Debunking the myth of Rick Pitino as the "Louisville Miracle Worker"
By Paul Jordan
Perhaps there is no more polarizing figure to Kentucky Wildcat basketball fans than Rick Pitino. For eight seasons, Rick Pitino was Kentucky’s head coach and delivered us to the promised land from the scourges of probation. And like that, he was gone to the greener pastures of the NBA. And when that failed, he took up shop 70 miles down the road at Kentucky’s biggest rival, Louisville. And for that, some UK fans instantly branded him a traitor and demanded that his banner be ripped from the rafters of Rupp Arena.
I have to admit, I am torn on Rick Pitino. One one hand, I want to honor him and have good feelings for him for that 1996-1998 run, for which he was the architect and I have to say I am against his banner being removed from Rupp. But on the other hand, want to totally disavow him for being a total drama queen and blast him for becoming the Shakespearean villain he has morphed into.
I have to admit, it is easy to bash Rick Pitino these days, but this site, unlike many UK fan sites, has tried to steer away from the Porcini drama and Karen Sypher stuff. It’s hard to, but we try to keep it all about basketball. With that in mind, I ran into the problem of what in the hell to write about Pitino that I have not written already?
Thankfully, good friend of the site Glenn Logan from A Sea of Blue gave me inspiration when he went on a rant about all this “Pitino the Miracle Worker” hype that Rick Bozich was serving. In the article, Bozich was amazed that Pitino had “shaken and stirred a 12-0 record” out of his Cardinals. Here is Glenn’s response:
"Is anyone but me getting fed up with this, “How great is Pitino to get this team to play so well?” meme? Good grief.He did it by playing a weak schedule at home, and got a couple of teams that were supposed to be strong but weren’t. Hello! Lots of coaches have had success this way. Has anyone seen Seton Hall, formerly 11-1 until last night? Oh, that’s right — hardly anyone has heard of Seton Hall, certainly not in the context of championship basketball. Can anyone but me name Seton Hall’s coach? But the Great Rick Pitino, and Louisville, why, everyone has heard of them.For the love of God, sports media. Get a freaking grip."
With Glenn ripping the words out of my mouth, let’s look at the “Miracles” Pitino has pulled off this season:
defeated UT-Martin (3-11) 83-48
defeated Lamar (8-5) 68-48 (led 50-45 with 6:01 remaining)
defeated Butler (6-7) 69-53 (trailed 41-40 with 12:11 remaining)
defeated Arkansas State (6-7) 54-27 (scored 22 points in first half)
defeated Ohio (11-1) 59-54 (trailed 49-43 with 3:55 remaining)
defeated Long Beach State (7-6) 79-66 (led 60-55 with 6:39 left)
defeated Vanderbilt (8-4) 62-60 in OT (trailed 55-52 with 2:13 left)
defeated IUPUI (6-8) 90-60 (led 50-45 with 14:13 left)
defeated Farleigh Dickinson (1-10) 80-58
defeated Memphis (6-5) 95-87 (game tied at 70 with 6:26 left)
defeated Charleston (10-2) 69-62 (trailed 59-58 with 3:41 left)
defeated WKU (4-9) 70-60 (trailed 50-49 with 6:54 left)
There you have it. The twelve victories that propelled Louisville to #4 in the polls before they lost to Georgetown on Wednesday night. It does not take a genius to see that this is not the fourth ranked team in the nation. Instead, it is a better than average team playing on their home court 11 of 12 times against a schedule of cupcakes where just one team was ranked when they met (#19 Vandy).
In their 12 wins over mostly bad to decent mid-majors, the Cardinals have an average margin of victory of 16.25. Kentucky has faced their share of cupcakes as well but also have wins over North Carolina and Kansas. The Wildcat’s have won their 12 games by an average of 25.5 points.
Part of the problem with the adulation over Pitino’s genius has to do with the fact that most national sports pundits are just plain lazy. Rick Pitino is an established name and they look at the record, see 12-0, and voilà! It’s because Pitino must be a genius. Jeff Goodman of CBS Sports, who I have a like/hate (mostly indifferent) opinion of, has been lambasted for his opinion that Louisville is not worthy of the #4 ranking. Unfortunately he is in the minority.
John Thompson III, has done a much better job coaching this year and has wins over three ranked teams. You don’t see the genius tag thrown at him and the mass adulation.
But that is the beauty of college basketball. In the end, polls don’t really matter. What matters is winning titles and how you do in the NCAA Tournament. This is where we start to see the “miracle worker” tag unravel. It is true that Rick Pitino has one NCAA title to John Calipari’s zero, but that one title was at Kentucky in 1996 when Pitino was considered one of the top masterminds in coaching.
For some reason, Pitino is still considered one of the top masterminds, but the on the court results do not show it. Rick Pitino is entering his 11th season at Louisville. What does he have to show for it? One Final Four appearance and one Elite Eight appearance. John Calipari has that in just two seasons at Kentucky. Pitino also has a regional final to brag about. The other seven years are nothing to write home about: 2 NIT apearances, 3 first round NCAA losses and 2 second round NCAA losses.
During this time, Pitino has gone 4-6 versus his main rival, Kentucky. It gets even worse when you consider the only coach he has beaten in the past 7 years has been Billy Gillispie as Pitino is 2-5 over the past seven games. And the losses have mounted for Pitino at Louisville. If Kentucky wins Saturday, it will be Pitino’s 98th loss at UL. In comparison, he lost 50 games at Kentucky in eight seasons, and 30 over the last six years. So how do we judge Pitino?
Is Pitino a legend? I give him that. He took three schools to the Final Four and went to two championship games. The latest was 15 years ago. Is he Hall of Fame material? No argument there for the above reasons plus his sheer longevity. But is he currently one of the top coaches in the game? Is he still a “miracle worker” and one of basketball’s top minds? Making i past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament just three times in the past decade would indicate a hearty NO. I’m not saying it. The stats are.
The only reason that Rick Pitino still has this hold over Kentucky fans is that he is 70 miles away. He’s not the last coach to win a title for Kentucky or even the last coach to take them to the Final Four. Hardly anyone in Kentucky harbors any ill will towards Tubby Smith for taking another job, and Tubby went right to another college, not the pros. But Tubby was not stupid enough to move back into the Bluegrass and try to compete against his former school.
You can call Rick Pitino many things. Legend. Hall of famer. Ballsy. Just don’t call him a genius anymore.