Columnist Dean Juipe: Pitino never very impressed with UNLV

Dean Juipe

Monday, March 5, 2001 | 10 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

He didn't just say the talent level was down, he said it was "way down."

And from that moment on, it was evident that Rick Pitino had lost interest in coaching the UNLV basketball team.

The revelation, as such, surfaced during an interview Pitino gave to USA Today last Friday. By Sunday night it was official: He had formally withdrawn as a candidate to replace Max Good and coach the Rebels.

"Plan B," if there is one, has now swung into effect.

In reality, most of UNLV's eggs were in Pitino's basket. But the glamour boy had become a sour puss after getting a handle on what the school -- and the basketball program -- had to offer.

He wasn't welcoming a rebuilding process that he envisioned taking years to complete.

True or not, it seemed a harsh assessment when he was quoted as saying "With Las Vegas, that's years away," when describing how long it would be before he might be seen patrolling the sidelines at a Final Four.

Ultimately, the determining factor in Pitino's decision was UNLV being on probation and having been stripped of four scholarships over the next two seasons. He not only didn't like the players the Rebels have now, he didn't see a way to get the team back to a national prominence within a relatively short time.

So he's out, free to chase after a Louisville job that may be closer to his liking.

His fling with UNLV was an interesting one and probably legit, although there was room for skepticism right from the start. He had his feelers out yet there was a dubious quality to many of his actions, including sending his wife here last week on what was alleged to have been an informational tour.

Given that the Pitinos are going to live in a gated community and have private schooling for their two youngest kids no matter where they reside, it seemed irrelevant for Rick and Joanne to worry about the quality of the Clark County School District and the city's crime problems. In truth, her visit to Las Vegas may have been one part smoke screen and one part paid vacation.

Let's hope she had a good time.

The Pitinos didn't really need to toy with Las Vegas and UNLV's affections, but they'll be accused of that on some fronts. In actuality, he probably kept the Rebels on his back burner as sort of a safety valve in the event nothing better opened up.

But with no shortage of collegiate head-coaching positions becoming available, UNLV lost its foothold on a man with a terrific track record that includes a reputation for intolerance -- and impatience. His style is best described as dictatorial.

If the Rebels are as far behind the curve as he thinks, he may have found himself wealthy yet perpetually flustered. The $1.6 million annual salary he would have received here apparently wasn't enough to compensate for the loss of stature he may have felt if he was unable to reverse the Rebels' course.

The man has his pride, you know.

And he may not have wanted to chance it out here in the desert, not being a West Coast guy and not having any inroads to the junior colleges that UNLV habitually utilizes. Factor in the (negative) influence his friends and colleagues had on him when evaluating UNLV's situation and it's easy to see Pitino being uncomfortable with the move and feeling as if he wouldn't be a good fit with the Rebels.

Of course he could have said as much right from the start and saved the school the ton of money it spent courting him, to say nothing of the emotional investment UNLV and its basketball fans had in him. But by doing it the way he did, Pitino was able to have his ego massaged and get his wife squired around an exotic city for a couple of days at somebody else's expense.

All in all, he played it well. But when it came time for everyone to show their cards, he folded and was on his way, fat and sassy, with those who were left behind feeling somewhat used and battered.