St. John’s Red Storm Coach Rick Pitino, Lou Carnesecca, and Mascot Bobbleheads Unveiled

This morning, in celebration of St. John’s Big East Conference title and the upcoming Big East Tournament and March Madness, the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum unveiled four officially licensed, limited-edition St. John’s Red Storm bobbleheads. The collection includes bobbleheads of current St. John’s coach Rick Pitino, former legendary St. John’s coach Lou Carnesecca, St. John’s mascot Johnny Thunderbird, and retired St. John’s mascot Thunder. The special edition bobbleheads are being produced by the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, an official licensee of St. John’s University.

St. John’s is currently ranked #6 in both the AP Top 25 and the Coaches Poll after winning the Big East title for the first time since 1985. St. John’s has been one of the best stories in college basketball this year and is poised to make a deep March Madness run with the Big East Tournament and NCAA Tournament approaching.

All the details are below, and you can find pictures and graphics of the bobbleheads that you can use at this Dropbox link. The bobbleheads are now available in our online store at the following link.

• The bobbleheads, which are expected to ship in June for the mascot bobbleheads and September for the Rick Pitino and Lou Carnesecca bobbleheads, are now available at this link.
• Each bobblehead will be individually numbered to 2,025.
• The bobbleheads are $35 each for the mascot bobbleheads, $30 each for the coach bobbleheads, or $125 for the set of four plus an $8 flat-rate shipping charge per order.
• Standing on a circular basketball court base bearing their names and the St. John’s logo, the Rick Pitino and Lou Carnesecca bobbleheads are wearing matching brown sweaters with a red and blue “V” pattern on the front. Standing on a base with a backing featuring the St. John’s logo and “RED STORM” across the front, the Johnny Thunderbird bobblehead is wearing a white basketball uniform with the No. 01 on the front of the jersey and has both wings outstretched. Standing on a base with a backing featuring the SJU Red Storm logo and “RED STORM” across the front, the Thunder bobblehead is wearing a black long-sleeved shirt with the Red Storm logo and giving the No. 1 signal.
• On Saturday, December 7th – one week after Lou Carnesecca died at age 99 – current St. John’s coach Rick Pitino paid tribute to the legendary coach in a fitting manner for his team’s game against Kansas State at Carnesecca Arena in Queens, New York. While Pitino has been known for donning slick, styled Italian suit on the sidelines, Carnesecca was well-known for sporting loud sweaters. Carnesecca’s most iconic knit look came during the Red Storm’s 1985 Final Four season, when he wore a brown sweater with a red and blue “V” pattern on the front during a winning streak. The 19-game win streak came to an end in the “Sweater Game” between top-ranked St. John’s and then-No. 2 Georgetown at Madison Square Garden, where Georgetown coach John Thompson walked up to Carnesecca before the game and revealed he was wearing a replica of the lucky sweater himself. For the game against Kansas State, Pitino had his own replica of the iconic brown sweater tailored, which he set down on the midcourt logo at Carnesecca Arena after the game.
• Coach Carnesecca, who was born in New York City in 1925 and graduated from St. John’s in 1950, led the St. John’s men’s basketball program to 526 wins and 200 losses over 24 seasons from 1965 to 1970 and 1973 to 1992. The colorful “Looie”, as he was known by fans and the media, reached the post-season in every season he coached the team, including a Final Four appearance in 1985. He was selected as the National Coach of the Year in 1983 and 1985 by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association and was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992. Carnesecca was widely known for his sense of humor and his signature sweaters. In November 2004, St. John’s University officially dedicated and renamed the historic Alumni Hall to Carnesecca Arena. Coach Carnesecca passed away at the age of 99 on November 30, 2024.
• Thunder, the horse mascot of the 1990s, was the only lasting mascot to replace the St. John’s Redman but was discontinued in the early-2000s. Current St. John’s mascot, Johnny Thunderbird, was voted on by students and revealed on September 18th, 2009.
• Ranked in the top 10, St. John’s captured the outright Big East Conference regular season championship with a 71-61 victory over Seton Hall on Saturday, March 1st at Madison Square Garden. It was the program’s first outright crown since the 1984-85 season and just the second outright title in program history. The Johnnies finished with a perfect 18-0 regular season home record for the first time since they went 16-0 nearly a century ago during the 1931-32 season. After closing out the regular season on Saturday, March 8th at Marquette, St. John’s (26-4, 17-2) will be the No. 1 seed in the Big East Tournament, which is slated for March 12th through March 15th at Madison Square Garden. Pitino is the only coach to win a national championship at two different schools (Kentucky and Louisville) and the first coach to lead three different schools (Providence, Kentucky and Louisville) to the Final Four. Once the Red Storm is announced as one of the 2025 tourney participants, Pitino will have taken six different schools to the NCAA Tournament: Boston University, Providence, Kentucky, Louisville, Iona, and St. John’s.
• “We are excited to unveil these bobbleheads in celebration of St. John’s tremendous season and legendary coaches,” National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum co-founder and CEO Phil Sklar said. “With Hall of Fame coaches Rick Pitino and Lou Carnesecca leading the way, the Johnnies have been one of the most successful programs in the history of men’s college basketball and are in the midst of one of the most memorable seasons in program history. These bobbleheads are must-haves for alumni, fans, students, faculty, and staff of St. John’s!”
• The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, which is located at 170 S. 1st St. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, opened to the public on February 1st, 2019. The HOF and Museum also produces high quality, customized bobbleheads for retail sale as well as organizations, individuals, and teams across the country.