Aaron Rodgers isn’t the only one to get a new number.
But for Rick Pitino, that shirt isn’t his shirt—it’s his phone number.
The St. John’s coach was caught on ABC cameras at the Garden for Game 4 between the Knicks and Cavaliers on Sunday, allowing some enterprising lip-readers to spot what numbers he was giving someone.
“Yesterday I was enjoying a Knicks game when someone read my lips on TV giving my phone number.” Pitino tweeted on Monday.
“Over 300 messages came in – here’s the weird news, 95% were nice and positive. I got proof of 7 new recruits. My new cell…”
Rest assured, if Pitino wants to talk to you, he knows how to find you.
The 70-year-old has had congestion issues since Iona’s season ended, taking over as head coach at St John’s and reshaping the Red Storm’s roster.
In recent weeks, he’s added Quinn Slazynski, Dennis Jenkins and Cruz Davis from Iona, and transferred VMI’s Sean Conway and Nahiem Alleyne from UConn while also guarding high-scoring Niagara Noah Thomason, UMass winger RJ Luis and Notre Dame winger Cormac Ryan in the transfer gate.
It’s all part of the big plans the Hall of Fame coach has for St. John’s.
“It won’t be hard,” Pitino said in his inaugural press conference on March 21. “There is no difference between St. John to Connecticut, St. John to Marquette, St. John to Xavier. St. John’s is one of the legendary names in college basketball. Have you fallen on hard times? Yes, it did, but now we’re ready to fall into great times.
“Raise that roof, because St. John’s will be back, I guarantee it.”
Just cut some slack if he’s not coming back to you now – the guy has plenty of texting to come back with.
