Three of the four coaches from the 70-plus crowd who reached the second weekend of the 2026 NCAA Tournament were eliminated in the Sweet 16, prompting the inevitable flurry of questions and speculation over their futures.
But for the two who lost East Region heartbreakers on Friday — Rick Pitino of St. John’s and Tom Izzo of Michigan State — there is clearly unfinished business.
“It’s sure as hell not going to be now,” the 71-year-old Izzo said when hit with a postgame question about his future.
Pitino, 73, didn’t get a retirement question, but he talked about a future in the profession.
“I may have some good teams,” he said, “but never, ever again with this type of attitude and just incredible people.”
Pitino might never have a team quite like his 2025-26 Red Storm squad, but he sure sounded like a coach who plans to keep on chugging.
You can’t blame Pitino or Izzo for wanting to keep going.
There’s never been a generation of septuagenarian college basketball coaches this brilliant, and the current crop, headlined by Pitino, Izzo, Tennessee’s Rick Barnes (71) and Houston’s Kelvin Sampson (70) is accomplishing things their recent predecessors could not.
Instead of struggling under the weight of a changing college basketball landscape, they have adapted to it masterfully and are operating near the top of their profession.
When Roy Williams abruptly hung it up at North Carolina at age 70 following the 2020-21 season, he was coming off an 18-11 campaign that included a first-round NCAA Tournament loss. The year before, UNC limped to a 14-19 mark and had missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time in a decade. He didn’t wait around for the program’s decline to intensify and things to get awkward. He saw the writing on the wall and left on his own terms.
Then, there’s Jim Boeheim, who stayed in too long. After six straight seasons earning a No. 4 seed or better to the NCAA Tournament during his mid-to-late 60s, Boeheim hung on through his 70s with diminishing results. In his last nine seasons, the Orange never received better than a No. 8 seed for the NCAA Tournament. They missed it altogether on four occasions and were left out in consecutive years before Boeheim “retired” somewhat awkwardly at age 78 following the 2022-23 season.
Former Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton enjoyed arguably the best five-year run of his coaching career between 2016 and 2021, which coincided with his late 60s and early 70s. The Seminoles reached the Sweet 16 in 2021 as a No. 4 seed when Hamilton was 72. But the program maxed out at 17 wins over the next four seasons, and Hamilton never returned to the Big Dance. He retired after the 2024-25 season at age 76.
The best to ever do it at age 75 in college basketball was Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, as his final Duke team reached the Final Four in 2022. But even Coach K was not immune to a late-career downturn. The 2021 Blue Devils were the first Duke team to miss the NCAA Tournament since 1995.
Miami’s Jim Larranaga reached the 2023 Final Four at age 73, but he was out of the game a season and a half later after posting a 19-27 record following his late-career surge with the Hurricanes.
Father Time comes for all of us, even the greatest. But this generation is pushing the limits in a historic way.
Tennessee has reached three straight Elite Eights under Barnes. The Volunteers had been to just one in program history before he arrived in 2015. Instead of floating into retirement as many presumed he would, Barnes is still writing the best chapter of his coaching career as he nears his 72nd birthday in July.
Sampson, who has resurrected a dead Houston program and his own career since 2014, appeared in the national title game last season and just led a team to 30 wins with three freshmen in the rotation.
Pitino, who will be 74 before next season starts, just guided St. John’s to consecutive league titles for the first time since 1985 and 1986 and had the Red Storm on the cusp of taking out No. 1 overall seed Duke.
Then, there’s Izzo, who is 57-15 (32-8 Big Ten) over the past two seasons with a Sweet 16 and Elite Eight appearance. It appeared initially as though he was losing his touch in the post-COVID landscape of NIL and mass transfers. Those concerns have dissipated, even as the Spartans operate on a lower budget than many of their peers.
“I’m feeling good,” Izzo said after the Spartans’ ferocious comeback effort against No. 2 seed UConn fell just short on Friday. “We all talk about retirement. Why? What the hell am I going to do? The minute I don’t feel good, the minute I don’t feel like I’m giving my AD or president or school every ounce of energy I have every day or that energy drops, you don’t have to worry about it. I don’t steal money. I won’t steal anybody’s time.”
Izzo added, “I’ve got some things to accomplish.”
Houston’s Kelvin Sampson addresses coaching future after Sweet 16 loss: ‘We all have our time’
Austin Nivison
If others in his age range feel the same way is not entirely clear. Barnes hasn’t been hit with the inevitable post-NCAA Tournament loss retirement question yet, since his Volunteers are playing in the Elite Eight on Sunday. Sampson seemed noncommittal in his remarks after Houston fell 65-55 to Illinois in the Sweet 16 on Thursday. Pitino seems intent on continuing, at least for now.
But what is abundantly clear is that college basketball’s oldest coaches aren’t mere figureheads lacking the self-awareness to know that it’s time to retire. This particular crop continues to set the standard for the profession in a way that suggests they could be major players for years to come if that’s the route they choose to take.
“I’ve got some things to accomplish,” Izzo said. “I’m going to make damn sure that — I said a couple years ago that I’ll find a way to get back there. We’ve knocked on the door twice. We haven’t gotten back. We’ll get back.”
