U of L Extends Pitino's Contract through 2010
March 04, 2004 | Men's Basketball
March 4, 2004
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - University of Louisville head basketball coach Rick Pitino has signed a three-year contract extension which will boost his association with the U of L program through the 2009-10 season.Pitino had three full years remaining on a six-year agreement he signed with U of L on March 21, 2001. He has quickly restored the Cardinal basketball program to national prominence, rising among the nation's top 25 teams in just his second year and maintaining that presence with his current successful unit.
"I'm so delighted that Rick has agreed to remain our men's basketball coach for an additional three years," said U of L Director of Athletics Tom Jurich. "When he first became our coach, I felt that if he could come here and reconstruct our program in six years, it would be a major coup for this institution. Our entire university and community will benefit immensely from his pushing that intial commitment to nine years. It has been exciting to watch the accelerated path that our men's basketball team has been on. Rick has continued to exceed all of my expectations and we look forward to even further heights, particularly with our move into the Big East Conference. I hope we can add Rick for another nine years in 2010."
With one regular season game remaining Saturday at Marquette, the Cardinals are 19-7, ranked 25th in the Associated Press and 24th ESPN/USA Today polls, and poised for the school's 31st NCAA Tournament bid. U of L reeled off 16 straight victories earlier this season, matching the fourth-highest ever streak for the Cardinals.
In his 18 seasons as a collegiate head coach at four different schools, Pitino has compiled a 415-151 record. His .733 winning percentage ranks him sixth among active coaches and 25th all-time. Among active coaches, Pitino has the third-highest winning percentage in NCAA Tournament games, winning 77.1 percent of his games in the post-season event with a 27-8 record in nine tournament appearances. He is one of just eleven coaches who have taken teams from two different schools to the NCAA Final Four. He is also one of 14 coaches all-time who have reached the Final Four on at least four occasions. Only seven coaches all-time have taken more teams to the NCAA Final Four than Pitino's four appearances, a figure also matched by six other coaches. His record in his third year at U of L is 63-27.
Pitino's impact on the U of L program has gone well beyond his on-court success. The overall grade point average of the men's basketball team is the highest it has been since tracking that statistic since 1984. Average season attendance rose nearly 2,000 in Freedom Hall to a sold-out situation in the first year of his arrival and U of L has a waiting list totalling nearly 4,000 seats. Direct gifts to men's basketball have exceeded $5 million since 2001. A $1 million renovation of the Cardinal Arena was funded through private donations upon his arrival. U of L built Minardi Hall, a new $4.6 million campus dormitory, with private funds raised primarily through Pitino's efforts.
Indirectly since Pitino's arrival, general donations to the Cardinal Athletic Fund have risen nearly $2 million and U of L's net marketing financial benefits have risen $2 million. He is a living, breathing icon for the university and the Louisville community across the national landscape.
Pitino's up-tempo style, pressure defense, strong work ethic and family atmosphere transformed the Cardinals into a national competitor almost immediately. Last season, his Cardinals rose to as high as second in the Associated Press poll and spent time as the nation's top team in the Ratings Percentage Index and Sagarin Ratings. After a 1-1 start, the Cardinals reeled off an incredible 17 straight victories, one short of the school record and the second-highest ever in Conference USA history. U of L won its first Conference USA Tournament title in the league's eight year history in 2003.
But Pitino did not wait a year for the Cardinals to make an upward move. In his first year at Louisville, he guided an undersized, often outmanned squad to a 19-13 record, upsetting the nation's fourth-ranked team along the way to earning a post-season tournament appearance in the NIT, nearly reversing the Cardinals fortunes the season prior to his arrival (12-19 in 2000-01).
For three and a half years before joining the Cards, Pitino served as president and head coach of the NBA's Boston Celtics. With the Celtics, he took over a team that had posted a franchise worst 15-67 record before his arrival. He quickly made an impact, improving the Celtics' victory total by 21 games in his first season. He resigned his position with the storied franchise on Jan. 8, 2001 after compiling a 102-146 record there.
He guided Kentucky to three NCAA Final Four appearances in his last five years at Kentucky, winning the 1996 NCAA Championship and reaching the national title game in 1997. In eight seasons with the Wildcats, he amassed a 219-50 record (.814) while winning two league crowns and an impressive 17-1 record in the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
While at Kentucky, Pitino coached three Wildcats who earned All-America honors and eight players who were drafted by the NBA, including six in the first round (three lottery picks).
Pitino, 51, got his start in coaching as a graduate assistant at Hawai'i in 1974 and served as a full-time assistant there in 1975-76. He served two seasons as an assistant at Syracuse under Jim Boeheim from 1976-78.
Pitino was only 25 years old when he accepted his first head coaching job at Boston University in 1978. He produced a 91-51 record in five years there, departing as the most successful coach in BU history. In his final season there, he guided the Terriers to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 24 years. He was twice named New England Coach of the Year.
Pitino left Boston U. to become an assistant coach for the New York Knicks from 1983-85, where he worked with head coach Hubie Brown. It was a team he would return to lead as its head coach in two seasons.
He was head coach at Providence College for two seasons (1985-87), producing a 42-23 record there. He guided the Friars to an NCAA Tournament appearance in 1986 and a trip to the NCAA Final Four in 1987, winning the regional championship in Louisville's Freedom Hall.
Before his stint at Kentucky, Pitino served as head coach of the New York Knicks for two seasons. In his initial year there in 1987-88, the Knicks improved by 14 victories and made the NBA Playoffs for the first time in four seasons. The Knicks won 52 games in 1988-89 and swept the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. Pitino is an accomplished author, producing such books as the best seller "Success Is A Choice" and "Lead to Succeed."
He earned his degree at Massachusetts in 1974, where he was a standout guard for the Minutemen's basketball team. Pitino's 329 career assists ranks eighth all-time at UMass and his 168 assists as a senior is the sixth-best single season total ever at Massachusetts. Pitino was a freshman at UMass during NBA legend Julius Erving's senior year.
Born Sept. 18, 1952, Pitino is a native of New York City where he was a standout guard for Dominic High School in Oyster Bay, Long Island. There, he captained his team and established several school scoring marks.
Pitino and wife Joanne have five children: Michael, Christopher, Richard, Ryan and Jacqueline.
