There is one coach on the market who is guaranteed to sell a ton of tickets, create a lot of excitement, and eventually win a ton of games. Unfortunately, he comes with the most baggage. I realize that a lot of people feel that Pitt should never hire a coach with such baggage. Just wondering if we put it to a vote, what it would look like.
Poll: Should Pitt hire Rick Pitino?
- Thread starter Sean Miller Fan
- Start date
You call what Pitino carries around his neck baggage? It's a lot more than that. If the FBI does their job, he'll be in jail. Hard to coach a team from a jail cell.
And NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As much as I am in the camp that college sports at this level is about winning and revenue and not about "moral lessons", no way, no hell would I support a move to Rick Pitino. No way.
I've been thinking about this a lot. I'll break down where I land. Two main dimensions of evaluation: his fitness to represent Pitt and my personal enjoyment of Pitino as Pitt's head coach.
Morality and Fitness to Represent Pitt:
Against Pitino:
- Hired strippers/prostitutes to recruit players.
- Weird Karen Sypher sex/extortion situation.
- Paid players with Adidas money
(I'm worried that I'm blanking on more serious, harmful things here. That's all I can remember off the top of my head.)
For Pitino:
- The list against Pitino is extremely mild. Paying players? Strippers? Cheating on his wife? Are you kidding me? Some of those things are bad because they are cheating under NCAA rules, but they are barely a blip on the morality radar for college basketball.
Personal Enjoyment:
Against Pitino:
- A slimy, narcissistic, scumbag.
- Foul, downright awful human being.
- I would never want my son to play for or learn from him.
- I would likely puke during at least one introduction.
That's a pretty big deal to me. I would not be at all proud to have Pitino represent Pitt. I felt that way before he was dismissed from UL, as well.
For Pitino:
- He's an incredibly successful coach. 10/10 grand-slam-that-lands-in-the-river legend of the game.
- I love to watch a well executed full court press.
- We are so bad right now. He would add a lot of wins in a short period of time.
The last two elements are 1) how likely he is to cheat again and be caught, leaving Pitt in a horrible situation with sanctions and penalties. I can't really judge that. 2) Is there other fallout from the Adidas scandal that will land on him in the future? I just don't know. I'm assuming that's already hit. If it hasn't, then I would not want Pitt to hire him.
Final opinion (and I can't believe I'm saying this) is that I think Pitt should try to hire Pitino. I'm sort of surprised that the poll is at 70% NO right now. What exactly is the reason why? Concern that he'll get more penalties tagged to him? Concern that he'll cheat at Pitt and we'll be in deep trouble? Personal distaste for him?
Morality and Fitness to Represent Pitt:
Against Pitino:
- Hired strippers/prostitutes to recruit players.
- Weird Karen Sypher sex/extortion situation.
- Paid players with Adidas money
(I'm worried that I'm blanking on more serious, harmful things here. That's all I can remember off the top of my head.)
For Pitino:
- The list against Pitino is extremely mild. Paying players? Strippers? Cheating on his wife? Are you kidding me? Some of those things are bad because they are cheating under NCAA rules, but they are barely a blip on the morality radar for college basketball.
Personal Enjoyment:
Against Pitino:
- A slimy, narcissistic, scumbag.
- Foul, downright awful human being.
- I would never want my son to play for or learn from him.
- I would likely puke during at least one introduction.
That's a pretty big deal to me. I would not be at all proud to have Pitino represent Pitt. I felt that way before he was dismissed from UL, as well.
For Pitino:
- He's an incredibly successful coach. 10/10 grand-slam-that-lands-in-the-river legend of the game.
- I love to watch a well executed full court press.
- We are so bad right now. He would add a lot of wins in a short period of time.
The last two elements are 1) how likely he is to cheat again and be caught, leaving Pitt in a horrible situation with sanctions and penalties. I can't really judge that. 2) Is there other fallout from the Adidas scandal that will land on him in the future? I just don't know. I'm assuming that's already hit. If it hasn't, then I would not want Pitt to hire him.
Final opinion (and I can't believe I'm saying this) is that I think Pitt should try to hire Pitino. I'm sort of surprised that the poll is at 70% NO right now. What exactly is the reason why? Concern that he'll get more penalties tagged to him? Concern that he'll cheat at Pitt and we'll be in deep trouble? Personal distaste for him?
Is that true? Is he likely to go to jail? I honestly don't know much about the kind of trouble he's in with the FBI.
The concern for me is that he is a felon and being investigated by the FBI. That's not the toothless NCAA. If their investigation finds anything, he could land in jail. And if they find nothing, he's still a cancer.
The FBI isn't the NCAA. They're not talking sanctions. I don't know if he's likely to go to jail. I'd say it is unlikely at this time. But just the hint of an FBI investigation makes me stay clear of that if we want to still have a hoops program in the next few years.
Wait, can you lay out for me exactly what you are saying? If Pitt hires Pitino and he is charged with crimes (what crimes might he be charged with?), you think Pitt could face the death penalty? That's what it sounds like you are saying.
In your other comment, you said that even if the FBI doesn't find anything else and he doesn't face serious charges and he doesn't go to jail, he is "still a cancer." Can you explain what you mean by that?
You dont get a chance at winning at the rate Pitino wins at very often. If he is found guilty of some federal crime, you could always just fire him. There are ample mid-major coaches to replace him with, available at all times.
25 years ago, maybe.
Wait this guy is older than Stallings? What about the young energetic coach to help rally the fan base?
Wait this guy is older than Stallings? What about the young energetic coach to help rally the fan base?
If he announces that he has turned his life over to his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, then it should make it ok to hire him.
Always cracked me up that he had a priest on the bench. Confession must have been ... interesting.
Well, Pitt wouldn't hire him if he only had 10% of the baggage, so it's really only a fun thing to talk about because it would never happen.
Hard but not impossible. They could just put a tv screen on the bench and patch him in, kinda like they did with Eazy E live from the Compton jail.
It doesn't matter. Discussions about Pitt hiring Pitino are silly because it wouldn't happen....ever. I doubt that Pitino is ever going to find another job in basketball anywhere.
I hate to break it to you, but I just don't think Pitt is as desirable a job as some of you think it is, and that's on a good day not where they are now. Even if in some alternate universe they did offer him the job - Pitino wouldn't consider Pitt. Neither would Tom Izzo. Another guy I see mentioned all the time on here is Crean, who failed at Indiana with top-5 level resources in the extremely winnable Big Ten...but some of you seem to think, first of all that he even wants to come here, and second of all that he's capable of turning Pitt into a winner in the ACC?
It's also pretty sad to me that some of you seem 100% on board with hiring a sleazeball who may end up leaving Pitt neck deep in sanctions one day, as long as he comes here and wins NOW !!
I wonder if anyone's put a bug in the AD's ear yet about asking Gregg Popovich if he's interested ??
It's also pretty sad to me that some of you seem 100% on board with hiring a sleazeball who may end up leaving Pitt neck deep in sanctions one day, as long as he comes here and wins NOW !!
I wonder if anyone's put a bug in the AD's ear yet about asking Gregg Popovich if he's interested ??
"I wonder if anyone's put a bug in the AD's ear yet about asking Gregg Popovich if he's interested ??"
P.S. maybe we could start a poll?
P.S. maybe we could start a poll?
HELL YES THEY SHOULD! Why not? What do they have to lose? Would a scandal like Louisville's be any worse? Louisville is like 3-4 months past firing Pitino and they're blasting our assses by 40 points! So why not, hire Pitino, let him get some real players by WHATEVER MEANS NECESSARY and then even if he's fired two week into next season over a scandal, we're still light years ahead of what we have now.
"leaving Pitt in a horrible situation"
LOL! Why does that scare you? Are you worried we can get worse than now? LOL!
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