Pitino moving on from coaching

Published 12:00 am Thursday, September 6, 2018

Rick Pitino said Wednesday he will not pursue another coaching job in college basketball or the NBA. Speaking to Newsday, the Hall of Fame coach was asked about a return to the sidelines and said, “It is time to move on from coaching — I am turning the page.”

The ongoing FBI investigation into corruption in college basketball produced an indictment last September from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York that implicated the Louisville program — among others — in a scheme that funneled money from Adidas to recruits. The school fired Pitino in October, and he explained he missed the game terribly during the 2017-18 season. Other schools were interested in him when the season finished.

Pitino said “there was one job that really interested me.” The school inquired to the NCAA as to whether Pitino faced discipline and was told he would not be investigated until the feds came out with findings.

“That’s when I said it was time to turn the page,” Pitino said. “You’ll miss it but you have to stop visualizing yourself on the sidelines and at practice. You have to move on.”

Pitino, who turns 66 this month, previously coached Providence and Kentucky at the college level and the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics in the NBA.

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