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Rick Pitino (born (1952-09-18)September 18, 1952) is an American basketball coach. Since 2001 he has been the head coach at the University of Louisville. He has also served as head coach at Boston University, Providence College and the University of Kentucky, leading that program to the NCAA championship in 1996. He has coached on the professional level for the NBA's New York Knicks and Boston Celtics with mixed results.
Pitino holds the distinction of being the only men's coach in NCAA history to lead three different schools (Providence, Kentucky, and Louisville) to the Final Four. In addition, Pitino has achieved a measure of success as an author and a motivational speaker.
Biography
Early years
Pitino, an Italian American and native of New York City, was captain of the St. Dominic High School basketball team in Oyster Bay, Long Island. He enrolled at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1970. He was a standout guard for the Minutemen basketball team. His 329 career assists rank tenth all-time at UMass, as of the 2008-2009 season. He led the team in assists as a junior and senior. The 168 assists as a senior is the eighth-best single season total ever there. Pitino was a freshman at the same time future NBA legend Julius Erving spent his junior (and final) year at UMass, although the two never played on the same team because freshmen were ineligible to play varsity basketball at the time. Another teammate of Pitino's was Al Skinner, who also went on to become a successful college coach. Pitino earned his degree from UMass in 1974. He was an inductee into the UMass Hall of Fame.
Collegiate coaching
Pitino is currently head coach at the University of Louisville. Previous college coaching assignments include Boston University, Providence College, and the University of Kentucky. As a collegiate head coach, Pitino has compiled a 521–191 record, for a .732 winning percentage that is ranked 10th among active coaches and 29th all-time among all collegiate basketball coaches entering the 2009 season.
Pitino is considered by many to be one of the first coaches to promote fully taking advantage of the 3-point shot, first adopted by the NCAA in 1987. By exploiting the 3-point shot, his teams at Kentucky in the early 1990s were known as Pitino's Bombinos, as a significant portion of the offensive points came from the 3-point shot. Even now, Pitino's teams are known for the 3-point threat and all of his teams rank towards the top in 3-point attempts per season.
Many of Pitino's players and assistant coaches have gone on to become successful collegiate coaches. In total, 21 former Pitino players and coaches have become Division I head coaches, including Florida's Billy Donovan, Minnesota's Tubby Smith, Arizona State's Herb Sendek, and Cincinnati's Mick Cronin.
Assistant coaching career
Pitino started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at the University of Hawaii in 1974, and became a full-time assistant in 1975. He was then the first assistant hired by Jim Boeheim in 1976 as Boeheim began his tenure at Syracuse University.
Boston University
Pitino's first head coaching job came in 1978 at Boston University. In the two seasons before his arrival, the team had won a mere 17 games. Pitino led the team to its first NCAA appearance in 24 years.
Providence
Pitino left Boston University to become an assistant coach with the New York Knicks under Hubie Brown. Pitino returned to college coaching to become head coach at Providence in 1985. Providence had gone a dismal 11–20 in the year before he took over. Two years later, Pitino led the team to the Final Four. That Final Four team featured point guard Billy Donovan, who would go on to be an assistant coach under Pitino at Kentucky and then win back-to-back national championships as head coach at the University of Florida.
Kentucky
After spending two years coaching in the NBA, Pitino returned to the college level again in 1989, becoming the coach at Kentucky. The once legendary Kentucky program was reeling from a major recruiting scandal brought on by former coach Eddie Sutton that left it on NCAA probation. Pitino quickly restored Kentucky's reputation and performance, leading his second school to the Final Four in the 1993 NCAA Tournament, and winning a national title in the 1996 NCAA Tournament, Kentucky's first NCAA championship in 18 years. The following year, Pitino's Kentucky team made it back to the national title game, losing to Arizona in overtime in the finals of the 1997 NCAA Tournament. Pitino's fast-paced teams at Kentucky were favorites of the school's fans. It was primarily at Kentucky where he implemented his signature style of full-court pressure defense.
Louisville
Pitino went back to the NBA in 1997, but returned to college—and his adopted home state—on March 21, 2001 to coach the University of Louisville following the retirement of Hall of Fame coach Denny Crum. In the 2005 season, Pitino led Louisville to their first Final Four in 19 years, and became the only men's coach in NCAA history to lead three different schools to the Final Four. Immediately following their Final Four run, several players graduated or entered the 2005 NBA Draft, leaving the 2005–06 team very inexperienced. The inexperience caused the Cardinals to limp into the Big East Tournament seeded 12th, and miss the NCAA tournament. They did rebound and made it to the semifinals of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), where they were defeated by eventual champions University of South Carolina. The 2007 Cardinal team was primarily the same team, with added freshmen. Picked to be towards the bottom of the Big East Conference yet again, Pitino led them to a 2nd place finish, 12–4 (tied with the University of Pittsburgh, but Louisville beat them earlier in the season) in the conference standings and a first round bye in the conference tournament. Pitino, realizing that this is another rebounding year and not paying any attention to the critics, implemented a 2-2-1 and 2-3 zone defense that has frustrated the conference after he started using it midway through the season. The surprisingly-strong 2007 team's season ended when the Cardinals lost to Texas A&M in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The 2008 Cardinals were also quite successful, finishing second in the Big East and ending the regular season ranked 13th in both the AP and Coaches' polls. Louisville was a three-seed in the 2008 NCAA tournament's East region. They defeated Boise State, Oklahoma and Tennessee to advance to the Elite Eight, where they were defeated by North Carolina.
Professional coaching
Pitino became head coach of the New York Knicks in 1987. The year before he arrived, the team had won only 24 games. In just two years, Pitino led the Knicks to their first division title in nearly twenty years.
His NBA coaching experience often demonstrated a deep frustration with the dynamics of the league, especially in Boston, where he amassed a 102–146 record from 1997 to 2001. After being beaten by the Toronto Raptors on March 1, 2000 on a buzzer-beater by Vince Carter, Pitino's frustration reached critical mass as he addressed the press. Referring to the expectations of Boston Celtics fans and media, Pitino challenged each of them to let go of the past and focus on the future:
Larry Bird is not walking through that door, fans. Kevin McHale is not walking through that door, and Robert Parish is not walking through that door. And if you expect them to walk through that door, they're going to be gray and old. What we are is young, exciting, hard-working, and we're going to improve. People don't realize that, and as soon as they realize those three guys are not coming through that door, the better this town will be for all of us because there are young guys in that (locker) room playing their asses off. I wish we had $90 million under the salary cap. I wish we could buy the world. We can't; the only thing we can do is work hard, and all the negativity that's in this town sucks. I've been around when Jim Rice was booed. I've been around when Yastrzemski was booed. And it stinks. It makes the greatest town, greatest city in the world, lousy. The only thing that will turn this around is being upbeat and positive like we are in that locker room... and if you think I'm going to succumb to negativity, you're wrong. You've got the wrong guy leading this team.
Pitino struggled in his roles with the Celtics, and statistics like 1998's 19-31 record made him little better in the eyes of many Boston fans than his inexperienced predecessor, M.L. Carr. Pitino's remarks became a cornerstone of Boston Celtics lore, and has served as a metaphor for other sports franchises and their inability to relive past successes. Pitino himself reprised the speech in a tongue-in-cheek manner at Louisville in November 2005, challenging his freshmen players to play as tough as past seniors and drawing laughter from sportswriters in a post-game press conference.
Author and accomplishments
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Pitino is the author of a motivational self-help book (and audio recording) named Success is a Choice. He published an autobiography in 1988 entitled Born to Coach describing his life up until his time with the Knicks. His most recent book "Rebound Rules," was the top seller at the 2008 Kentucky Book Fair.
In 2005, Pitino's Louisville team posted a tie for the most single season wins in school history (33) while he became the only men's coach in NCAA history to lead three separate schools (Providence, Kentucky, and Louisville) to the Final Four.
Pitino's .744 winning percentage in 43 NCAA Tournament games is 3rd best among active coaches.
Thoroughbred horse racing
Beyond basketball, Pitino has been involved in the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing as the lead partner in Celtic Pride Stable and the Ol Memorial Stable. Among his notable horses have been A P Valentine and Halory Hunter.
Personal life
Pitino married his wife, the former Joanne Minardi, in 1976. They have five living children: Michael, Christopher, Richard (an assistant coach for the University of Florida Gators), Ryan and Jacqueline. Another son, Daniel, died in 1987 from congenital heart failure at the age of six months. Rick and Joanne established the Daniel Pitino Foundation (along with a Daniel Pitino shelter in Owensboro, Kentucky) in his memory, which has raised millions of dollars for children in need.
Their son's death was not the last tragedy for Rick and Joanne. Both were especially hard-hit by 9/11, as Joanne's brother and Rick's closest friend, Billy Minardi, was working as a bond trader for Cantor Fitzgerald on the 105th floor of the north tower of the World Trade Center when it was struck by American Airlines Flight 11. Since 2002, UofL has designated a December home game as the Billy Minardi Classic, and the university named a dorm on campus as "Billy Minardi Hall". Only a few months earlier, another brother-in-law of Rick, Don Vogt, was killed after being hit by a New York City cab.
Extortion attempt against Pitino
On April 18, 2009, Pitino issued a statement saying that he was a target of an extortion attempt. Pitino declined to give specifics but has stated that the person making the extortion attempt, Karen Sypher, the wife of Louisville equipment manager Tim Sypher, made public statements against him in the media. Pitino notified the FBI and officials at the University of Louisville.
According to the FBI, Pitino began receiving calls from an unknown caller in February threatening to release harmful information about Pitino to the press. Pitino then met with Sypher and, through her attorney, she provided him a list of demands that escalated to $10 million. When questioned by the FBI, Sypher initially denied knowing about the threatening calls. After failing a polygraph test, she admitted to the FBI that the caller was an acquaintance of hers and the calls were made on her behalf. On April 24, 2009, Sypher was arraigned and charged in US District Court with extortion and lying to federal agents.
In early 2009, the Louisville Courier-Journal released a photograph of Sypher's family standing outside a Louisville courthouse holding signs. The photograph was taken outside of the same courthouse where the Pitino/Sypher issue was being dealt with. In the first picture released, Karen Sypher's son was holding a sign asking "What's the price of an abortion?" Shortly thereafter, the original picture was removed and a new version of the picture was released. The new version of the picture had Sypher's son and sign cropped-out.
Head coaching Record
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston University Terriers (Independent) (1978–1979) | |||||||||
| 1978–79 | Boston U. | 17–9 | N/A | N/A | |||||
| Boston University Terriers (America East) (1979–1983) | |||||||||
| 1979–80 | Boston U. | 21–9 | N/A | N/A | NIT Second Round | ||||
| 1980–81 | Boston U. | 13–14 | N/A | N/A | |||||
| 1981–82 | Boston U. | 19–9 | 6–2 | T–2nd | |||||
| 1982–83 | Boston U. | 21–10 | 8–2 | 1st | NCAA Preliminary | ||||
| Boston U.: | 91–51 | 14-4 | |||||||
| Providence Friars (Big East Conference) (1985–1987) | |||||||||
| 1985–86 | Providence | 17–14 | 7–9 | 5th | NIT Elite Eight | ||||
| 1986–87 | Providence | 25–9 | 10–6 | 4th | NCAA Final Four | ||||
| Providence: | 42–23 | 17–15 | |||||||
| Kentucky Wildcats (Southeastern Conference) (1989–1997) | |||||||||
| 1989–90 | Kentucky | 14–14 | 10–8 | T-9th | |||||
| 1990–91 | Kentucky | 22–6 | 14–4 | T-8th | |||||
| 1991-92 | Kentucky | 29–7 | 12-4 | 1st / 1st | NCAA Elite Eight | ||||
| 1992–93 | Kentucky | 30–4 | 13-3 | 2nd / 1st | NCAA Final Four | ||||
| 1993–94 | Kentucky | 27–7 | 12-4 | 2nd / 1st | NCAA Second Round | ||||
| 1994-95 | Kentucky | 28–5 | 14-2 | 4th / 1st | NCAA Elite Eight | ||||
| 1995–96 | Kentucky | 34–2 | 16–0 | 1st / 2nd | NCAA Champion | ||||
| 1996-97 | Kentucky | 35–5 | 13-3 | 2nd / 1st | NCAA Finalist | ||||
| Kentucky: | 219–50 | 104–28 | |||||||
| Louisville Cardinals (Conference USA) (2001–2005) | |||||||||
| 2001-02 | Louisville | 19–13 | 8-8 | T-8th | NIT Second Round | ||||
| 2002-03 | Louisville | 25-7 | 11-5 | 3rd / 1st | NCAA Second Round | ||||
| 2003-04 | Louisville | 20-10 | 9-7 | T-6th | NCAA First Round | ||||
| 2004-05 | Louisville | 33-5 | 14-2 | 1st / 1st | NCAA Final Four | ||||
| Louisville Cardinals (Big East Conference) (2005–"present") | |||||||||
| 2005–06 | Louisville | 21-13 | 6-10 | T-11th | NIT Semifinals | ||||
| 2006–07 | Louisville | 24-10 | 12–4 | T–2nd | NCAA Second Round | ||||
| 2007–08 | Louisville | 27-9 | 14-4 | T–2nd | NCAA Elite Eight | ||||
| 2008–09 | Louisville | 31-5 | 16-2 | 1st / 1st | NCAA Elite Eight | ||||
| Louisville: | 200–72 | 90-42 |
| ||||||
| Total: | 553–191 | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
| |||||||||
NBA Head Coaching Record
| Team | Year | G | W | L | W–L% | Finish | PG | PW | PL | PW–L% | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NYK | 1987–88 | 82 | 38 | 44 | .463 | 2nd in Atlantic | 4 | 1 | 3 | Lost in First Round | |
| NYK | 1988–89 | 82 | 52 | 30 | .634 | 1st in Atlantic | 9 | 5 | 4 | Lost in Conf. Semifinals | |
| NYK | 164 | 90 | 74 | .549 | 13 | 6 | 7 | ||||
| BOS | 1997–98 | 82 | 36 | 46 | .439 | 6th in Atlantic | 0 | 0 | 0 | None | |
| BOS | 1998–99 | 50 | 19 | 31 | .371 | 5th in Atlantic | 0 | 0 | 0 | None | |
| BOS | 1999–2000 | 82 | 35 | 47 | .471 | 5th in Atlantic | 0 | 0 | 0 | None | |
| BOS | 2000–01 | 34 | 12 | 22 | .371 | 5th in Atlantic | 0 | 0 | 0 | None | |
| BOS | 248 | 102 | 146 | .436 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Career | 412 | 192 | 220 | .466 | 13 | 6 | 7 | .461 |
Coaching Succession
| Preceded byRoy Sigler | Boston University Head Basketball Coach 1978–1983 |
Succeeded byJohn Kuester |
| Preceded byGordon Chiesa | Providence College Head Basketball Coach 1985–1987 |
Succeeded byJoe Mullaney |
| Preceded byBob Hill | New York Knicks Head Basketball Coach 1987–1989 |
Succeeded byStu Jackson |
| Preceded byEddie Sutton | University of Kentucky Head Basketball Coach 1989–1997 |
Succeeded byTubby Smith |
| Preceded byM.L. Carr | Boston Celtics head coach 1997–2001 |
Succeeded byJim O'Brien |
| Preceded byM. L. Carr | Boston Celtics Director of Basketball Operations 1997–2001 |
Succeeded byChris Wallace |
| Preceded byDenny Crum | University of Louisville Head Basketball Coach 2001- |
Succeeded by |
See also
References
- ^ Drucker, Joel (March/April 2002). "Profile: Rick Pitino. The Heart and Soul of Rick Pitino". Cigar Aficionado. Retrieved March 28, 2007.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Unknown parameter|dateformat=ignored (help) - ^ "Men's Basketball UofLSports.com". University of Louisville. Retrieved 2009-04-18.
- ^ RICK PITINO BIOGRAPHY
- D'Alessandro, Dave (2000-03-13). "There's something about Pitino and the Celtics". The Sporting News. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
- Breeders' Cup Bios
- Men's Basketball gatorzone.com- University of Florida Official Athletic Site
- William George Minardi, "Coach Pitino, Wife Mourn Loss at WTC of Her Brother, His Best Friend, Oyster Bay's Minardi" (Nov. 11, 2001).
- ^ Crawford, Eric (2009-04-18). "Pitino says he is target of extortion attempt". The Courier-Journal. Retrieved 2009-04-19.
- Crawford, Eric (2009-04-19). "FBI investigating Pitino's extortion claim". The Courier-Journal. Retrieved 2009-04-19.
- "Woman charged with trying to extort Pitino". Associated Press. Retrieved 2009-04-25.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - FBI Affidavit regarding Sypher
- Craggs, Tommy. "Well, this is an interesting development". Deadspin.
- Wolfson, Andrew. "Indictments, allegations land Karen Sypher in legal storm". Courier-Journal webpage 5-14-09.
- Rick Barnes Year-By-Year
External links
- Official Website
- Rick Pitino's bio at CSTV.com
- UofL Men's Basketball website
- Player/Alumnus page on UMassHoops.com
- Celtic Pride Stable at Breeders' Cup.com
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