Celtics’ Green Entices Pitino
The lure of the green finally pulled Rick Pitino away from the bluegrass.
The Boston Celtics’ rich tradition and wide-open wallets enticed the coach to leave a Kentucky program worshipped throughout the state for the NBA’s most storied franchise.
“What we built in Kentucky is the challenge I take on in Boston,” Pitino said Tuesday.
He’s being paid very well for it, better perhaps than any coach in any sport. His 10-year deal is worth a reported $70 million, although Pitino wouldn’t discuss it at his news conference held at the school he led to three Final Fours in his eight seasons.
In five years, he took the Wildcats from NCAA probation to the NCAA championship. Now he’ll try to take the Celtics - whose 16 green-and-white championship banners hang over the FleetCenter’s parquet court - from the worst record in their history, 15-67, to respectability and beyond.
“I can’t promise a championship next year,” said Pitino, who is returning to the city where he began his head coaching career in 1978 at Boston University. “I’d like to take advantage of this glorious tradition and see if we can bring it back.”
And that tradition was the one thing the Celtics had over other teams that tried to tempt Pitino to leave Kentucky. He turned down a five-year, $30 million deal from the New Jersey Nets last June and had been courted by other NBA teams since going to Kentucky.
Considering his reputation as one of basketball’s best coaches and the status of Kentucky and the Celtics, his exit was curiously low key.
He showed little emotion and talked without his usual expression as he finally told Wildcat backers what they dreaded. And in Boston, the Celtics issued a simple statement: “The entire Boston Celtics family would like to welcome coach Rick Pitino to Boston. We look forward to an exciting new era of Celtics basketball.”
Pitino deferred several questions until a news conference planned for Boston on Thursday.
“We’re going to win in Boston,” he said. “It may not show up right away … but I guarantee, the Boston fans will have a smile on their face.”
He has the track record to back that up, having extracted immediate improvement from each of the previous four teams he coached.
The New York Knicks, his only other NBA team, won a total of 47 games in the two seasons before he arrived. They won 52 and captured the Atlantic Division title in his second and last season in 1988-89. The Celtics won 48 games their last two seasons under M.L. Carr, who resigned last Wednesday.
Now Pitino has the job he called “the greatest opportunity ever afforded a coach.”
“If we’re successful, I will grow old with the Boston Celtics… . If we lose, I’ll just grow old,” he said.
His team should be far more exciting than it was the last two seasons in which the Celtics missed the playoffs.
“It’s the lure of the Boston Celtics. It’s magical,” Pitino said.
Part of that tradition is Larry Bird, and one of Pitino’s first acts after taking the job was to call him in Naples, Fla., where he played in a charity golf event for his son’s school.
“I certainly will have discussions with him,” Pitino said.
Bird, the Celtics special assistant the past five years, is being courted by the Indiana Pacers to return to his home state as coach.
MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: PITINO FILE Date of birth: Sept. 18, 1952. Hometown: New York. Family: Married to Joanne Minardi Pitino. They have five children. College: University of Massachusetts (1974). Head coaching positions: Boston University (1978-83); Providence College (1985-87); New York Knicks (1987-89); and University of Kentucky (1989-present). Assistant coaching positions: University of Hawaii (1974-76); Syracuse University (1976-78); and New York Knicks (1983-85). Coaching achievements: Led Providence to NCAA Final Four in 1987 and Kentucky in 1993, 1996 and 1997, winning national title in 1996. Coached Knicks to NBA Atlantic Division title in 1989. Books: Author of “Born to Coach,” “Full-Court Pressure: A Year in Kentucky Basketball” and “Success is a Choice.”