Rick Pitino

Basketball Coach

Rick Pitino was born in New York City, New York, United States on September 18th, 1952 and is the Basketball Coach. At the age of 71, Rick Pitino biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.

  Report
Date of Birth
September 18, 1952
Nationality
United States
Place of Birth
New York City, New York, United States
Age
71 years old
Zodiac Sign
Virgo
Networth
$45 Million
Salary
$7.7 Million
Profession
Basketball Coach
Rick Pitino Height, Weight, Eye Color and Hair Color

At 71 years old, Rick Pitino has this physical status:

Height
183cm
Weight
75kg
Hair Color
Not Available
Eye Color
Not Available
Build
Not Available
Measurements
Not Available
Rick Pitino Religion, Education, and Hobbies
Religion
Not Available
Hobbies
Not Available
Education
Not Available
Rick Pitino Spouse(s), Children, Affair, Parents, and Family
Spouse(s)
Not Available
Children
Not Available
Dating / Affair
Not Available
Parents
Not Available
Rick Pitino Career

Pitino's college coaching assignments include Boston University, Providence College, the University of Kentucky, and the University of Louisville. As a collegiate head coach, Pitino has compiled a 684–282 record, for a .708 winning percentage that is ranked 11th among active coaches and 34th all-time among all collegiate basketball coaches following the 2021–22 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. Additionally, his teams are known for their signature use of the full court press and 2-3 zone defensive schemes, as well as their general aggressive defensive style.

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 former University of Florida coach Billy Donovan (now head coach of the Chicago Bulls), High Point University's Tubby Smith, Santa Clara University's Herb Sendek, UCLA's Mick Cronin, New Mexico's Richard Pitino (his son), Maryland's Kevin Willard, former Cal State Northridge coach Reggie Theus and BYU's Mark Pope.

Pitino started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at the University of Hawaii in 1974, and became a full-time assistant in 1975. Pitino served as Hawaii's interim head coach late in the 1975–76 season. Coach Bruce O'Neil was fired after the Rainbow Warriors' started the season 9–12. Pitino led Hawaii for their final six games, going 2–4 in the span.

Pitino's time at Hawaii was marred by a 1977 NCAA report on sanctions against the program. According to the report, Pitino was implicated in 8 of the 64 infractions that led the university to be placed on probation. The violations involving Pitino included providing round-trip air fare for a player between New York and Honolulu, arranging for student-athletes to receive used cars for season tickets, and handing out coupons to players for free food at McDonald's. He was also cited, along with the head coach, Bruce O'Neil, for providing misinformation to the NCAA and University of Hawaii officials. Also in 1977, the NCAA infractions committee recommended that Pitino and O'Neil be disassociated from Hawaii athletics. In 1989, Pitino would dismiss the report, saying "I didn't make any mistakes, I don't care what anybody says."

Pitino was the first assistant hired by Jim Boeheim in 1976 as Boeheim began his tenure at Syracuse 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 tournament appearance in 24 years.

Pitino left Boston University to become an assistant coach with the New York Knicks under Hubie Brown.

In 1985, Pitino returned to college coaching to become head coach at Providence College after being hired by then-athletic director Lou Lamoriello. 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 the University of Kentucky and then win back-to-back national championships as head coach at the University of Florida.

Pitino became head coach of the New York Knicks on July 14, 1987. The year before he arrived, the team had only won 24 games. In just two years, Pitino led the Knicks to their first division title in nearly twenty years. He resigned from the Knicks on May 30, 1989.

After spending two years coaching in the NBA, Pitino returned to the college level again in 1989, becoming the coach at Kentucky. The Kentucky program was recovering 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 6th NCAA Championship. 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. The following year, he left Kentucky for the NBA and Kentucky went on to win the 1998 national title. He would later refer to Kentucky as "the Roman Empire of college basketball".

Pitino returned to the NBA in 1997 when the Boston Celtics hired him as head coach on May 6, 1997. He resigned on January 8, 2001. 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:

Pitino struggled in Boston, and statistics like 1998–99'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 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 postgame press conference. During his time in Boston, he also served as team president, with complete control over basketball operations.

Pitino went back to the NBA in the 1997–98 season, 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 first 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. The inexperience caused the Cardinals to limp into the Big East tournament seeded 12th, and miss the NCAA tournament. They made 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 finish towards the bottom of the Big East Conference again, Pitino led them to a second-place finish, 12–4 (tied with the University of Pittsburgh, who had been beaten by the Cardinals during the regular season) in the conference standings and a first round bye in the conference tournament. Pitino implemented a 2–2–1 and 2–3 zone defense midway through the season. The 2007 team's season ended when the Cardinals lost to Texas A&M in the second round of the NCAA tournament. The 2008 Cardinals finished second in the Big East and ranked 13th in both the AP and Coaches' polls. Louisville was the third 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. Louisville was the top seed overall in the 2009 NCAA tournament and was planted as the first seed in the Midwest region. They defeated Morehead State, Siena and Arizona to advance to the Elite Eight, where they were defeated by Michigan State. In 2010 the Cardinals suffered a disappointing 15-point loss to their first round opponent, the California Golden Bears. In 2011, Louisville was upset by 13th-seeded Morehead State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

In 2012, Pitino coached the Cardinals to the Big East tournament championship and a berth as No. 4 seed in the West region of the NCAA tournament. The Cardinals defeated Davidson, New Mexico, and top seed Michigan State to advance to the regional final against Florida and his former player and friend Billy Donovan. The Cardinals would go on to win that game, but lost to arch-rivals and eventual national champions Kentucky in the 2012 Final Four.

In 2013, Pitino led the Louisville Cardinals to their third National Championship in an 82–76 win over Michigan to become the first NCAA Division I coach in history to win a championship with two different schools.

The University of Louisville self-imposed a postseason ban for the 2015–16 season amid an ongoing NCAA investigation over an escort sex scandal involving recruits between 2010 and 2014. The ban included both the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament. On June 15, 2017, the NCAA charged Pitino for failure to monitor his basketball program, which was involved in a sex-for-pay scandal. He was suspended for the first five games of the ACC season in 2017–18. The NCAA announced they were considering forcing Louisville to vacate wins from the 2012–13 season, including its 2013 NCAA National Championship over Michigan, which would make Louisville the first national champion to be stripped of its title. The NCAA is also considering stripping Louisville of wins from several other seasons before and after 2012–13.

On February 20, 2018, the NCAA officially announced that the 2013 National Championship and their 2012 Final Four appearance had been vacated. It was the first time the NCAA vacated a men's basketball national title.

On September 26, 2017, federal prosecutors announced that the school was under investigation for an alleged "pay for play" involving recruits at Louisville. The allegations state that an Adidas executive conspired to pay $100,000 to the family of a top-ranked national recruit to play at Louisville and to represent Adidas when he turned pro. The criminal complaint does not name Louisville specifically but appears to involve the recruitment of Brian Bowen, who committed on June 3, 2017, to the school.

A day later, Louisville placed Pitino on unpaid administrative leave, while athletic director Tom Jurich was placed on paid administrative leave. According to a letter interim president Greg Postel sent to Pitino, the information spelled out by prosecutors amounted to a "material breach" of his contract. Pitino's lawyer, Steve Pence, told The Courier-Journal that as he understood it, Pitino had been "effectively fired". Under the terms of Pitino's contract, Louisville was required to give him 10 days' notice and "an opportunity to be heard" before firing him for cause. According to CBS Sports' Gary Parrish, school officials did not intend for Pitino to ever return to the sidelines again, and planned to cut ties with him as soon as they could legally do so.

On October 2, the board of the University of Louisville Athletic Association voted to formally begin the process of firing Pitino for cause. On the same day, Pitino, through his lawyer, claimed that Louisville officials should have given him 10 days notice and a chance to respond before placing him on leave. On October 16, the ULAA board voted unanimously to fire Pitino for cause.

On September 18, 2019, nearly two years after his dismissal and his lawsuit for $38.7 million against the ULAA, Pitino settled with the university and dropped the case. As a result, his termination was changed from a firing on October 16, 2017, to a resignation on October 3, 2017, citing "zero liability" between both parties.

On December 26, 2018, Panathinaikos announced Pitino as the head coach of the team until the end of the season, marking his debut in the EuroLeague. On February 17, 2019, they won the 2018–19 Greek Cup against PAOK in the final. In the EuroLeague Regular Season, they managed to make a comeback after a 6–8 start, to finish in sixth place and reach the playoffs, after they registered ten wins in their last 16 games. In the EuroLeague Playoffs, Panathinaikos fell for a second consecutive year against defending champions Real Madrid, thus failing to qualify for the 2019 EuroLeague Final Four. The season ended with Panathinaikos winning the 2018–19 Greek Basket League's season championship, after they swept Promitheas Patras 3–0 in the League's Finals. After the season, Panathinaikos made an offer to coach Pitino to extend his stay, and although he showed willingness to stay in Greece for another season, he declined the offer, due to a family matter.

On November 26, 2019, Pitino was rehired by Panathinaikos as the team's head coach on a two-year deal after the firing of Argyris Pedoulakis. He remained with the team until March 2020 when the 2019–20 EuroLeague season was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving Panathinaikos at sixth place.

On March 14, 2020, Pitino was named head coach of Iona College after Tim Cluess stepped down from the position due to health issues on March 13. Despite the hiring, Pitino was scheduled to finish his commitments to Panathinaikos, however on March 20, Panathinaikos announced mutual agreement to terminate the contract.

National team career

On December 20, 2010, Pitino was hired as head coach of the senior Puerto Rico national team. On April 29, 2011, it was announced that Pitino would not coach the Puerto Rico national team, due to scheduling conflicts and NCAA regulations disallowing it. Pitino coached the Puerto Rican national team at the 2015 FIBA Americas Championship, in Mexico City, Mexico. They finished the tournament in 5th place.

On November 8, 2019, Pitino was hired as head coach of Greece's senior national team. The Hellenic Basketball Federation announced that Pitino would be Greece's head coach at the 2020 FIBA Victoria Olympic qualifying tournament and the 2020 Summer Olympics, should Greece qualify, while Thanasis Skourtopoulos would serve as Greece's head coach for the 2021 EuroBasket qualification tournament.

Source

Richard Pitino 'is a top candidate for the Louisville job', despite the scandal-plagued tenure of his father and legendary college basketball coach Rick in Kentucky

www.dailymail.co.uk, March 26, 2024
Almost seven years after his father, Rick Pitino, was fired at Louisville amid multiple scandals, Richard Pitino could be in line to take the helm of the Cardinals' men's basketball program. Rick Pitino's time at the Cardinals helm saw incredible success in real time, until multiple concurrent scandals harshly tainted his tenure in Louisville, originally being fired for-cause, in October 2017. The elder Pitino is now at St. John's trying to rebrand his image, while his 41-year-old son just led New Mexico to an NCAA Tournament appearance.

MARCH MADNESS: Rick Pitino and St. John's family make history by winning the Big East semis... as Hall of Famer Richard Burton sneaks into Big Dance with New Mexico

www.dailymail.co.uk, March 18, 2024
St. John's staff was pushed further off the NCAA Tournament bubble by Richard Pitino's New Mexico staff as the Red Storm became the top-ranked NET team to not make the field. The Red Storm was not even close to making the field, as Rick Pitino's crew was not one of the first four teams to be disqualified from the NCAA Tournament. That means that the NCAA Tournament's selection committee deemed St. John's the fifth best team the NCAA Tournament has chosen for, rather than an at-large bid.

MADNESS MARCH: No. MARCH MADNESS: UC, Purdue, Houston, and North Carolina headline No. As the most unpredictable postseason field of all time is revealed, the NCAA Tournament has been seeded

www.dailymail.co.uk, March 17, 2024
After winning a national championship last season, UConn received the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. With the entire tournament field announced Sunday night, Purdue, Houston, and North Carolina rounded out the field of 68's top seeds. Tournament projections were more varied this season than ever before, with Florida Atlantic thought to be barely hanging on to an at-large bid but receiving a No. 8 seed.