Pitino linked to coaching vacancy at Louisville
If Schertz is truly the top option, a decision on the Louisville post will likely wait until the Sycamores’ season ends.
The Courier-Journal reported Louisville had made unsuccessful runs at Baylor coach Scott Drew and Florida Atlantic’s Dusty May. Drew decided to remain at Baylor while May accepted the job at Michigan.
It was reported over the weekend that May was not comfortable with the reaction Louisville fans gave when his name surfaced in connection to the job. On Tuesday, the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) was torn about Pitino as a candidate.
A number of fans were enthusiastic about the idea. A bed sheet with “Bring home Richard Pitino” spray-painted in black letters was hung from the second-floor balcony of Louisville’s student activities center Tuesday morning.
The Pitino name is a familiar, albeit controversial one, in Louisville history.
Richard’s father, hall of fame coach Rick Pitino, was the Cardinals’ coach for 16 years, taking the program to the Final Four three times and winning the national championship in 2013. Richard was twice an assistant on his dad’s staff, serving from 2007-09 and then again as the associate head coach during the 2011-12 season.
The elder Pitino’s tenure was mired in controversy. He was embroiled in a pair of high profile incidents that brought negative attention to the program. The NCAA’s Infractions Appeals Committee ruled the Cardinals’ 2013 title had to be vacated after a scandal involving payments made to strippers and prostitutes to dance for, and have sex with, former players and recruits.
Pitino was fired in 2017 for alleged recruiting violations. He later sued the school, which led to an independent NCAA panel to investigate the matter. He was exonerated in November 2022, and his firing was altered to show he was allowed to voluntarily step down.
The elder Pitino has since started to restore his reputation with stops at Iona and now St. John’s. While he hasn’t said much about his time at Louisville, Richard Pitino has repeatedly spoken highly of the program and his time there.
The younger Pitino is under contract with UNM through the 2027-28 season. His current salary is approximately $1.2 million.
Should he leave before Monday, he owes the school a $1.1 million buyout. That figure drops to $750,000 this summer and $500,000 in the third year of the five-year deal. He would owe nothing if he leaves in the final year of the contract.
Pitino has been a Division I head coach for 12 years and has made three trips to the NCAA Tournament. His lone win in the NCAA was in 2019 against Louisville when he was still at Minnesota.
He is 61-41 in three years with New Mexico and 221-175 overall. His 2014 team at Minnesota was the NIT champion and he was name the Big Ten coach of the year in 2017.
He has also had stops as an assistant coach at College of Charleston, Northeastern, Duquesne and Florida.