Before the national championship and five Final Fours, before the NBA head-coaching stints with the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics, before his recruiting prowess and defensive acumen were worth millions of dollars, Rick Pitino was a fresh-faced assistant coach at Syracuse.

He was on his honeymoon when Jim Boeheim, who had just received the Syracuse head coaching job in 1976, interrupted the trip and wanted to make ‘Slick Rick’ an assistant. Pitino interviewed and was hired, starting a whirlwind of a coaching career, with stints with Boston University, Providence, the Knicks, Kentucky and the Celtics.

Today, he’s the head coach at Louisville, which he led to the Final Four last season, just his fourth year with the Cardinals. UL enters the Big East this season, where Pitino joins Boeheim and Connecticut head coach Jim Calhoun on the Big East’s Mount Rushmore. He becomes the conference’s highest profile third coach since Georgetown icon John Thompson stepped down.

The conference is a lot different than it was in 1987, when Pitino left Providence after taking the Friars to the Final Four. The Big East was comprised primarily of Catholic schools and cities like Chicago, Cincinnati and Milwaukee were not considered the East. But as much as it’s a different conference, it’s also a different Pitino.

‘I’m a lot slower. I’m older. Hopefully maybe a little wiser,’ Pitino said. ‘It’s still my passion, but it’s not quite life-and-death like it was earlier.’

Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese – who’s been with the conference since its inception in 1980 – notices differences in Pitino.

‘He’s not young, and he’s not up-and-coming anymore,’ Tranghese said. ‘He’s a coach with Hall of Fame credentials. He’s already taken three different schools to the Final Four. You talk about marquee coaches, who are they? It’s (Duke head coach) Mike Krzyzewski. It’s Jim Calhoun. It’s Jim Boeheim. And it’s Rick Pitino.’

Pitino speaks more like a sage than a slicker. His vagabond career’s yielded a lot of success, but little stability. He was 25 when he took over BU in 1978 and led the Terriers to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 24 seasons in 1982. He was a coaching star at Providence, but it ended up a steppingstone job.

He won with the Knicks, but yearned for a new challenge. He then completely revived a Kentucky program that toiled in NCAA purgatory, yet speculation often arose about another NBA gig. When he arrived in Boston with the Celtics in 1998, the expectations of a $50 million contract and role as team president were almost unattainable.

Pitino looks at Boeheim and Calhoun, and there’s a hint of admiration in his voice about the coaches achieving success in the same place for so long. As he looked around the room at Big East Media Day on Oct. 26, the conference’s young coaches interested Pitino.

‘You look at Calhoun and Boeheim and they stayed at one school for such a long time, and it’s tough to do that today,’ Pitino said. ‘There’s all new faces in Pittsburgh, at St. John’s, West Virginia, Notre Dame, Georgetown; they’re all new to me. They’re all very young and very talented as coaches.’

The 53-year-old Pitino sounds old when he talks like that, but when his players speak of him, there’s a sense of reverence – and even a bit of fear – that suggest Pitino still holds coaching’s Midas touch.

Forward David Padgett and guard Taquan Dean both said Pitino is the reason they attend Louisville. They talked about his credentials and coaching ability, but also mentioned his emphasis on life beyond basketball.

‘There’s nothing bad about his coaching,’ Dean said. ‘He teaches more about life. His strategy is it’s tough in the business world, so he’s preparing us for that.’

Those statements reveal a softer side of Pitino, a side beyond preaching the press defense.

That was no more evident than when Pitino was publicly distressed after his brother-in-law and best friend, Billy Minardi, died in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The tragedy struck two months before Pitino’s first season at Louisville, already a sensitive time, considering he crossed over from Kentucky Blue to Cardinal Red, two bitter in-state rivals with intense distaste for each other. Another brother-in-law of Pitino’s died a few months later, adding to his personal struggles.

But since the challenging 2001 season, the good fortunes have outnumbered the hardships. He’ll be tested this season after graduation and NBA defections took tolls on the Cardinals. Pitino said he can’t remember any of his teams being younger than this year’s version and preached about the lack of defensive skills of his young players.

But you get the impression Pitino will figure it out. At every collegiate stop, his winning speaks for itself. In 19 seasons as a college basketball head coach, Pitino’s never had a losing season. His recruiting prowess fills holes and his teams always reload.

His spot in the pantheon of Big East coaches is a long time coming. But Tranghese emphasized that Pitino won’t be around forever, and the young coaches Pitino spoke about might one day fill his spot.

‘I think coaches get there by winning, and that’s how Rick’s there,’ Tranghese said. ‘That’s how (Thompson) got there, that’s how (former St. John’s coach Lou Carnesecca) got there. That’s how (Boeheim) and (Calhoun) got there.

‘Somebody will earn their spot there. There’s someone sitting out there who will be in that spot 10 years from now. The exciting part is we have to find out who it is.’

Published on November 6, 2005 at 12:00 pm