St. John's Rick Pitino, Auburn's Bruce Pearl Share 2025 AP Coach of the Year Award

For the first time ever, two men's college basketball coaches will share the AP Coach of the Year Award.

St. John's Rick Pitino and Auburn's Bruce Pearl will share the 2025 award, marking the first time in the award's 58-year history that it is awarded to multiple people.

Pitino and Pearl each received 20 votes, which were cast by the same voters that determine the publication's Top 25 rankings. Louisville's Pat Kelsey came in third, Duke's Jon Scheyer came in fourth, and Dennis Gates of Missouri and Tom Izzo of Michigan State each got three votes.

Pitino is the first coach in St. John's history to win the award and the sixth from the Big East to win it. This is the first time he has ever won the award in his illustrious collegiate coaching career.

He helped lead St. John's to a 31-5 record and a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament. The Red Storm made the tournament for the first time since 2018-19 and won a game in the tournament for the first time since 2014-15.

Pearl also won the award for the first time in his career and is the second coach in program history to win it (Cliff Ellis in 1999). He's helped lead Auburn to a 32-5 record and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Pitino's Red Storm lost in the second round, but Pearl's Tigers remain alive in the field. He and Auburn will take this honor into their Final Four matchup against Florida.