Richard Pitino

[Anti-Homer]

John Fanta and Paul Fritschner are on spaces if you want to listen, and Fanta thinks it's a home run hire.

[Anti-Homer]

Nugget from Fanta:

Porter Moser and Buzz Willims .... yes, Buzz Williams was in the mix. Fanta, who doesn't pander with flattery, said "X is still a jewel of a job, and they have money." Fanta also said X fast-tracked Pitino today.

[muskieman]

John Fanta and Paul Fritschner are on spaces if you want to listen, and Fanta thinks it's a home run hire.

dream game X beats Texas next year in the NCAAT Pitino over the coach that will not be named

[muskieman]

the news out of X is that Christopher never considered Mack for a lot of reasons. Some of the big donors are shocked at the hire. Now will they come in line because Mack was not hired.

Like all teams, X leaked Mack's name to get a pulse since he was being fast-tracked. I heard it was his to lose. However, I don't think he lost it, but think Pitino won it. Again, Pitino supposedly wowed Christopher. Mman, you know as well as anyone there were advocates-detractors for both guys and I'm sure Christopher took the big donor's input into great consideration, as all ADs would.

Again, Pitino had it rolling at New Mexico and was being courted by at least two hire majors, including one who has won the NC in 2 of the last 8 years. I don't think he would come to X if he didn't feel the infrastructure, including NIL was in place to be successful. Picking X over Nova speaks volumes, especially when you consider that they have one of the highest NIL budgets outside of the top 15 and were becoming a Blue Blood until Wright retired.

it was more Mack's side calling X to show interest. Williams, Moser, and Pitino were the actual candidates, and you are right about Pitino at 42 years old with years of experience as a head coach and that he stimulates money, he won the intrview.

[Anti-Homer]

the news out of X is that Christopher never considered Mack for a lot of reasons. Some of the big donors are shocked at the hire. Now will they come in line because Mack was not hired.

Like all teams, X leaked Mack's name to get a pulse since he was being fast-tracked. I heard it was his to lose. However, I don't think he lost it, but think Pitino won it. Again, Pitino supposedly wowed Christopher. Mman, you know as well as anyone there were advocates-detractors for both guys and I'm sure Christopher took the big donor's input into great consideration, as all ADs would.

Again, Pitino had it rolling at New Mexico and was being courted by at least two hire majors, including one who has won the NC in 2 of the last 8 years. I don't think he would come to X if he didn't feel the infrastructure, including NIL was in place to be successful. Picking X over Nova speaks volumes, especially when you consider that they have one of the highest NIL budgets outside of the top 15 and were becoming a Blue Blood until Wright retired.

it was more Mack's side calling X to show interest. Williams, Moser, and Pitino were the actual candidates, and you are right about Pitino at 42 years old with years of experience as a head coach and that he stimulates money, he won the intrview.

Oh, I agree that Mack was more proactive about it, and in retrospect, I think GC may have given him the courtesy of a pitch bc of his history with X. However, I believe today was the only live interview they had with Pitino, but they no doubt had a Zoom meeting before he came. Valentine from Loyola of Chicago was also interviewed. Why, I'm not sure.

[muskieman]

I think GC looked at it like this: If I hire Mack and he leaves in a few years or is not successful, it might cost me my job, so why not take someone I want instead of his last two hires, which were almost forced on him for many reasons? I think he looks at Richard as a young, aggressive coach who is capable of bringing money and success to the program. Pitino reached out to X, which should make X fans happy that the program has still retained its luster. Athlon Sports headline is Rick Pitino’s Son Named New Head Coach of Major College Basketball Program

Besides the St Johns games next year the Marquette games should pull some ratings because Pitino's Lobos beat Marquette in the first round this year, so the head to head of Pitino and Smart should be something

[longliveskip]

The offer must have been good because he was on the short list for Nova & West VA. Nova fans are godsmacked on X - Twitter. Someone reported today that he was going to be hired there.

3 of New Mexico's top 4 have eligibility. I want Dent and their 6'10" center. He was impressive during the Tourney. Dent will be tough. He will be a top 5 transfer.

I saw the tweet that said Pitino to Nova and it came from a dude who is like a Markus Walters and it looks legit but he just posts stuff that's not true kind of sounds true. he put another one out there about Hurley as well being arrested. it's a parody account but looks real. I fell for it for about 5 minutes as well.

[longliveskip]

I am MORE THAN ECSTATIC about this hire. i''m so thankful we didn't do the rehire/retread with Mack. after Miller leaving Xavier like he did TWICE and Mack doing it the way he did last time coupled with all his transgressions at U of L, I just think there was going to be too much backlash if Mack didn't work out. We went with the young, up and comer in Pitino who obviously has bloodlines that KNOW basketball and know how to win. I don't care about how he did at Minnesota because NOBODY wins there and he was actually above average but he got that job at 30, so he was learning on the job in the Big 10 which is not easy. He went to New Mexico and MADE THEM BETTER. That's the kind of coach we are looking for here. Someone that will make us BETTER and he can do that. It's NEW BLOOD, not recycled success that we hope does it again.

there are so many positives from this and I think Christopher nailed this one.

i'm excited for this hire and can't wait to see who Ricky brings in.

LET'S GO X!

[connecticut72]

Great hire! I love it. I am delighted to know that Xavier created that kind of interest from big time coaches. I guess our resources are better than I thought if all is true regarding coaches interested. Hard to believe Pitino chose X over Nova.

[Jesseandrippers]

Welcome Tricky Dick!