Rick Pitino

[HRE Otto IV]

We’re giving him extra credit for choosing to (or being forced to) bounce around from job to job.

The rebuilds are very impressive and he is an elite coach. He belongs in the top 5.

Sustained success shouldn’t be discounted though. We don’t know what the other greats who didn’t bounce around would have done if they coached at a handful of schools. We don’t know what Pitino would have done if he stayed one place forever (L’ville is the best clue). We could speculate he’d have fists full of championship rings. We could also speculate that the best to ever do it would be excellent at building teams quickly.

I wouldn’t buy the argument that K, Roy, Wright, Self, Izzo, etc., were/are on cruise control. They attracted the talent and developed the talent, not the name on the front of the jerseys. If any of them dropped down to lower tier schools, with the pedigree they all had, they’d be expected to draw talent and win a lot of games.

IMO "eye test" he is the best HC in the 64+ team NCAAT era. But on paper Coach K is the GOAT. He has the proof. I think Pitino is clearly #2. The only other HC IMO that you could argue is #2 would be Calhoun. He had 3 titles and the team he left behind won another.

I don't think Roy, Self, Izzo belong in the conversation. Wright if he continued to coach could have been.

 

[Bill Orange]

I believe Iona also got him a membership to Winged Foot. I bet he didn't even move houses when he got the St Johns job.


Pitino also had success coaching in Greece.

Rick has been a member at Winged Foot for years.

 

[Chip]

It was a huge mistake not hiring him. Huge. He would have taken this roster to the tournament, no question. He would have put together a much better roster, though.

How do you hire a guy that doesn't want the job?

 

[Brooky03]

IMO "eye test" he is the best HC in the 64+ team NCAAT era. But on paper Coach K is the GOAT. He has the proof. I think Pitino is clearly #2. The only other HC IMO that you could argue is #2 would be Calhoun. He had 3 titles and the team he left behind won another.

I don't think Roy, Self, Izzo belong in the conversation. Wright if he continued to coach could have been.

I’d rank him above Self, Izzo, and Wright. It would take a deeper dive to determine his spot relative to Roy. Roy and Self both absolutely belong in that conversation, though, to me.

Also, I didn’t realize Pitino was at Louisville quite as long as he was.

 

[Hopkins16]

It was a huge mistake not hiring him. Huge. He would have taken this roster to the tournament, no question. He would have put together a much better roster, though.

What makes him a great coach is that he inspires players to play hard. They want to listen, learn, be better and win. He makes players believe that as a team, if they accept their roles and duties in his system, they will win. I truly believe the roster that we now have would be in the tournament if Rick was our coach. Coaching matters.

 

[elimunelson]

Rick has been a member at Winged Foot for years.

Exactly.

I think he takes the Syracuse job if offered before St. John’s gig. It’s an elite job (or was)

 

[Brooky03]

Exactly.

I think he takes the Syracuse job if offered before St. John’s gig. It’s an elite job (or was)

I think he would have taken the Cuse job if offered. But he would not have taken it with the plan to stay long. That’s not saying much for a coach his age, but he would be poached by a school with deeper pockets before year 3 and we’d be back to square one.

 

[CuseTG2003]

Rick has been a member at Winged Foot for years.

Lives on the third hole I believe.

 

[Scooch]

All the negativity in this thread sucks.

Rick Pitno is not walking through that door. And if you expect him to walk through that door he's going to be old and need a pill to screw a waitress on a table.

 

[Eric15]

Gotta love one thread a week about Rick Pitino. With the same people and the same graphics posted in all of them.

My thread appears to have acquired a bnorovirus.

 

[miamicuse]

I think he would have taken the Cuse job if offered. But he would not have taken it with the plan to stay long. That’s not saying much for a coach his age, but he would be poached by a school with deeper pockets before year 3 and we’d be back to square one.

If he is here for two years we won't be back to square one.

He would have stopped the decline and have us on a turnaround track.

We would be free of the JB and continuity thing that has been haunting the program and can freely do a search wuthout all the handcuffs.

We just need a transition and he would have been perfect for that role.

In this day and age it's unrealistic to expect long tenure with any new coach. There are hundreds of Mark Coyle and one JB.

 

[Day2]

How do you hire a guy that doesn't want the job?

Is that the new narrative? Hilarious.

 

[bnoro]

If he is here for two years we won't be back to square one.

He would have stopped the decline and have us on a turnaround track.

We would be free of the JB and continuity thing that has been haunting the program and can freely do a search wuthout all the handcuffs.

We just need a transition and he would have been perfect for that role.

In this day and age it's unrealistic to expect long tenure with any new coach. There are hundreds of Mark Coyle and one JB.

Perfect, if you have no qualms about morality.

 

[Chip]

Is that the new narrative? Hilarious.

Did I just set my first new narrative? Kinda feels good.

Is there a world where he's JB's successor instead of taking the St. John's job? I know there's an internal struggle of Pitino good vs evil here, one which I don't care to participate in (I'd hire anyone that wins). But everything I've heard from people I trust is that he never wanted to come back here.

 

[Shrmdougluvr]

Perfect, if you have no qualms about morality.

I don’t. The sport is depraved and has been for decades.

 

[FloridaCuse]

 

[Knicks411]

IMO "eye test" he is the best HC in the 64+ team NCAAT era. But on paper Coach K is the GOAT. He has the proof. I think Pitino is clearly #2. The only other HC IMO that you could argue is #2 would be Calhoun. He had 3 titles and the team he left behind won another.

I don't think Roy, Self, Izzo belong in the conversation. Wright if he continued to coach could have been.

Yeah I dont think you can really argue against Coach K being the GOAT but I would be willing to at least listen to someone make the case for Pitino. I dont think I would really listen on anyone else.

 

[walsh2012]

Wow, you figured out he was a good coach when he was at Iona? What an eye you have...

Mr. Nitpicking, I have a call for you

 

[RF2044]

Yeah I dont think you can really argue against Coach K being the GOAT but I would be willing to at least listen to someone make the case for Pitino. I dont think I would really listen on anyone else.

I think that's fair [on both accounts].

You can make a case for either [or both]. Gradations of sustained excellence, arguments made on behalf of both would be compelling.

Don't see Pitino being anywhere less than top 5 all time.

 

[CA Monk]

So what is it that Pitino is doing that is generating such success?
I speculate players play hard for him (buy in) because they feed off his intensity. He seems to get players to perform at the top of their game and improve as time goes by. But what is he actually doing? And, more importantly, why can’t we do it?

 

[RF2044]

So what is it that Pitino is doing that is generating such success?
I speculate players play hard for him (buy in) because they feed off his intensity. He seems to get players to perform at the top of their game and improve as time goes by. But what is he actually doing? And, more importantly, why can’t we do it?

#1, he has outstanding systems on both sides of the ball. He recruits players that fit what he is trying to do, and puts them in position to be successful.

He also gets them to buy in defensively, and holds them accountable for playing hard and defending by correlating it to playing time. Don't defend to his standard, you don't play.

Third, he plays a fun style, that college players like to play -- getting after it on D, playing up tempo on O, lots of threes, green light to shoot, etc.

Additionally, he's a guy with a proven track record of being able to coach up the players on hand. He's done this numerous times, when he's taken over programs that have struggled and turned them competitive in short order. He doesn't need a lengthy runway to make a team successful, even when the roster isn't initially optimized. More than anything, that shows that his systems work..

It is more than just intensity. Being high energy and getting guys to play hard only gets you so far, if you don't have the coaching acumen / skill beyond just demanding intensity.

 

[2B20Again]

It was a huge mistake not hiring him. Huge. He would have taken this roster to the tournament, no question. He would have put together a much better roster, though.

Whoa!

 

[721Comstock]

It was a huge mistake not hiring him. Huge. He would have taken this roster to the tournament, no question. He would have put together a much better roster, though.

Yeah, but -

Syracuse has been playing with 2 strikes (or 4 fouls, if you prefer) due to our previous BS NCAA penalties.

And Pitino was a walking show-cause violation waiting to happen.

… in the pre-NIL world of a few years ago.

Yes - he is a great coach.
He ain’t in the HOF for nothing.

But - it would’ve been insane to fire a 70-something HOF coach who’d lost his fastball,
to then hire another 70-something HOF coach who may or may not still have had his fastball.

And, as has been said -
maybe Rick had zero interest in the job anyway, even if offered.

You never want to be the man, who comes after The Man.

 

[Knicks411]

#1, he has outstanding systems on both sides of the ball. He recruits players that fit what he is trying to do, and puts them in position to be successful.

He also gets them to buy in defensively, and holds them accountable for playing hard and defending by correlating it to playing time. Don't defend to his standard, you don't play.

Third, he plays a fun style, that college players like to play -- getting after it on D, playing up tempo on O, lots of threes, green light to shoot, etc.

Additionally, he's a guy with a proven track record of being able to coach up the players on hand. He's done this numerous times, when he's taken over programs that have struggled and turned them competitive in short order. He doesn't need a lengthy runway to make a team successful, even when the roster isn't initially optimized. More than anything, that shows that his systems work..

It is more than just intensity. Being high energy and getting guys to play hard only gets you so far, if you don't have the coaching acumen / skill beyond just demanding intensity.

I really think this is probably underrated, especially the 3 point thing. The guy was ahead of the curve in the 80s with the Knicks. They took 14 3s a game in the 88-89 season, which obviously doesn't sound like much, but the Kings were second at 10 per game, they took 40% more than second place! They took more than twice as many as the league average.

It's a little harder to find complete college stats for the era, but he went to Kentucky and in year 1 they took 28.9 3's per game, just looking at the SEC Tennessee was second at 16.9. Looks like the NCAA average was 11.8 attempts per game.

 

[Jeremy L.]

Personally, it would have been great to have Pitino with the idea of Red and Gerry both going elsewhere to become head coaches. If we were near where St. John's is now, it'd probably be a little easier to find a proven HC to replace Rick when he decided to hang them up.


Alas, here we are.