Kimani Young first met Richard Pinto in 2009, during a team camp in Florida. The two hit it off immediately after meeting through an intermediary, Rob Lanier, an assistant at the time along with Pitino at Florida.
“We built a friendship we kept over the years,” Young said.
That relationship was taken to the next level on Monday when it was announced Young would join Pitino on his staff at Florida International. The son of legendary coach Rick Pitino, Richard Pitino took over at FIU this spring following the firing of former Knicks coach Isiah Thomas, who went just 26-65 in three seasons running the Sun Belt Conference school.
“I’m very excited,” said Young, who will leave his post as the athletic director at AAU powerhouse New Heights and while he didn’t nail down an exact date to when he will start at FIU, he will be on the road in July for the live recruiting period. “I think that place is a diamond in the rough. It has a beautiful campus, it has a great academic reputation. It’s in Miami. It has so much to offer. With Richard, the fact he’s young and eager to prove himself, the pedigree he comes from, the sky is the limit for that place and us as a staff.”
It will be Young’s second stint as an assistant coach at the Division I level. Over three years ago, he joined then St. John’s coach Norm Roberts’ staff as the team’s video coordinator and team manager. But following his first season, he suffered a tragic blow when his wife Sharette Dixon died of cardiac arrest on March 23, 2009 at the age of 38.
Suddenly a widower with three children to raise on his own, Young stepped down and returned to his roots at New Heights. When a similar opportunity was offered, he didn’t think twice.
“It wasn’t something I was going to pass on,” he said. “I kind or ran my course on the grassroots level. I’ve done everything I sought out to accomplish. I’m going to miss working with great people at New Heights, I’m going to miss working with kids in New York City. It’s time for me to take the next step in my career.”
A graduate of Texas-El Paso in 1998 with a B.A. in criminal justice, Young starred on the hardwood for UTEP and legendary coach Don Haskins, finishing his career with over 1,000 points. Young starred in his high school days at Forest Hills, receiving All-City honors and was an assistant coach at Rice before it closed for financial reasons. He’s coached a number of current Division I college players, such as Corey Edwards, JayVaughn Pinkston, Jermaine Sanders, Ashton Pankey and Devon Collier.
While he is leaving New York City and will move his family down to Florida in August, Young plans on being back often to recruit the five boroughs.
“I’m going to do my best to get of these talented players down to South Florida,” he said.
Young is headed down there himself because of Richard Pitino, who he felt has taken a risk, first by leaving his father at Louisville and going to FIU in its current state and bringing him in as well, a coach from the AAU ranks rather than an established college caoch.
“He’s got someone he can count on to built that thing,” he said.