The feeling from me, and Tom Ziller, is mutual. There is a lot of other people in the StR community who agree with us.

Hell, I don’t like the idea of Byron Scott, but at least the claim can be made he’s succeeded with 2 different teams. I can’t really say that Pitino has consistently excelled at the NBA level. Winning with the Knicks, and getting canned after a power struggle doesn’t suggest you’re a power broker. Besides, Pitino has great control at Louisville like he did at Kentucky & Providence. He won’t get that in Kings land. Not from Geoff Petrie, and in the possible case that Petrie retires, from Jason Levien (Kings assistant GM) or Wayne Cooper (Kings VP).

Pitino see’s the opportunity to power broker himself into the Kings organization which is something he didn’t have in New York, and didn’t utilize successfully at Boston. (The only thing he did do well there was draft Paul Pierce. That is forgotten.)

Unfortunately, I fear that the longer this story continues to have legs, real or imagined, is when the real problems come in for fans of the Louisville program, and fans of the Kings. I hope Pitino stays in Louisville personally. I think the greater good (but not his ego) for everyone is served that way.

Pitino might not be going to the Kings, but he wants out of Louisville- ESPN provides the following report: “NBA coaching sources confirmed to ESPN.com that contact with the Kings was initiated by Pitino’s camp. Sacramento never considered him…”

So it may not happen this year, but it looks like Pitino will be on his way soon. There are a lot of issues swirling around L’ville- not that Pitino is at fault, but it seems he is ready to move out of a bad situation. I give him the benefit of the doubt as far as his speech to LN players is concerned. He is “committed” to staying at UL as long as he technically has a job there. But if I were a high schooler wanting to play in the region, I would heavily consider the possibility of a coaching transition at U of L in the next few years.

Seriously, these rumors happen every season because 1)he has a history of jumping ship, and 2) he keeps not winning championships.

I’m going to say this now: If Pitino leaves before he wins a championship and/or 3 years from now, I’ll be very surprised. Even if he’s really doing these things (which wall indications would seem to be that he’s not), it’s probably just leverage to get more money now that Calipari has taken his spot as highest paid state employee.

In my opinion, Coach will not retire from Louisville. Plain and simple.

And though I never, and I mean ever would have thought that I would say this, I really don’t mind. He’s an awesome coach – one of the best in the game – but I am growing tired of the circus. There are a lot of great coaches/recruiters in the college game today, and we have incredible assets to offer potential candidates because of Coach’s work in the last eight years.

Anyway.