[JK37]

And those political views are shared by Disney, so Walton is free to make them.

Pitino would have UCLA back in the game’s upper echelon faster than any other candidate in the pool. I’m intrigued by UNLV. I also wonder if the NCAA will jump in. He was fired at Louisville almost too quickly for them to do anything about him.

[lynchburgwildcats]

Rick Pitino is a heck of a coach but his domineering personality, ego, lack of accountability, delusions of reality, and eccentricity isn't going to work in a place like UCLA or Los Angeles. The guy is straight up one of the most unethical coaches in the history of the sport.

The amount of unethical and illegal crap he did that you heard of barely scratched the surface of what made national news because the Louisville folks (him, athletic administration, school administration) wanted to cover up and silence it. They would threaten and intimidate all the local media to submit to their will. If someone in the Louisville media ever said even the slightest criticism thing about them, they would call up the media outlet and threaten to revoke sponsorships, media appearances, radio/TV shows, get people fired, etc. He refused to ever accept responsibility for anything bad that ever happened at Louisville, rather it was on or off court. Everything else was always someone else's fault or never happened despite mountains of evidence that says otherwise because it was a law of nature that he never made a mistake. Everyone else at that school and in the Louisville media had to believe that (or at least pretend to) or suffer the consequences.

Louisville was small enough he could get away with it there and Louisville is frankly mostly irrelevant on the national scene unless something amazing (rather it's good or bad) is happening. LA and UCLA are a different beast. And given his history at Louisville, you can bet there are going to be people there and now nationally looking to uncover even the slightest dust-up from him. No one cares about Louisville outside of Kentucky and barely even outside of Jefferson County. F up left and right there and no one is going to care because they are inconsequential, do it at one of the most storied programs in the history of the sport and that matters nationally even when they are bad and people are going to care.

[cruzan_flame13]

Rick Pitino is a heck of a coach but his domineering personality, ego, lack of accountability, delusions of reality, and eccentricity isn't going to work in a place like UCLA or Los Angeles. The guy is straight up one of the most unethical coaches in the history of the sport.

The amount of unethical and illegal crap he did that you heard of barely scratched the surface of what made national news because the Louisville folks (him, athletic administration, school administration) wanted to cover up and silence it. They would threaten and intimidate all the local media to submit to their will. If someone in the Louisville media ever said even the slightest criticism thing about them, they would call up the media outlet and threaten to revoke sponsorships, media appearances, radio/TV shows, get people fired, etc. He refused to ever accept responsibility for anything bad that ever happened at Louisville, rather it was on or off court. Everything else was always someone else's fault or never happened despite mountains of evidence that says otherwise because it was a law of nature that he never made a mistake. Everyone else at that school and in the Louisville media had to believe that (or at least pretend to) or suffer the consequences.

Louisville was small enough he could get away with it there and Louisville is frankly mostly irrelevant on the national scene unless something amazing (rather it's good or bad) is happening. LA and UCLA are a different beast. And given his history at Louisville, you can bet there are going to be people there and now nationally looking to uncover even the slightest dust-up from him. No one cares about Louisville outside of Kentucky and barely even outside of Jefferson County. F up left and right there and no one is going to care because they are inconsequential, do it at one of the most storied programs in the history of the sport and that matters nationally even when they are bad and people are going to care.

With that description of the guy, he would fit right in quite well

[Sly Fox]

I like the implication that Pitino suddenly turned rogue after his days in Lexington.

[Purple Haize]

I like the implication that Pitino suddenly turned rogue after his days in Lexington.

Hawaii is over there waving

[JK37]

Wait, did I just read a UK fanatic getting hostile toward Ricky P?! Yawn ... eye roll ... move on.

[TH Spangler]

The Bill Walton blessing