Portraits of top NCAA Coaches: Rick Pitino

Posted by Eitel in Basketball Idols, For Coaches | 0 comments

Armed with Slicked back hair and a Long Island accent, Rick Pitino is the only coach in NCAA history to lead three schools to the Final Four. On the side he is part owner of the aptly named “Celtic Pride Stable” which describes his approach to life and Basketball: Fast and successful. This approach has served Pitino well.

Born September 18, 1952, Pitino was a standout in basketball during his high school years and attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. While at UMass Pitino was known as a top assist man, and is still in the record books for his career and single season totals.

Pitino’s first coaching post was as an assistant coach at the University of Hawaii in 1974. After 3 seasons at Hawaii Pitino would get his big break, getting hired as an assistant for new Syracuse University coach Jim Boeheim. Returning to his New York roots was good for Pitino and he was then hired by Boston University in 1978, this would be Pitino’s first Head Coaching post.