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Rick Pitino did the unthinkable when he jumped ship from the Wildcats to the NBA after building Kentucky back into a national powerhouse in the ’90s.
But now the legendary coach is expressing regret for leaving Lexington when and how he did. Saying during a recent appearance on “Pardon My Take:”
I was offered about seven or eight pro jobs before the Celtics, obviously I was the Knicks coach, and that’s a dream for me being a New Yorker, but hindsight is 2020. If I had to do it all over again, I’d probably never leave Kentucky. You know, Dick Vitale, every time I speak to him, ‘If you would have stayed at Kentucky, you’d have more wins than any coach,’ and you think back on that.
But I learned a lot. To coach the Boston Celtics, even if you didn’t do a great job, it’s just too much. You know, you got Red Auerbach, you got Bill Russell, Havlicek … and so many greats. It was worth the experience. But if I had to do it all over again, I had a choice, I probably would have stayed in Kentucky.
Even with leaving at arguably the peak of his coaching powers, Pitino will still go down as one of the great college basketball coaches of his era.
He currently has the St. John’s Red Storm sitting at 19-12 with work to do in the Big East Tournament if they want to make some noise in March.