NEW YORK — Two thieves stole a ceremonial sword and a megaphone from the office of St. John's basketball coach Rick Pitino, a spokesman for the Catholic school in the New York City borough of Queens said Thursday.
Brian Browne said the robbery occurred Tuesday night shortly before 8 p.m. in the athletic department offices, which are located on the upper floors of the hardwood at Carnesecca Arena, where the Red Storm play.
He said the police investigation is ongoing and it is not immediately clear whether other items were stolen from the Hall of Fame coach's office or other parts of the building.
However, Pitino posted on social media that an expensive bottle of wine was also missing from his office.
“I'm very upset!” Pitino wrote in X. “Having my memories taken away is one thing, but the 1985 Petrus Pomerol 6L makes me furious!”
Police said in a statement that the two men somehow gained “unauthorized” entry and took a number of items before fleeing on a moped westbound on Union Turnpike.
The department declined to provide further details but also released surveillance footage Thursday showing the two men walking down a hallway in the building, one of them carrying the stolen sword and the other holding the megaphone.
Born in New York and raised on Long Island, Pitino was hired by St. John's last year with hopes of restoring a Big East program that had its heyday in the 1980s but has been mired in mediocrity for more than two decades.
The Hall of Fame coach won NCAA championships at Kentucky in 1996 and Louisville in 2013, but the title at Louisville was vacated due to NCAA violations.
Another NCAA case involving the FBI's investigation into corruption in college basketball recruiting led to Pitino being fired by Louisville in 2017, though the NCAA ultimately exonerated Pitino.
Before coming to St. John's, the 71-year-old coached for three seasons at Iona, north of New York City.
Pitino has also served as head coach for the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics, Boston University, Providence College and Panathinaikos, a professional team in Athens.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
