clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Pitino officially accepts Puerto Rico gig

Shocking.

I want a "Puerto Ricko Suave" shirt.

The Puerto Rico basketball federation on Monday introduced Pitino as its next coach. Pitino met with players and officials Sunday to discuss the possibility.

Puerto Rico last qualified for the Olympics in 2004, beating the United States on its way to a sixth-place finish. Its best Olympic performance was fourth, in 1964 in Tokyo. Potential players next summer include Dallas Mavericks point guard J.J. Barea, Miami Heat guard Carlos Arroyo and Denver Nuggets forward Renaldo Balkman.

Puerto Rico must make a deep run in next summer's qualifying tournament in Argentina to make it to London in 2012.

 

Words is he's not going to be paid anything, which is a bit surprising, I suppose.

Coming this summer: "A Dominican Republic basketball fan talks recruiting."

Additional info from our man in the field, PR Eagle:

So it was this morning, Pitino stated he will not only take the reins of the National team, but also of the high school program (meaning he will get to know PR’s elite High School players.) He will have some visits to PR during April/May/June to scout our pro-league and after that he will take the national team to Louisville for 10 days of practice. After that both Louisville and PR will go to the Bahamas and later PR I assume they will play a lot against each other. He will Skype with the PR press on Tuesday.