Tyler Kaufman-US PRESSWIR
Rick Pitino has been around the block during his career. High profile college jobs all the way to the NBA, Pitino has seen and done it all. What is his plans now? Doing it for any even longer period of time and doing it for the Louisville Cardinals basketball program. CBSSports’ Jeff Goodman had Pitino on his SiriusXM Radio program late Wednesday and Pitino told Goodman he’s going to coach until the his health breaks down.
“I’m probably going to sign an extension somewhere down the road,” Pitino said. “I’m gonna stay in it as long as I’m healthy. … I’m gonna stay in it as long as I can.”
Just last year Pitino told a group of reporters that when his current contract ran out in 2017 that he was hanging up his whistle.
The reason for his change in position is not known at the moment. Considering the recent success that Pitino has had in Louisville it can certainly be reasonable to think Pitino can still hang with the big boys and compete for National Titles.
The cynical side can make one this this is a way for Pitino to battle negative recruiting. Being that he is 60 years-old, his rivals in recruiting are surely using his age against him in the battle for top prospects. Telling future recruits that he’s going to be there for a long period of time will rid those negative tactics useless.
Pitino did leave the door open for an easy backtrack on his statement. Pitino said he would coach as long as “He’s healthy”. Considering how college coaches are somewhat politicians, don’t be surprised if things go south in Louisville, that Pitino doesn’t all of a sudden have certain medical issues he might need to take care of and steps down in a few years.
Pitino is one of the handful of coaches who even casual college basketball fans recognize Him staying in college and coaching as long as humanly possible only helps the growth of the sport.
Here’s to your health Rick.
Follow Joe on the Twitter machine. Do it and do it now @JosephNardone
