Louisville continues to make headlines and once again they are not of the positive variety. 2 days ago we found out Rick Pitino is about to become a rich–er man. Supposedly Tom Jurich’s main goal here is to keep Rick around for as many years as possible. If this is true maybe he should just bought Pitino out and given him a radio show. Pitino would have stuck around for that, he LOVES to talk (no joke, he would probably be good at it. No more positive comments, let’s move on). Pitino might be taking a deep breath and thinking all is well in red bird land, but I guarantee you all is not well….for much longer anyway.
So what has Pitino done to deserve a raise? That’s a tough one. An easier question to answer is what has he done to NOT deserve a raise? Now we’re talking.
Let’s start with his on the court performance. Pitino has been at Louisville for 10 full seasons. The first thing Louisville fan will say is “He’s got a final four, chump”. Why so much name calling? While that may be true, the recruits that UofL is recruiting may not remember since they were 13 during that Francisco Garcia tourney run. 1 Final Four in 10 years < Cup of Coffee.
Rick Pitino is the highest paid coach in America WITH the highest number of losses per year. [B]Pitino has averaged 9.6 losses per year while coaching at Louisville.[/B] He has 245 wins over that 10 year span as well, so if you do the math that’s roughly $12,000 per win. Is $3.9 mil the right amount for 24 wins and 9 losses per year? I’m not saying it’s not, just asking. Last note to add, Rick has five 1[SUP]st[/SUP] or 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] round exits and 2 NIT appearances in the past decade. To summarize, 7 out of 10 years Rick has been a non factor in March. Except last year, he was a factor in that analyst chair (Charles Barkley much?).
Off the court issues speak for themselves. Rick embarrassed the University and himself with the Karen Sypher drama. Most coaches can’t endure that kind of publicity. But Pitino not only has survived (professionally) he thrived (professionally).
Louisville fan may be saying right now “Screw you dude, What has Calipari done to deserve all the money he gets?”. Well, he does have 1 final four and 1 elite 8 in only 2 years and he has signed the top signing class in the nation 3 years in a row. Not to mention he has been a good ambassador for the program so far. But, to an extent Calipari is also on a warm seat. He is the highest paid coach in America and with that price comes the highest expectations. Calipari is almost in a must-win-a-title situation with all the talent and resources that he has. But as of right now, Cal’s seat is not near as hot as Pitino’s
If Pitino doesn’t win something soon I believe Louisville fans will have even more of a reason to be pissed. Some cards fans I talk to a regular basis are ready for Pitino to leave so they can hire a young up and coming coach like Brad Stevens. The other fans use Pitino’s lone final four as the reason he gets these raises every other year. Pitino does have a way of going far with a team that isn’t expected to do much. Now all of his teams will be expected to do a lot, since his pay has spiked to nearly an extra million annually. If Pitino continues the early exits, we may hear a little bit more about this buy-out/radio show clause.
