Rick Pitino will decide whether to take the Louisville job after discussing the opening with his family Monday in Boston, he told ESPN.com on Wednesday night.
Pitino, who is working the NCAA Tournament for CBS, will be working first-round games in the Midwest Regional in Dayton, Ohio, until Sunday afternoon. If he wasn't broadcasting the tournament, he said, he already would have made a decision whether to succeed Denny Crum, who was forced to retire after a 30-year Hall of Fame career with the Cardinals.
|  | | Rick Pitino's travels is big news in Louisville. |
"I'm very, very serious about it," the former Kentucky and Boston Celtics coach told ESPN.com by phone from Dayton after returning from a tour of the Louisville campus earlier in the day. "I'll be weighing it over the next few days.
"I just have to see if it's something my family wants to do. But I will be back in coaching next season, there's no question about it."
Pitino said that he told Louisville athletics director Tom Jurich that he'd make a final decision by next week and if he decides not to accept the job, "I'll pull out of it," he said.
Pitino said his agent, Rick Avare, is handling all of his contract negotiations. He said he is not concerned about any of the financial terms, and that the decision will come down to whether his family wants him coaching in Louisville.
Jurich, who met with Pitino in Miami last weekend, has said Pitino is the only candidate for the
job.
In an interview prior to the NCAA Tournament opening-round game between Northwestern State and Winthrop, which Pitino provided analysis for on TNN, Pitino told ESPN.com he's getting pressured by some confidants in the game to look at Michigan because of his close ties to Kentucky, an annual rival of Louisville.
Michigan athletics director Bill Martin said he wanted to talk to
Pitino after firing Brian Ellerbe on Tuesday.
Pitino, who coached Kentucky to the 1996 NCAA title, told ESPN.com on Tuesday night that he hadn't spoken to anyone at Michigan but said he
believed Avare had been in contact with the school. Pitino said he has to decide on Louisville before he talks to anyone else.
"I'm really not thinking about any other jobs," Pitino told The Associated Press. "I have to take my time and make sure I'm making the right move, but it isn't because of other job openings; that's not the case at all.
"This is a big decision for me, because I wanted Boston to be
my last coaching job and this certainly will be."
Pitino backed off earlier statements that he's upset some
Kentucky fans feel jilted by his decision to consider coaching
the Wildcats' archrival.
"I can't get too carried away with the UK fans thing," Pitino
said. "There is a very small minority in every form of society
that make much more noise than the other people."
Pitino said Kentucky fans should be more appreciative of what he
accomplished in Lexington, turning a storied program that was
caught in a recruiting scandal back into a national power.
"They have a great program, great players and a great team,"
Pitino said. "I would hope every game, they would root for Rick
Pitino wherever I'm coaching, except for that one game a year."
Jurich led Pitino and his 18-year-old son Richard on a brief walking tour of campus
after Pitino met for 30 minutes with Crum, who announced his retirement on March 2.
Crum said the two discussed Louisville's current players and
incoming recruits.
"We really didn't have the chance to talk about anything
else," Crum said.
Pitino met later with university president John Shumaker and had
a private lunch with several wealthy school supporters, including
retired banker Malcolm Chancey and John Schnatter, the chief
executive of Louisville-based Papa John's.
"The reason I'm here is because of my love for Kentucky,"
Pitino said. "It just so happens that a premier university with a
premier basketball program has a job that hasn't been open in 30
years and it just so happened to open right now. I'm honored to
have the opportunity to look at this situation."
Jurich said he wanted Pitino to see the Louisville campus so it
could "sell itself."
"He got the chance to meet the staff, he got to sit down with
Denny and he had the chance to tour the facilities on campus and
see what we've got," Jurich said. "Hopefully, he'll see the
amenities we have here and the good people."
Jurich said he wasn't trying to press Pitino into a decision by
inviting him to Louisville.
"I don't want to twist his arm. He's going to have to come to
that decision," Jurich said. "Right now, it's important that
Coach takes his time."
Pitino already has said no to UNLV and Rhode Island. Michigan is also expected
to contact Seton Hall coach Tommy Amaker, Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson and
Cal coach Ben Braun. Kent State coach Gary Waters would be on a longer list.
Information from ESPN.com senior writer Andy Katz and The Associated Press was used in this report. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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