21 years ago today, Rick Pitino announced he would be leaving the University of Kentucky to join the Boston Celtics as the franchise’s next head coach.
At the time, it was seen as a home run hire for the Celtics. Pitino had just won a national championship with Kentucky in 1996 and finished as the national runner-up in 1997. After a brief stint with the New York Knicks before his time at Kentucky, Pitino was finally expected to be ready to take the next step as a successful NBA coach.
“He restores credibility to our most storied sports franchise,” said one news clipping. The entire optimistic report is shown in the tweet below.
https://twitter.com/todayinsports3/status/993098585267982337?s=21
In three and a half years, Pitino never had a winning record with the Celtics and ultimately resigned in 2001. Doc Rivers took over the franchise, and it took seven long years and a complete rebuild for the Celtics to get back to their winning ways.
That same year in 2001, the Louisville Cardinals hired Pitino to take over the basketball program, and the rest is history.
A rivalry was born. The stories wrote themselves.
Happy anniversary, Rick!
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