Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
With a victory for the Louisville Cardinals in the 2013 National Championship Game against the Michigan Wolverines, Rick Pitino became the first coach to win a title at two different schools.
What a week for Pitino. First, he gets inducted into the Hall of Fame and then his team wins the national championship. With the injury to Kevin Ware, this should go down as one of the greatest stories in sports history. Add that to the list for Pitino this week.
Pitino was always considered one of the best coaches of all time, but his one championship was the only blemish on his resume–some blemish. With his second title, Pitino looks that much better. He earned his first national title coaching for the Kentucky Wildcats. Aren’t those two teams supposed to be rivals or something? Anyways, what a heck of an accomplishment for a great coach.
Louisville was once considered a powerhouse in college basketball and now the Cardinals can finally be considered one of the best again, thanks to this championship victory over the Michigan Wolverines.
When you think of all of the greats in college basketball, it is hard to believe that Pitino is the first coach to pull off this feat, but then again, coaches like Mike Krzyzewski and Jim Boeheim have been coaching for their teams for a very long time. One coach that comes to mind that could have pulled off this feat was Roy Williams, since he did coach at Kansas before taking over at North Carolina.
Hall of Fame and history all in one week. I bet Pitino has a big ol’ smile on his face–as he should.
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