At least one thing is certain: Rick Pitino is still the head coach at Louisville.
After denying reports that he had inquired about the Nets job and dealing with the ever-present rumors about him possibly returning to New York to take another college job, Pitino was on the court Friday at Madison Square Garden, guiding the Cardinals through practice the night after they got hammered there by St. John’s.
“The one thing I haven’t done in my career is look for anything,” Pitino said. “I’ve already spent eight years in the pros, I’ve already done that. And there’s no college job as good as Louisville in the country, so why would anyone even think that?”
He then amended that statement: “There’s some as good, but none better.”
Pitino, who admitted that his team’s NCAA tournament hopes “took a major step backwards” with the Thursday loss to St. John’s, previously coached at Providence and Kentucky, as well as with the Knicks and Celtics.
“People don’t believe it,” Pitino said of the rumors. “This is the last third of my career and I’m not going back to the pros. I have no intention of going back to the pros. People understand we’re coming off a Big East championship and two Elite Eights. Why would I leave? Because I love the trip to the Meadowlands? All my life this stuff has come up, but this time, it’s complete falsehood.”
Pitino also pointed to the new arena being built in downtown Louisville and how popular the team remains.
“It’s like North Carolina or Kansas,” Pitino said. “We have the No. 1 revenue in college basketball. I don’t think people in New York understand when they come to the Garden for a college basketball game and there’s 9-10,000 fans. It’s a lot different in Kentucky. The way it was when the Knicks were in their heyday around here is the way Louisville, Kentucky is on a regular basis. That’s why none of this makes sense.”