The US Athletic Hall of Fame - Coaches 2023
Rick Pitino
- Contest: The US Athletic Hall of Fame - Coaches 2023
- Embed from Getty Images
- Sport(s): Basketball
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Statistics:
2 NCAA Division I Tournament Wins (1986 & 2013*)
7 NCAA Division I Tournament Final Fours (1987, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2005, 2012* & 2013*)
1 AAC Regular Season Champion (2014*)
1 AAC Tournament (2014*)
2 Big East Regular Season Championship (2009 & 2013*)
3 Big East Tournament Wins (2009, 2012 & 2013*)
1 C-USA Regular Season Championship (2005)
2 C-USA Tournament Wins (2003 & 2005)
2 SEC Regular Season Championships (1995 & 1996)
5 SEC Tournament Wins (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 & 1997)
2 America East Regular Season Championships (1980 & 1983)
1 America East Tournament Win (1983)
1 C-USA Coach of the Year Award (2005)
3 SEC Coach of the Year Awards (1990, 1991 & 1996)
775-274 NCAA Record
192-220 NBA Record
Member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame
*Vacated by the NCAA -
Rick Pitino has had a long and successful career as a basketball coach, though it certainly has not been without its share of controversy.
Pitino played at U-Mass before getting his first assistant coaching job at Hawaii in 1974. After a turn as their interim head coach, he ventured to Syracuse to learn under Jim Boeheim at Syracuse. Pitino was hired at Boston University, and in his fourth and final year with the Terriers, Pitino made his head coaching debut in the NCAA Tournament.
Pitino left Boston U for the NBA and the New York Knicks, again as an assistant. Providence University called next, and in 1987, he stunned college basketball when his Friars made the Final Four. Pitino was now the most coveted head coach in basketball, and he agreed to return to the Knicks, but now as their head coach.
His second time in New York only lasted two years, and he returned to the college ranks with Kentucky, who was under probation for the next two years due to a recruiting scandal from the former head coach, Eddie Sutton. Pitino took advantage of the new three-point line, and his team became one of the most exciting in college basketball. Bringing the Wildcats back to prominence, Pitino’s team went to the Final Four in 1993, and he won it all in 1996 and was a runner-up in 1997, Pitino's third Final Four with Kentucky. Kentucky was back, but the taste of NBA failure was still in his mouth, and he left for the Boston Celtics.
Boston was not much different than New York. Pitino never had a winning record with Boston, and it was by every account a disaster. He went back to college hoops, this time with Louisville in 2001, where he went to the Final Four in 2012 and 2013, winning the NCAA Championship in the latter year. It was a glorious accomplishment, but I came with a tragic ending.
In 2015, Louisville been involved in an escort sex scandal that ran from 2010 to 2014. In 2017, a pay-for-play rocked the program, and Pitino was fired.
He would leave the U.S. to coach in Greece, but as of this writing, Pitino is back in the NCAA with Iona.
The conduct of Pitino has been questionable, but he remains the only coach to take three different schools to the Final Four and the first NCAA coach to win the NCAA Tournament with two different teams, vacated or not.
We are proud to nominate Rick Pitino for the United States Athletic Hall of Fame.
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