Episode 162: Richard Pitino, Coaching Transitions and Program Building

Guest: Richard Pitino, University of New Mexico Head Coach

In this week's coaching conversation, University of New Mexico head coach Richard Pitino joins the podcast to discuss coaching transitions and program building.

Coach Pitinio is the head coach of the University of New Mexico. He has previously been head coach at Minnesota and at Florida International University. Before that, he was an assistant under his father Rick Pitino for two seasons at Louisville. He also worked as an assistant coach for Billy Donovan of Florida for two seasons. He has been a part of seven NCAA Tournaments, including two as a head coach. He has also been a part of three Elite Eight runs and one Final Four berth as an assistant.

He comes to UNM after an eight-year stint at the University of Minnesota, where he went 141-123 with two NCAA Tournament berths and an NIT Championship. His first season at the helm of the Golden Gophers saw Minnesota go 25-13, setting a school record for wins as Minnesota won the second NIT Championship in school history. At Florida International, Pitino led the program to its first winning season in 12 years and a 10 win improvement from the previous year.

Overall at Minnesota, Pitino picked up 19 wins over ranked opponents, including five top-10 opponents. Daniel Oturu in 2020 was selected in the second round of the NBA Draft by Minnesota, becoming the first Golden Gopher to be drafted into the NBA in 16 years. Additionally, five players were drafted into the NBA G League.

Pitino’s success isn’t just as a head coach, as he has been a part of several deep NCAA Tournament runs as an assistant and as an associate head coach. He spent two separate stints at Louisville coaching alongside his Hall of Fame father Rick Pitino. In 2011-12 as associate head coach, the Cardinals went 30-10, advancing all the way to the Final Four. That team along the way scored a 59-56 win in Portland over New Mexico in the NCAA Tournament, paving the way for the Cardinals to make it to the Sweet 16. From there, Louisville defeated No. 5 Michigan State and No. 25 Florida before losing in the Final Four to No. 1 Kentucky.

Between Louisville stops, Pitino spent two seasons at Florida coaching under Billy Donovan. In his first season with Florida, the Gators went 21-13 overall, making it to the NCAA Tournament as a 10-seed where they would lose 99-92 in double overtime to BYU. That team climbed as high as No. 10 in the polls. The following season in 2009-10, Florida won the SEC regular season championship and went 29-8 overall, advancing the Elite Eight, losing to a Cinderella Butler squad 74-71 in overtime. Pitino has also had assistant coaching stops at Duquesne, Northeastern and the College of Charleston.

Breakdown

1:00 - Introduction

4:00 - Coach's Son

7:00 - Success and his Program

10:30 - Best Ways to Communicate

13:30 - Meetings and Conversation with Players

18:00 - Expectation of What a Coach is

21:00 - Confidence During Transition

27:00 - Transition Phase

30:30 - Hiring and Firing in College Basketball

37:00 - Tactical Things

41:00 - Ball Screen Defense