Pitino probably needs a vacation about now
Posted: Sunday, May 10, 2009 8:46 PM
Filed Under:
Coaches, Pitino-Sypher saga
Rick Pitino could probably use a trip to the beach about now. But first, he better call any recruits to let him know he isn’t going anywhere…
Louisville’s coach said there is “absolutely no truth” to the rumors that he’s returning to the NBA to take the Sacramento Kings job.
Count that as a win for the school, for college hoops and the Kings.
Jonathan Daniel/Getty |
Rick Pitino
|
Louisville’s back among the game’s elite thanks to Pitino. It’s been to back-to-back Elite Eights and is coming off a Big East title. The game benefits by having one of its best coaches and biggest names stick around.
And the Kings? Well, it’s not like the Celtics or Knicks are clamoring for Pitino’s services … but it wouldn’t have been hard to believe.
It hadn’t been an easy spring for Pitino.
His son, Richard, left Louisville to be an assistant at Florida. Perhaps his top 2010 recruit, Jeremy Tyler, announced he’d skip his senior year of high school to play in Europe. Then there was the Karen Sypher blackmail mess, which … well, is still hard to believe.
And it all up, and these words must’ve come as a relief:
"The only job I am interested in is winning a championship at Louisville," he said in a press release. "That's been the case since I've been here.”
Most of us might want to forget it all and start over. But he told Eric Crawford of the Louisville Courier-Journal that the last thing he needed.
"They're going to say, 'Because of some of the issues that Rick's dealing with right now, maybe he wants a fresh start,' " Pitino said. "That's the furthest thing from the truth."
Good for him. And good for us. College hoops would be worse without him around.
