Rick Pitino had offer to become new head coach at Rhode Island
By Jacob Lane
Rick Pitino has been in the local news over the last couple of weeks. It seems the 65 year old hall-of-fame coach could be returning to the sidelines earlier than expected.
Ex-Louisville Head Coach and Hall-of-Famer Rick Pitino wasn’t around the game of basketball this past year after being fired at the University of Louisville for his role in an FBI Investigation that turned up “pay-for-play” scandals in the fall of 2017.
However, there have been more and more reports indicating that Pitino could soon be returning to the sidelines, maybe even for the 2018-19 season.
Shortly after being fired, Rick Pitino was mentioned as being a candidate of interest for the Milwaukee Bucks opening, following the NBA team firing Head Coach Jason Kidd.
Next there were reports that linked Pitino to the opening at the University of Georgia. Those were shot down almost instantly however.
Been hearing Rick Pitino’s name a lot from trusted sources regarding the Georgia job.
— Jay Williams (@RealJayWilliams) March 11, 2018
Next game a report from NBA reporter Marc Stein that mentioned Pitino as a candidate for the Head Coach opening for the New Zealand Breakers.. To which everyone said “huh?”
Though several of the reports that have come out over the last few weeks and months haven’t been legitimate, it seems as though the news coming out today may be.
The New Zealand Breakers, I’m told, have offered their vacant head coaching position to former Louisville coach Rick Pitino. The @NZBreakers play in Australia’s @NBL and their new American ownership has been pitching Pitino’s representative on the post this week.
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) March 30, 2018
CollegeAD.com posted a short news blurb to their website, courtesy of Go Local Providence, this morning indicating that Rick Pitino and the University of Rhode Island had a deal in place for their vacant coaching position after up-and-coming coach Dan Hurley left to take the job at UConn.
"The University of Rhode Island Athletic Director Thorr Bjorn had come to a rough agreement in principle with Rick Pitino to succeed Dan Hurley as the Head Men’s Basketball Coach at the University late last week. According to multiple sources, the deal would have paid the embattled Hall of Fame Coach Pitino $2 million a year. Pitino’s salary at Rhode Island would have been less than Hurley’s new contract at the University of Connecticut and less than a third of Pitino’s total package he had received at Louisville before his ouster. But, when Bjorn took the offer to URI President David Dooley the hiring was shot down. According to multiple sources, Dooley balked due to Pitino’s ties to an FBI probe of the NCAA and other controversies"
It comes as no surprise that there is a dark cloud hovering over Rick Pitino, who was apart of two scandals during his time at the University of Louisville.
I am in the boat that tends to agree that Rick Pitino may not have been aware of either, but it doesn’t change the fact that they happened, which explains why AD’s and University Presidents may have a problem with bringing him in as a Head Coach and potentially bringing scrutiny and negative publicity to their programs.
With all that being said, expect Rick Pitino to return to the sidelines sooner rather than later.