History has shown father knows best, but New Mexico coach Richard Pitino will try to change that when the Lobos host his father, Rick Pitino, and the Iona Gaels on Dec. 18. Rick Pitino made the announcement by tweeting a photo with his arm around a well-known Lobo fan nicknamed Snake.
The game in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is the first one of a home-and-home series, which means the Lobos will travel to New York during the 2023-24 season.
"Be ready (Snake), the Gaels are coming to town on December 18th!" read the tweet.
The Pitino coaches have been teasing the idea of playing each other since Richard Pitino got hired at New Mexico last year. The father showed support for his son's new team during the 2021-22 season by attending the Lobos' in-state rivalry game against the New Mexico State Aggies last December. But this next December, he won't be sitting in the bleachers while cheering with Lobo fans.
This will be the third time in their coaching careers sitting on opposing benches.
Rick Pitino holds a 2-0 record against his son, with both of those wins happening when he was coaching the Louisville Cardinals. The first time was during the 2012-13 season when Richard Pitino was a first-year coach at Florida International. The Panthers struggled to keep up, which resulted in a 79-55 win for the then-No. 4 Cardinals.
The second time came in 2014 at the Armed Forces Classic when Richard Pitino was in his second year at the helm of the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Louisville came into that game ranked No. 8 in the country and walked away with a comfortable 81-68 victory. Montrezl Harrell, who is currently with the Charlotte Hornets, showed off with a 30-point performance for the Cardinals that night.
But perhaps the third time will be the charm for Richard Pitino.
There have been 20 games in Division I college basketball history with a father and son coaching against each other. Fathers usually come out on top as, shown by their 18-2 record. The lopsided stat started with Ed Diddle at Western Kentucky facing his son Ed Diddle Jr.'s Middle Tennessee State team 12 times between 1957 and 1962. Diddle Sr. won 11 of those games.
The most recent father/son competition was on Dec. 23, 2017. That one actually involved three family members, as coach Tubby Smith and his middle son Saul Smith -- an assistant coach on his father's Memphis staff -- led Tigers to an 83-71 win against the Loyola (Maryland) Greyhounds, a team coached by the oldest son G.G. Smith. That was the second time Tubby and G.G. Smith faced each other as head coaches. The father, who was coaching Texas Tech during the first occasion, won their 2014 encounter too.
While the all-time father/son record is in favor of fathers, this doesn't mean there is no hope for Richard Pitino to finally win against his dad this year. He has a a good amount of head coaching experience under his belt since their last encounter. The Lobos will also be playing the game at The Pit, an arena that is historically known as a tough place for opponents when fans show up. Rick Pitino has coached there a handful of times, with the last game being an Elite Eight win over West Virginia in 2005.
Richard Pitino is not the only one on his team who is following his father's footsteps. Jamal Mashburn Jr. and Jaelen House are both sons of former NBA players. Mashburn Jr. and House finished the season as the leading scorers for New Mexico with 18.2 and 16.9 points per game, respectively. Although House is testing NBA waters, they are both expected to return next season.
Interestingly enough, the Mashburn/Pitino combination has proven successful in the past. Rick Pitino's 1992-93 Kentucky team made it to the Final Four for the first time in the program since 1984 with Mashburn Sr. in the roster. The farthest New Mexico has ever gotten in the NCAA Tournament is the Sweet Sixteen round in 1968 and 1974. Perhaps Rick Pitino can share some more insight on that -- after the Dec. 18 game, of course.
Here are the all-time father-vs.-son coaching match-ups according to the New Mexico sports information department:
| Date | Father | Son | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan. 30 1957 | E.A. Diddle Western Kentucky | Ed Diddle Jr. Middle Tennessee | Western Kentucky 79-72 |
| Feb. 20 1957 | E.A. Diddle Western Kentucky | Ed Diddle Jr. Middle Tennessee | Western Kentucky 86-82 |
| Jan. 23 1958 | E.A. Diddle Western Kentucky | Ed Diddle Jr. Middle Tennessee | Western Kentucky 69-67 |
| Feb. 18 1958 | E.A. Diddle Western Kentucky | Ed Diddle Jr. Middle Tennessee | Middle Tennessee 81-75 |
| Jan. 19 1959 | E.A. Diddle Western Kentucky | Ed Diddle Jr. Middle Tennessee | Western Kentucky 89-65 |
| Feb. 28 1959 | E.A. Diddle Western Kentucky | Ed Diddle Jr. Middle Tennessee | Western Kentucky 110-85 |
| Feb. 6 1960 | E.A. Diddle Western Kentucky | Ed Diddle Jr. Middle Tennessee | Western Kentucky 109-89 |
| Feb. 27 1960 | E.A. Diddle Western Kentucky | Ed Diddle Jr. Middle Tennessee | Western Kentucky 109-80 |
| Dec. 1 1960 | E.A. Diddle Western Kentucky | Ed Diddle Jr. Middle Tennessee | Western Kentucky 70-67 |
| Feb. 25 1961 | E.A. Diddle Western Kentucky | Ed Diddle Jr. Middle Tennessee | Western Kentucky 84-73 |
| Jan. 20 1962 | E.A. Diddle Western Kentucky | Ed Diddle Jr. Middle Tennessee | Western Kentucky 89-69 |
| Feb. 10. 1962 | E.A. Diddle Western Kentucky | Ed Diddle Jr. Middle Tennessee | Western Kentucky 87-81 |
| Dec. 1 1981 | Ray Meyer DePaul | Tom Meyer Illinois-Chicago | DePaul 78-53 |
| Jan. 6 1994 | Butch van Breda Kolff Cornell | Jan van Breda Kolff Hofstra | Hofstra 70-56 |
| Nov. 26 1994 | Hugh Durham Georgia | Doug Durham Georgia Southern | Georgia 87-57 |
| Nov. 17 2000 | Nolan Richardson Arkansas | Nolan Richardson III Tennessee State | Arkansas 90-68 |
| Dec. 19 2012 | Rick Pitino Louisville | Richard Pitino FIU | Louisville 79-55 |
| Nov. 14 2014 | Rick Pitino Louisville | Richard Pitino Minnesota | Louisville 81-68 |
| Nov. 14 2014 | Tubby Smith Texas Tech | G.G. Smith Loyola-Maryland | Texas Tech 71-59 |
| Dec. 23 2017 | Tubby Smith Memphis | G.G. Smith Loyola-Maryland | Memphis 83-71 |