NBA or stay? What Jon Scheyer and Dan Hurley can learn from March Madness opponents Tom Izzo and Rick Pitino

Dan Hurley has eschewed NBA interest, and Jon Scheyer may be next in line with big decisions to make

Zachary Pereles

Mar 27, 2026

10:59 am ET

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9 min read

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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Jordan Scott had no shortage of options regarding where he'd play college basketball. A consensus top-100 recruit with offers from across the country, he was looking for a differentiating factor. He found them during his visit to East Lansing for Michigan State Madness in October 2024.

Other programs have preseason fan events and hallowed student sections like the "Izzone." But Scott found something more.

"[Tom Izzo] being a huge part of the community here, for lack of better words, you don't see that everywhere -- you don't see that anywhere besides here," Scott said. "He trusts his community, and his community trusts him. ... Just comparing this place to other places, it was like night and day, just how they do things here. It's a special culture."

It's a trust Izzo built over 43 years -- 31 as the head coach -- and a trust that is becoming increasingly rare. Izzo is the second-longest tenured active head coach at one school, behind only close friend Greg Kampe's 42 years at Oakland University.

"I'm not sure anybody will stay in one place 31 years," Izzo said, mentioning Purdue's Matt Painter as one he hopes proves him wrong. "I'm fortunate to have the job I have. I am fortunate for the 31 years of success. I do not think people are going to stay in the same place like Jim Boeheim did. Mike Krzyzewski had a long run there."

In an era when players and coaches change colors more often than not, the on-court bona fides of the four coaches in the nation's capital for Friday's Sweet 16 are unimpeachable. Izzo, Rick Pitino, Dan Hurley and Jon Scheyer have combined for 2,026 Division-I wins, five national championships and, including this year, 37 Sweet 16s. For as good as the players are -- and in Cameron Boozer, Zuby Ejiofor, Jeremy Fears Jr. and Tarris Reed Jr. and others, they are very good -- the coaches are driving the star power for this 2026 NCAA Tournament East Regional site.

Each is a pillar of the sport, each in his own way. And the careers of Izzo and Pitino show the fork in the road that Scheyer and Hurley face as they build their own Hall of Fame résumés.

"I think that's what makes it exciting, right?" said Scheyer, who is 38 and in his fourth year at the helm of his alma mater. "It's going to be an exciting atmosphere, high-level basketball, high-level coaching for sure. ... I just keep going back [to] having great respect and admiration, at the same time having great confidence when you step on the floor. That's what I want our players to have, too."

The winding backroads to the HOF

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Scheyer's sideline opponent, Pitino, was a forebearer of this era of movement. He got his head coaching start at Boston University, left for an assistant role with the Knicks, returned to the college ranks as Providence's coach, left for the Knicks' head role and then resigned to take the top job at Kentucky -- all within a seven-year stretch.

He'd leave for the NBA one more time, taking the Celtics job, but not after lifting a Kentucky program mired in scandal to a 1996 NCAA title and a 1997 runner-up finish. But after four unsuccessful years in Bean Town, he returned to coach Louisville from 2001-2017, when he was fired amid multiple scandals (it was later re-worded to a resignation after a lengthy legal battle). After a brief stint in Greece, he returned to coach Iona and, in 2023, got hired by St. John's.

"I've loved every place I've lived," Pitino said. "I'm a different guy. I'm not a nester. Everybody is different. I don't want to live in the same place my whole life. I enjoyed Greece probably more than any place I've ever lived for those two years, not knowing one person, just exploring all the islands. For me it was great. For Tom, it's great being in East Lansing. He loves it there. Everybody is different."

East coaches' head coaching résumés

Jon ScheyerRick PitinoTom IzzoDan HurleyDuke (2022–present)Boston University (1978–83)Ishpeming (MI) High School (1977–79)St. Benedict's (N.J.) Prep (2001–10)

Providence (1985–87)Michigan State (1995–present)Wagner (2010–12)

New York Knicks (1987–89)

Rhode Island (2012–18)

Kentucky (1989–97)

UConn (2018–present)

Boston Celtics (1997–2001)

Louisville (2001–17)

Panathinaikos (2018–20)

Iona (2020–23)

St. John's (2023–present)

St. John's is the fourth different program Pitino has led to the Sweet 16. He has mastered the ability to fit into new surroundings while still standing out. After all, beyond the coaching ingenuity, what 73-year-old -- let alone a 73-year-old Hall-of-Fame coach -- dons an all-white suit for big games, invites Bad Bunny to sit courtside and says his point guard, Dylan Darling, has "balls as big as c