ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The Richard Pitino era for the UNM men's basketball program has come to a close. The now former Lobos head coach has accepted the same role at Xavier. Pitino first came to New Mexico ahead of the 2021-2022 season. During his time at UNM, Pitino increased the Lobos' w in total in each of his four seasons. His record at UNM was 88-49. Pitino led the Lobos to an NCAA tournament win (2024-2025), two NCAA tournament appearances (2023-2024, 2024-2025), a Mountain West regular season title (2025), and a Mountain West tournament title (2023-2024). The Lobos' NCAA tournament win was the first for the program since 2012. Pitino inherits a program at Xavier fresh off an appearance in the NCAA tournament and a 5th-place finish in the Big East. The Musketeers' previous head coach, Sean Miller, recently accepted the head coaching job at the University of Texas. ...read more read less