Fresh off a trip to Las Vegas – and the MGM Grand to watch the Floyd Mayweather- Manny Pacquiao fight – with his family, Louisville coach Rick Pitino appeared on The Jim Rome Show on Wednesday night to talk about the sports weekend that was, good friend and former player Billy Donovan's rise from college coaching to the NBA and, among other things, his son Richard Pitino.
Some of his comments regarding the Gophers basketball coach's job opportunities were quite interesting.
"I met with the Alabama athletic director in talking about different guys for that job and Richard's name came up," the elder Pitino told Rome. "Richard was seriously considering making that move. But he called me up and said 'You know, Dad, Alabama is a great job but I don't deserve it.' You know what, for a 32-year-old, that's about as proud as I can be as a dad. He was just so humble – he said 'I haven't done enough to warrant any move, or even consider any move. He said we've got a tough rebuilding job here at Minnesota and I'm going to get it done.'"
Asked whether he had the same perspective at his son's age, Pitino Sr. jokingly replied: "I didn't have anything, I would have been out the door in a second."
The Star Tribune reported last month that Alabama had expressed interest in the Minnesota coach. Crimson Tide AD Bill Battle ultimately hired previously retired NBA coach Avery Johnson.
