Rick Pitino’s track record as a college hoops coach is pretty extraordinary, but the most impressive aspect of his coaching career may be his ability to develop future head coaches among his assistants.
There’s no greater coaching tree than that of Pitino, who’s produced too many head coaches to count. For starters, he’s got Billy Donovan at the Bulls, both a coach and payer under Pitino, Mick Cronin at UCLA, Andy Enfield now at SMU, Herb Sendek at Santa Clara, Tubby Smith who immediately followed Pitino at Kentucky and won a title, and now Kevin Keatts, the latest Pitino disciple to make a Final Four.
At his press conference this week ahead of NC State’s first Final Four game since 1983, Keatts was asked two difference times about the impact Pitino had on him.
“Oh, coach has meant everything. I mean, obviously, I think he’s the goat. What he’s done in his career and how many assistant coaches that he’s had that went on to be successful head coaches, I think means a lot,” said Keatts when asked about Pitino’s terrific record of having assistants become great head coaches in their own right.”
Keatts was around for that peak run at Louisville, where the Cards won a title and made two Final Fours and three Sweet 16s in a row during his three years there.
“Well, first of all, he challenged you every day. You know, there wasn’t a day that I wasn’t challenged, not only me, everybody, in the office, to be, not good, to be great,” remembered Keatts of his time under Pitino.
“I think one of the the main things that stood out to me was, when he hired me, he said ‘I don’t hire assistant coaches, I hire future head coaches.'”
She sure did hire a future head coach in Keatts, who says that Rick Pitino ran a tight ship, which showed him how to do the same in his own coaching endeavors.
“I think the preparation, how we were in the office from 6:00 a.m. to night time. But we were prepared. And you know, what I learned is how to be organized, how to be prepared, how to run a program.”
Sure, there’s plenty of structure, organization and hard work that goes into working under Coach Pitino, but Keatts says the Hall-of-Famer still allowed his assistant coaches plenty of freedoms.
“I will say this about Coach Pitino: he doesn’t put you in a box. He doesn’t bring you there just as a recruiter, he don’t be bring you there as just a scout guy. You have to do everything, and I think that’s one of the biggest things that some coaches at his level who are Hall of Famers don’t allow their staff to grow, and he allows you to grow.”
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