The Louisville Cardinals have an opportunity to bring a very familiar face back to campus in Richard Pitino, the current New Mexico head coach and son of former Cardinals and current St. John’s coach Rick Pitino.
Reports indicate Pitino is the top candidate to become the head coach at Louisville, and that athletic director Josh Heird has been in contact with Richard “several times over the past few days.”
Pitino led the Lobos to a 26-10 record and their first Mountain West tournament championship and NCAA Tournament appearance since 2014 this past season, his third at New Mexico.
Pitino served as an assistant coach at Louisville from 2007-2009 under his father Rick, before serving as an assistant at Florida under Billy Donovan.
He was back at Louisville in 2011-12 during the team’s Final Four run, and then spent one year as the head coach at Florida International before taking over at Minnesota in 2013 and leading the Golden Gophers to the NIT championship in his first year and two NCAA Tournament appearances before departing in 2021.
Hiring the son of the coach who led you to a national title may sound good on paper, but the elder Pitino’s transgressions at Louisville are well documented and bringing the family back into the mix is certainly a unique situation.
However, Louisville struck out on top targets Scott Drew and Dusty May, and Pitino is a reasonable candidate based on his head coaching experience, recent success, and familiarity with the program.