SAN ANTONIO — The gap in Rick Pitino’s resume when he left Kentucky to coach the Boston Celtics used to prompt hypothetical arguments on how many wins he’d have had he never left college basketball.
His most recent hiatus from 2017 to 2020 to coach professionally in Greece should provoke one too. What if he was never forced out of Louisville?
The Associated Press recognized Pitino as a co-Coach of the Year on Friday at the NCAA Tournament Final Four, an honor he shared with Auburn coach Bruce Pearl, for leading St. John’s in his second year at the helm to its first Big East title in 30 years.
It was a first for Pitino, who had never been recognized by the AP for the national award before.
At the age of 72, he’s showing no signs of slowing down, which is why he should have retired a Cardinal. Louisville was wrong to let him go.
Given the national championship, three Final Fours and three Elite Eights he reached at Louisville, his averages mean he would have again appeared in the NCAA Tournament's final weekend with the Cards over the seven seasons the program was largely in no man’s land prior to this season.
It's hindsight, of course.
Maybe the whole episode was just a matter of bad timing for U of L.
Pitino was long ago vindicated of the allegations that led to his firing. The NCAA’s now disbanded Independent Accountability Resolution Process (IARP) cleared him of any involvement in paying recruit Brian Bowen II to sign with the Cardinals.
Of course, now name, image and likeness (NIL) payments and playing time are the pillars of recruiting, making college sports more like professional leagues.
The firing violations of the past are more like hiccups in the present.
The Final Four is a collection of coaches who, aside from Duke’s Jon Scheyer, don’t have pristine records. Both Pearl and
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