Rick Pitino, Dan Hurley Return Spice and Competition to Big East Tournament

A pair of technicals in the tournament semifinals by the big-personality coaches evoke throwback to conference’s heyday in 1980s.

Rick Pitino’s return to the Big East means the entourage comes with him, and the entourage is a trip. It’s a cast of characters from all over the place, with all kinds of backgrounds and occupations, people who embraced Pitino and he returned the affection. They’re a Runyonesque bunch that has followed the Hall of Fame basketball coach for decades—followed him to the racetrack, the golf course and basketball arenas all over.

Which brings us to a gentleman named Tom O’Grady holding court with the media in a Madison Square Garden hallway Friday night during the Big East tournament. He’s in the entourage—a New York native now living in Louisville, a lifetime St. John’s Red Storm fan who became a Louisville Cardinals fan after moving there 20 years ago, when Pitino was the coach. O’Grady is now riding high with the union of his favorite coach and favorite school.

Head shaved and resplendent in a bright red sport coat, the diminutive, spitfire businessman somehow was part of a verbal firefight that included two bang-bang technical fouls for Pitino, the St. John’s coach, and Dan Hurley, the Connecticut Huskies’ boss. UConn won a high-level offensive game, 95–90, advancing to the Big East title game Saturday, but the primary talking point was what went down late in the first half.

It was a 1980s throwback scene—the kind of combustible competitive flare-up that made the Big East the Big East in the days of John Thompson, Jim Boeheim, Rollie Massimino and, yes, an early version of Pitino when he was coaching the Providence Friars. And this scene included an unlikely co-conspirator.

Pitino is making his presence known in his return to the Big East tournament :: Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports

The dustup started at the 8:16 mark of the first half, when St. John’s big man Joel Soriano was whistled for his second foul. “Bulls---!” Pitino barked at official James Breeding. That led to a snappy T, which Pitino acknowledged later he wanted to get. (For all of Pitino’s peripatetic sideline antics, he’s far less of a ref baiter than many in his profession.)

O’Grady, sitting courtside and hardly keeping a low profile in the red coat, stood up and voiced his displeasure to the officials. Hurley’s father, legendary former high school coach Bob Hurley, stood up from his courtside seat and looked like he might be ready for some action as well.

Dan Hurley stepped to near midcourt—well out of the coaching box. That’s the most-abused restriction in college basketball, but O’Grady seized the opportunity to point out Hurley’s trespass to the officials.

“He’s out of the coaching box!” O’Grady says he informed the refs.

Hurley then addressed O’Grady and asked officials that he be thrown out of the arena. On the broadcast, Hurley could be heard saying that O’Grady was “screaming in my face. Get him out of here.” Hurley got his own T from Breeding.

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“Obviously, the place was in a frenzy when [Pitino] got his [technical],” Hurley said. “And then there was this guy—a short guy in a red blazer that was on the court yelling at the refs, and then he started yelling at me, you know, and moving in my direction. So I was just kind of pointing out to James that he was behaving worse than Coach Pitino. … It was a lot of expletives.”

O’Grady’s version of events, which was relayed within earshot of Pitino: “I said nothing. All I said is that he’s out of the coaching box, that’s it.”

Pitino: “Oh, you got [the technical] for him?”

O’Grady: “Yes.”

Rick Pitino and Dan Hurley just T'd up in Madison Square Garden

Hurley and Pitino screaming at each other pic.twitter.com/AbD6U1OOBg

— Ryan Cassidy (@ryancassidycbb) March 15, 2024

Pitino jokingly declared that his friend “has deep psychological problems with officials” which have at times led to his comp seats at road games being moved further away from the court. (There was a game at North Carolina during the Louisville years that didn’t go well with O’Grady in range of screaming at the stripes.) Others in the entourage said that giving O’Grady a courtside seat for this game against the No. 1 Huskies was a risk.

Lo and behold, O’Grady became part of the story. By halftime, a cadre of MSG security guards had descended in front of O’Grady, Pitino family members and other entourage members. Prominent St. John’s booster Mike Repole said he was chastised “for staring at a Gen-Z security guard.” Big East administrators gathered in the area as well.

There was discussion of what to do with O’Grady, who left the lower arena area for halftime but ultimately was not removed. He was back in his seat around the 15-minute mark of the second half. After asking for O’Grady to be tossed, Hurley—who has had issues in the past with fans—later took credit for him being allowed to stay.

“I wasn’t expecting [the scene] from someone sitting courtside,” Hurley said later. “I initially was all for his removal. Because he got me a technical, and that was most unsettling for me. But then I pivoted. I looked at my wife—it was like emotional intelligence and the superstition kicked in. I thought I had a chance of winning if I kept him—with multiple ushers and James Breeding.

“But then I also went into halftime and did a kind of two-to-three-minute reset away from the staff. I did a quick meditation on the Calm app.”

Dan Hurley meditating at halftime of a Big East tournament game is definitely something that was not on the Bingo card.

But when Hurley was informed that O’Grady said he did not direct any comments at the UConn coach, he laughed loudly. “Yeah, all right, all right,” Hurley said. “That guy, he looks like a straight shooter.”

Understand, the alpha male sparring between Pitino (two national championship rings) and Hurley (one and counting) has been ongoing this season. Pitino said he wants to move the home game against UConn next year to Carnesecca Arena, the small campus venue, instead of Madison Square Garden, in what was perceived as a means of keeping Huskies fans out. Hurley responded by saying, “There are programs who haven’t been to a Final Four, or haven’t been to the NCAA tournament in 20 years, so there’s obviously a lot of punching up.”

That led St. John’s assistant Steve Masiello to say on X (formerly Twitter): “I think Coach Pitino stopped punching up after his 5th Final 4, or was it his 6th? no wait. I think it was after his 7th!”

I think Coach Pitino stopped punching up after his 5th Final 4, or was it his 6th ? no wait I think it was after his 7th !

— Stephen Masiello (@steve_masiello) January 2, 2024

But in the end Friday night, everyone made peace with each other on a night that benefited both teams. UConn continued its push for its first Big East tourney title since 2011, the only hole in the program’s résumé since Hurley arrived. St. John’s was impressive in defeat, adding to its at-large NCAA tournament résumé.

“They’re a machine,” Pitino said of UConn.

“They’re clearly an NCAA tournament team,” Hurley said of St. John’s.

“Dan Hurley’s an amazing basketball coach,” O’Grady said. “I got no problem with Dan Hurley, none. He lost his temper, that’s it. Sometimes we all lose our tempers.”

The Big East’s heyday was built on furious competition between great players and brilliant—but slightly unhinged—coaches who created zesty rivalries. With Rick Pitino’s return and Dan Hurley at the top of his game, the conference is getting some spice back. The clash of egos and big personalities is real and spectacular, with an entourage along for the ride.