University of Louisville Extends Pitino's Contract to 2016-17
March 31, 2010 | Men's Basketball
March 31, 2010
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The University of Louisville has extended the contract of men's basketball coach Rick Pitino four years, boosting his association with the Cardinals through the 2016-17 season.
The only coach in NCAA history to take three different teams to the Final Four, Pitino had three years remaining on his current contract, which would have tied him with the Cardinals through the 2012-13 season. The agreement will take Pitino into the first seven years of the new downtown arena being constructed on the Louisville riverfront. U of L men's and women's basketball will serve as the primary tenants for the new facility scheduled to open for the 2010-11 season.
"Rick has made a dramatic impact on our university and community over the last nine years," said U of L Vice President and Director of Athletics Tom Jurich. "He clearly provided the impetus for the new arena, because without our Final Four run in 2005, it would never have been a discussion point. He truly loves this university, this community and this state and wants to remain here. I'm so impressed with how he interacts with our student-athletes on and off the court, as well as how he influences their lives after basketball. I'm delighted that Rick will continue to guide our program for many years to come."
Pitino guided the Cardinals to their eighth straight 20-win season against one of the nation's top ten toughest schedules this season. U of L has been among the final eight teams in the NCAA Tournament in three of the last six years, including reaching the Final Four in 2005. Last year, the Cardinals entered the NCAA Tournament as the top seed overall, achieving a No. 1 ranking in the final Associated Press poll for the first time in the rich tradition of the Cardinals' basketball program. U of L has either won or finished second in the rugged BIG EAST Conference in three of the last four years, capturing the league regular season and tournament titles in 2009.
In 24 seasons as a collegiate head coach at four different schools, Pitino has compiled a 572-210 record, a .732 winning percentage that ranks him 12th among active coaches. He has a 220-86 record in nine seasons at U of L since joining the Cardinals on March 21, 2001, an average of over 24 victories per season.
Among active coaches, Pitino has the fourth-highest winning percentage in NCAA Tournament games, winning 73.1 percent of his games in the post-season event with a 38-14 record in 15 tournament appearances. He is one of a select group of eight coaches who have taken teams from four different schools to the NCAA Tournament. A 2006 inductee to the New York City Hall of Fame, Pitino is one of 10 coaches all-time who have reached the Final Four on at least five occasions.
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 in recent years has been the highest at U of L since tracking that statistic since 1984. The Cardinals have posted a collective 3.0 team grade point average for three straight semesters. Most recently, eight current players were named to the Athletic Director's Honor Roll for the 2009 fall semester.
Average season attendance rose nearly 2,000 in Freedom Hall to a sold-out situation in the first year of Pitino's arrival and U of L has a substantial waiting list. U of L built Minardi Hall, a campus dormitory constructed in 2003, with private funds raised primarily through Pitino's efforts, and he assisted in obtaining the lead gift on the Yum! Center, the Cardinals' new practice facility which opened in August 2007. Gifts to men's basketball and the Cardinal Athletic Fund, as well as U of L's net marketing financial benefits, have risen significantly since his arrival.
For three and a half years, 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 UK, 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, 58, 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 (1979, 1983).
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. Pitino is one of seven current collegiate head coaches with NBA head coaching experience.
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 Freedom Hall. Pitino and that Final Four squad will meet in Providence for a 20-year reunion May 11-12.
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.
He earned his degree in 1974 at Massachusetts, where he was a standout guard for the Minutemen's basketball team. His 329 career assists rank eighth all-time at UMass and his 168 assists as a senior is the sixth-best single season total ever there. Pitino was a freshman 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 St. 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.
