Louisville coach Rick Pitino has had success at all 4 college programs he has led

Rick Pitino has always had success on the court

The sex scandal that has snared Louisville coach Rick Pitino is even stranger when you consider his reputation as a tough disciplinarian who has turned four college programs around and done it his way.

The man who has been pacing the sideline for 23 college seasons, first in nice clothes, then in suits with impressive labels, has made the climb from future coaching star to one of the sport’s best — in the mix with Mike Krzyzewski, Bob Knight, Roy Williams and Denny Crum, the man he succeeded at Louisville.

Pitino apologized Wednesday for what he called an “indiscretion” six years ago — having consensual sex with a woman and later paying her $3,000 after she said she was going to have an abortion and didn’t have health insurance. The woman is charged with later trying to extort money from him.

Whatever happens next, on the court there is no discussion about Pitino’s ability to build teams that win games, entertain fans and become part of the nation’s best. He is the only coach to lead three different schools to the Final Four, winning the national championship with Kentucky in 1996.

His career record of 552-197 started with a 17-9 season at Boston University in 1978-79, and was improved with last season’s 31-6 mark at Louisville, which won the Big East regular-season and tournament titles for the first time, reached No. 1 in The Associated Press poll for the first time and ended one win shy of yet another Final Four.

“We did it in the toughest year in the history of the Big East to sweep both,” Pitino said after the championship game, referring to the conference having a record nine teams ranked in the poll. “I’m gushing with pride.”

He took all four of the programs he ran to the NCAA tournament.

At Boston University, where he started his career at 25 as the youngest coach in Division I at the time, the NCAA bid came in his fifth and final season, though he led the Terriers to a 17-9 mark in his first season to match their total from the previous two, and they were invited to the NIT in 1980.

When he took over Providence in 1985, the Friars were coming off an 11-20 season, their fifth losing record in six years in the Big East. Pitino, taking advantage of the new 3-point line and three great shooters, had Providence in the Final Four, finishing 25-9 in his second and last season there.

The NBA beckoned and Pitino left to coach the New York Knicks, where he had been an assistant between Boston U. and Providence. Again, he turned things around quickly as the Knicks improved their win total by 14 and made the NBA playoffs for the first time in four years.

He coached the Knicks for two seasons and then undertook one of the biggest rebuilding jobs in college basketball history: getting Kentucky out of a probation-laden slump and back to the top of the sport. With a team of players who remained from a program that was cleaned out and a star freshman in Jamal Mashburn, the Wildcats were in the final eight in the first season they were eligible again for the tournament, and into the Final Four in 1993.

With one of the most talented teams in college history, Pitino led Kentucky to the national title in 1996 and the championship game the next season.

“The only time I ever thought about a championship was ‘96,” Pitino said recently. “I felt that we had a dominating basketball team.”

He left again for the NBA, this time as president and coach of the Boston Celtics, who had compiled a franchise-worst 15-67 record in 1996-97. The Celtics’ victory total jumped by 21 the first season. He left the organization on Jan. 8, 2001.

His six years away from college coaching may have cost him a chance at being the all-time wins leader.

“From the standpoint of missing out on some golden years at the college level, there’s no doubt I did that,” he said when he posted his 500th victory.

Pitino made a career move few thought possible just months after leaving the Celtics when he took the job at Louisville, the commonwealth of Kentucky’s “other” school — which hadn’t won 20 games in four seasons and had been under .500 in two of those.

The Cardinals were in the NIT Pitino’s first season and the NCAA the second. They reached the Final Four in 2005, a fifth appearance that tied him with Knight, Guy Lewis and Lute Olson on the all-time list.

Pitino’s “coaching tree” includes 22 former assistants and players who have gone on to become head coaches, including Billy Donovan, one of the stars of the Providence Final Four team who went on to lead Florida to consecutive national championships.

It also includes Ralph Willard, a longtime Pitino assistant who went on to success as a head coach and this summer decided to leave Holy Cross and return to sit next to Pitino on the Louisville bench.

“You do things for your players to get the best out of them,” Pitino said in June. “Bringing Ralph in here is trying to get the best for the program as a teacher.”