Pitino, no longer in the running for Louisville job, talks commitment to Lobo basketball

Richard Pitino is not going to be the next coach at Louisville.

The Journal confirmed through a source Wednesday morning and later interviewed Pitino himself, who says while he did have two conversations with the Louisville athletics department about its vacant coaching position over the past three days, he is no longer a candidate for the job.

Louisville reached an agreement with College of Charleston coach Pat Kelsey to become the Cardinals’ next men’s basketball coach, a person with direct knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press. The Field of 68’s Jeff Goodman was the first to report the Kelsey offer.

“We spoke twice, and it was all just introductory stuff,” Pitino said of his communication in recent days with Louisville. “Obviously, I worked there for three years, family lived there for 16 years. Have some amazing, amazing memories from there — some hard, but the majority of them were great.

“And it wasn’t something I was looking to pursue, by any means. I wasn’t looking to just outward leave New Mexico, but had a couple introductory conversations. Was never offered a job of any sorts. Hopefully we can continue to keep the momentum going at New Mexico.”

Pitino just wrapped up his third season as coach of the UNM Lobos — rebuilding from a team that won six games the year before he took over to last week ending the program’s decade-long NCAA Tournament drought.

Since the end of the season, Pitino and the Lobos coaching staff have conducted end-of-season interviews with players and have engaged in the transfer portal recruiting process — one that began last week when the portal opened.

Pitino said he was open about his conversations with Louisville in talking with rising junior point guard Donovan Dent and rising sophomores J.T. Toppin and Tru Washington — three prominent players who, in this NIL and transfer portal world, could be considered free agents.

“We met yesterday (Tuesday),” Pitino said, “more about the schedule, moving forward for workouts and making sure we go to class and finish strong academically, and I just told them, I told them the truth. I said, guys, I had one short conversation, one longer conversation with Louisville. I don’t know where it’s all gonna go.

“We are absolutely business as usual here to build a championship program. Having that conversation has nothing to do with New Mexico. I think we all know how special this place is and how much better it’s getting because of the guys in the room. And I will continue to move forward with it.”

The 41-year-old coach was an assistant for three years at Louisville, leading the recruiting of some of the star players on the Cardinals’ 2013 national championship team coached by his father, Rick Pitino.

Richard Pitino made $1.1 million this past season at UNM and recently fired Louisville coach Kenny Payne was paid well over $3 million this past season. The Cardinals’ coaching search has appeared to be in disarray over the past week, publicly pursuing, to no avail, Baylor coach Scott Drew and former Florida Atlantic coach Dusty May, who has since taken the head coaching job at Michigan.

Last year, Richard Pitino spoke with the University of South Florida, where he has family, about their coaching vacancy before turning down a $1.8 million offer to return to New Mexico.

Coaching movement is a part of college basketball.

At UNM, the three coaches prior to Pitino include Steve Alford (2007-2013), who left for the greener pastures of UCLA after taking the Lobos to the NCAA Tournament; and Craig Neal (2013-2017) and Paul Weir (2017-2021), both fired after subpar campaigns.

Pitino came to UNM after he was fired from Minnesota (2013-2021), replacing Weir.

“It’s part of the profession,” Pitino said when asked about his having talked with programs twice in the past year. “If you win, people are going to reach out to you. If you lose, people are going to want you fired. That’s the volatility of this thing. Last year with South Florida was more of a personal thing with my family being down there. In the end, I didn’t feel it was right, I felt like New Mexico was a great situation. And this year, with Louisville, that didn’t go further than the South Florida thing.

“But it has nothing to do with New Mexico. We’ve loved every second of it. As I’ve said before, I think it is really — not just wins and losses — we’re in much better shape now through a lot of hard work of Eddie and people behind the scenes to where we’re stronger and stronger. I’m never going to be a coach that says, ‘Oh, I want to be here forever.’ Because you get you may not want me here forever. But I have loved it. I hope we continue to build on it. I think we’ve got an elite fan base. We’ve got an amazing home court. And we’ve got a city and a state that really supports Lobo basketball.”

Take a look: UNM men's and women's 2023-24 basketball seasons