Rick Pitino is a serial winner, and working with him takes more than commitment. Kevin Willard knows the pressures all too well as he recollects his experiences with the two-time national championship winner.

Kevin Willard, who is now the head coach at Villanova, spoke to the press as he clashed against Pitino’s St. John’s. He jokingly attributed one of his natural losses to his former head coach.

“I had a full set of hair when I started working for him. It’s the most miserable experience in life. You fear for your life every day. Everyone laughs when I say that. You think you’re going to get fired, and it’s miserable,” Kevin Willard stated.

He elaborated further: “As he’s gotten older, he’s probably become more of a cranky old man than he was. But you literally fear for your life. You walk in, he walks into the facility, he’s walking in at 6:30, and you’ve been there since 5:30, thinking you have everything right, and he comes and asks you the one question that you don’t know. He’s that intense.”

Pitino’s intensity isn’t just talk; his resume backs it up. He has won 908 games, made it to the Final Four three times, and won championships at Kentucky and Louisville. You don’t get that kind of record by chance or by being too easy on people.

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Kevin Willard’s experiences, on the other hand, are based on real respect for what Pitino has done. “He’s got the most energy of any coach I’ve ever been around. I think that’s why he’s got 900 wins and national championships because he does it better and more intensely than anybody,” Willard acknowledged.

This evaluation came right after Pitino’s current team, St. John’s, beat Villanova 89-57, bringing their record to 23-6 and keeping them in the running for the Big East regular-season title.

Pitino and Kevin Willard have a lot in common besides the game. Pitino taught Willard how to play basketball when he was a kid and then hired him as an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics and Louisville. However, that didn’t get in the way of Pitino showing no mercy on the hardwood against his protege’s team.

Rick Pitino responds to UConn loss with dominant MSG statement

Pitino used the embarrassment of losing 72-40 to UConn just two days before to motivate his team for Saturday’s game. St. John’s responded strongly to breeze past Kevin Willard’s team.

The New York Post’s cover story, “Storm Warning,” showed how big the event was, and Pitino had already shown how serious he was at Friday’s press conference. “I feel this is the most important game of the three-year span I’ve been here,” he stated explicitly. He expanded on that assessment, explaining: “Because of what happened last game, because of the meaning of being in first place, how good [Villanova is], this time of year, to get back on the winning side.”

St. John’s came out ready to play and took a 30-point lead by halftime that they never lost. The Red Storm’s record improved to 23-6 overall and 16-2 in Big East play, putting them just half a game behind UConn, which was still unbeaten.

Zuby Ejiofor, the center, had a triple-double with 16 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists. Ian Jackson, who came off the bench, scored 19 points. The dominant performance showed that when his players accept his strict culture, Pitino’s intensity leads to consistent execution. Outcoached by his mentor, Kevin Willard has no option but to wait for his next chance at revenge.