollars all those years. The players should make money, so I’m for that," Rick Pitino said.
“Now I’m not crazy about the transfer portal, because guys, I have a center, backup center from USC [Vince Iwuchukwu] that I think is going to be a very good player someday, but it’s going to take time and effort. Well, he’s going to say, ‘Well, look, if I’m only playing 10 minutes a game. I’m going to go transfer, they’re promising me 30 minutes a game.’ So that part I don’t like. But as far as the players being paid, I don’t have a problem with that.”

Rick Pitino rates Kansas State highly ahead of upcoming matchup

Rick Pitino is gearing up his St. John's team for their matchup against the Kansas State Wildcats this Saturday.

On WFAN, Pitino said the contest would be the toughest for St. John's this season.

“They will be the most talented team that we have faced this year, top to bottom. They have a very large salary cap, let’s put it that way. They got Coleman [Hawkins] from Illinois, who is an outstanding 6-9 , 6-10 player. [Brendan] Hausen from Villanova is shooting the lights out. Dug McDaniel who killed us at Michigan last year as a backup point. They got Max Jones, so they’re very deep," Rick Pitino said.
“They’re the deepest, most talented team and they’re very, very athletic. What they do is our weakness, which is the thing that scares me the most. They are a great 3-point shooting team, they shoot almost 39 percent, 38.2 percent from the three. Great shooting team. If there’s one area that we haven failed at so far in the early season, is we haven’t defended the 3-point shot well.”

The Red Storm are 6-2 to start the 2024-25 season. They average 82.1 points on 47.7% shooting from the field and 33.7% from beyond the arc. On defense, they concede 66.6 points to their opponents while holding them to 39.4% shooting overall and 34.2% from downtown.

St. John's has nine players averaging nine or more points per game. RJ Luis Jr. leads the way with 17.6 points and 6.8 rebounds, Zuby Ejiofor stands out as the team's best shot-blocker with 2.4 rejections on average while putting up 11.8 points and 6.8 rebounds. Kadary Richmond is highlighted for his playmaking with five assists per contest to go with 10.3 points and 5.6 rebounds.

Rick Pitino and St. John's will host Kansas State at the Carnesecca Arena in Queens, New York, on Dec. 7 at 11:30 a.m. ET.

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