Ex-Kentucky coach says no to UNLV job

Steve Addy

Monday, March 5, 2001 | 10:05 a.m.

Instead of a "done deal," Rick Pitino is just done dealing with UNLV.

The school had offered Pitino 1.6 million reasons a year to become its next basketball coach, leading many in Las Vegas to assume he would accept the job and quickly guide the Rebels back to glory.

But Pitino kept finding new reasons to back away from the Rebels' courtship, and Sunday he finally made a clean break. He phoned UNLV athletic director Charlie Cavagnaro to withdraw from consideration, amid speculation that he will succeed Denny Crum at Louisville.

"He didn't feel he was a good fit for our program," Cavagnaro said. "We're moving forward with our search for a coach."

After weeks of UNLV boosters and school officials hoping they could get the former Kentucky coach to accept a package worth $1.6 million a year, a broader search is under way. It will hope to exploit the publicity UNLV received during its very public pursuit of Pitino.

Candidates favored by the university and/or prominent boosters include Utah's Rick Majerus, Seton Hall's Tommy Amaker, Xavier's Skip Prosser, Creighton's Dana Altman and retired longtime Iowa coach Tom Davis. Ex-NBA coach Paul Westphal has also been mentioned.

But the school is said to be concentrating on two candidates.

Booster sources have said Majerus was UNLV's leading target before January when Pitino became available and Majerus underwent two heart procedures. He coached Utah's season opener, then left the team to tend to his ailing mother in Milwaukee and his own health.

Though Majerus' skills are well-regarded and he is high profile, it will be hard for him or anyone to overcome the specter of Pitino, though Pitino never took the job. The pursuit of Pitino inspired such enthusiasm for the Rebels' future -- clearly at the expense of this year's team -- that it could be harder to lure a quality candidate.

But in reality, UNLV might be able to proceed as if the Pitino derby never happened. When coach Bill Bayno was removed after NCAA sanctions Dec. 11 and assistant Max Good took over, the school hadn't planned to enter the coaching market in earnest until after the season anyway.

With UNLV banned from postseason play, the season ended Saturday with a 106-102 win over Wyoming. While other schools are participating in conference tournaments this week, UNLV has the market mostly to itself, along with Louisville and Rhode Island.

However, though the financial package for Pitino won't likely be on the table for any other coach, the school is wary of wasting time on candidates who aren't serious about coaching the Rebels. When dollar figures like that are publicized, opportunists gain interest.

When Bayno was hired in 1995, coaches such as Jerry Green, Larry Eustachy and Lorenzo Romar improved their contracts after negotiating with UNLV.

Though Pitino will get a hefty contract wherever he lands, his withdrawal from UNLV's derby seemingly affirms what local sources have maintained throughout the pursuit -- that he never intended to coach here. His negotiations with UNLV set the financial bar, and once the Louisville job opened up Friday after Crum's retirement, Pitino felt he had somewhere else to go.

In fact, for the last few weeks, Pitino has been voicing multiple concerns about UNLV, despite his wife's much-hyped visit to Las Vegas last week to tour the university and look at homes.

Pitino has cited reservations including the four-year probation, scholarship limits for the next two years, a likely lawsuit by Bayno for wrongful termination and the scarcity of December practice time at the Thomas & Mack Center because of the National Finals Rodeo.

Interviewed by CBS during Sunday's Kentucky-Florida game in Gainesville, Fla., Pitino expressed a new concern -- his ability to recruit junior college players. Though Pitino is a sharp recruiter, the Rebels have long built upon JC finds like Larry Johnson, Isaiah Rider and Shawn Marion.

"If I think I can recruit tremendous high school players there, then it becomes an extremely attractive job," Pitino said. "Some people I respect say you have to recruit the junior college ranks hard. I'm not real good at JC recruiting because my background is not in (that)."

Pitino also pointed out that most of his basketball contacts are in the east. He's coached at Boston College, Providence and Kentucky, as well as the NBA's New York Knicks and Boston Celtics. He quit as the Celtics' coach and president Jan. 8, and speculation began immediately that he was Las Vegas-bound.

But now it appears he'll go to Louisville. CBS affiliate WLKY in Louisville reported Sunday that Pitino could sign with the Cardinals by Tuesday for as much as $2 million per year. The station also said Pitino and his wife were spotted in Louisville on Friday.

At least UNLV fans have this to look forward to: the Rebels are scheduled to host Louisville next season. Whether that contract will be upheld if Pitino goes to Louisville is not known.

This much is also likely. Despite coaching the weary Rebels to a 13-9 record after replacing Bayno, Good probably isn't a candidate, though he said he would listen to any offer.

"I just think these kids deserve the best coach the university can get, because they've been through a lot," Good said. "Where will I be? I don't know. I want to be in a gym somwhere. I just want to coach, because I love it. I could be happy coaching at the junior high in Biloxi."