The regents at UCLA have decided to pass on Rick Pitino as their next head coach and Dick Vitale is not happy about it.
Vitale had this to say on social media tonight:
Yes @Rick_Pitino was wanted by many boosters but administration @UCLA said NO ! No doubt he would have brought national SUCCESS to Bruins & would have given them STAR BILLING to compete for the entertainment dollar in Hollywood!
— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) January 10, 2019
Are we just forgetting the FBI investigation? Not at all as the FBI report showed there was NOT ONE time that he was on tape saying that he wanted cash to go to a prospect / all of his naysayers say oh he should know what his ass’t did / y isn’t that said in other situations?
— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) January 10, 2019
Always ppl like you searching for negatives /I always look for the positives / talk to his former players / ass’t coaches ala / Billy D / Tubby S / Ralph & Kevin Willard / Herb Sendek / Jeff Van Gundy / etc
— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) January 10, 2019
Here are details on the decision from UCLA’s brass:
The University of California Board of Regents would not approve Rick Pitino to become the next UCLA coach despite the school’s top boosters having interest in the Hall of Fame coach, industry sources said.
“[The boosters] did their due diligence and found out that Pitino wasn’t going to get the necessary approval,” said one source. “So they’re just saving face, saying, ‘Oh yeah, we never wanted Pitino.'”
That same source previously said that UCLA boosters Casey Wasserman and John Branca wanted Pitino, now coaching EuroLeague power of Greece, to replace the fired Steve Alford.
“One hundred percent, Casey wanted Pitino,” the source said. “Pitino wasn’t going to get approved. Of course they wanted Pitino but they weren’t going to get Pitino approved by the Board of Regents.”
