Pitno is the College BBall's Version of Pete Carroll

Today, some NBA news came out that was very interesting and about the hapless New Jersey Nets who right now are a stunning 4-47.  In addition, they only drew a little over 1000 fans to see the Nets play the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday.  So what could I possibly write about the Nets?  Rick Pitno seems to be interested in the job after the year is done and he denies it although I think its completely plausible. Here is why...

He knows that the hold he had on the state of Kentucky is absolutely gone.  John Calipari has came in super hot and stole it away from him in an instant.  Pitno is not a guy that wants to play second fiddle, he hasn't anywhere he has coached and I honestly couldn't see him staying at Louisville competing with Calipari all the time.

The reason I mentioned Pete Carroll in my blog title because I think Pitno sees what Carroll did with the Seattle Seahawks and wants to prove something in the NBA.  Like Carroll, he had a sub .500 record but he also had two playoff appearances.  Pitno knows that it will not take much to win in the Eastern Conference and there is another large factor...

The Russian mega-billionaire is taking over the team soon giving the Nets an influx of money and making any of the popular 2010 free agents a possibility. Although, unless one of the free agents is inspired by the Jersey Shore to live there... zero percent chance they go to Jersey. Like Carroll who went to a team owned by uber-billionaire Paul Allen, Pitno knows damn well that he will make a ton of money if he signs with the Nets.

The final reason why this might be true... Louisville got beat by 19 points tonight by the lowly St. Johns and then have to play at Syracuse on Sunday, rut-roh.  It's hard to explain a team getting blown out by a bottom-feeder in the Big East. Is there a chance that the team feels Pitno has given up on the players therefore they have given up on him?  The game against the Orange will really show their true colors.

-Charlie

PS I know that Pitno has completely denied this story and compared this to Barack Obama stepping down from office to move to Hawaii.  He can say what he wants but when the chips are down, I think there will be some interest.

Rut Roh Rick

For about the last five months there has been much talk over the woman who was trying to extort ten million dollars from Louisville Cardinal Basketball Coach Rick Pitno. When it was first being discussed, I like many others thought this was just a crazy women after a sports figure. Well I was completely wrong. According to Karen Cunagin Sypher (the woman) that her and Pitno had sex in 2003 which lead to her getting knocked up two weeks later. Pitno then paid her a cool $3000 to get the baby aborted. Not good Rick, not good Rick.

I think this will not hurt him recruiting wise at all because there are not going to be many people saying "You are the coach who asked that girl to get a baby aborted, no way am I signing with you." He will still bring in the same recruits that he did before all these allegations happened but the one thing I think this will do is stick with his legacy.

Pitno will probably never be able to coach at a private school with a Catholic backing and people have the opinion that Pitno is a great coach yet not the cleanest guy. This story drove that opinion home because its obvious that Pitno didnt want this to get out and he tried to cover it up as much as possible. Once she started asking for a ton of money, he drew his line in the sand knowing that she will probably leak out the information about the abortion.

I would be utterly shocked if the Cardinals decided to fire Pitno for his actions but it took like 500 recruiting violations for USC Head Coach Tim Floyd to get fired. Same with how Jim Calhoun has kept his job with all the things swirling about him.. Face it, college basketball when it comes to coaches is one of the dirtiest sports and it will not get better.

-Charlie.