Pitino vs. Pitino in The Pit on Sunday
Dec. 16—ALBUQUERQUE — There's a private group chat that occasionally roars to life on Richard Pitino's phone.
This week it has become a beacon of activity, though none of it covers topics that would blow up Buzzfeed's home page or become a discussion point on SportsCenter.
"It is the dumbest group chat ever," Pitino said before a Thursday morning practice in The Pit. "It's my dad, brothers, sister, my cousin and a good family friend from Louisville and it's the dumbest text chain you've ever seen in your life. So, no, it hasn't been trash talking or anything like that."
For anyone wishing to be a fly on the wall for a Pitino family get-together, look no further than Sunday's nationally televised men's college basketball game when legendary hall of fame coach Rick Pitino leads Iona into The Pit to face his son's unbeaten New Mexico Lobos.
As fun as it will be for the fans to see a family rivalry play itself out in the state's most famous building, the younger Pitino counters that it's just another game. He said he scheduled the Gaels knowing it would be something the fans and media would get excited about, but not necessarily energize the family.
"That's why I did it and it's certainly proven to be something that the community is excited about," Pitino said. "I was dropping my kids off at school [Thursday] and some parent yelled, 'Kick your dad's ass.' I was, like, geez, in front of the kids."
Fact is, it's all smiles and good times for the younger Pitino and the Lobos. Monday's win on short rest against San Francisco in Las Vegas, Nev., pushed UNM's record to 10-0 and has earned it some national publicity in recent days.
Having his more famous dad coming to town only ramps up the spotlight's glare.
Thing is, it's nothing new for Richard Pitino, a man whose very name launches comparisons and starts conversations. He spent his formative years watching his dad coach the NBA's New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, then grew into a teenager while his dad resurrected Kentucky's blue-blood program in the 1990s.
Richard said one of the most valuable things he did as a young coach was to leave his dad's staff at Louisville to go work for Billy Donovan at Florida. The lessons learned from a coaching standpoint paved the way for him creating his own thought process, one that eventually led to his own head coaching stints at Florida International, Minnesota and now New Mexico.
What's more, it taught him that it was OK to be who he wanted to be instead of living a life toward which his surname was leading.
"It doesn't mean that who [his dad] is is bad or what Billy is better, but just be yourself," Pitino said. "That's what I've always kind of done."
It helped the younger Pitino establish his own style, one that's far less animated on the sidelines than his father. He also dresses in own way, having ditched the $2,500 suits his dad is known for in favor of a quarter-zip golf pullover that most coaches wear these days.
"As I've said before, and I know it's boring, I don't care about beating my dad. I really don't," Richard said.
He said he has told his players the same. When the team studies film on Iona this week it's not a chess match between father and son, but exclusively on matchups between the players.
"We've put ourselves in a position after 10 games to maybe do something special," Pitino said. "So I'm not going to make it about me versus my dad. And, again, if I were to beat my dad, like, the guy's one of the best coaches in the history of college basketball. I've been fired before 40 years old; probably not going into the hall of fame and I'm OK with that."
NOTES
Familiar place: Iona (7-2) arrives in town on Friday night, giving the Pitino family a couple of days to catch up behind the scenes. The Gaels will practice Saturday afternoon in The Pit, giving the elder Pitino a chance to visit with local media in a building where he coached Boston University to a 107-87 loss to the Lobos on Dec. 30, 1980 — just 21 1/2 months before Richard was born in a Boston hospital.
Frequent flyers: Located in New Rochelle, N.Y., Iona is on its way to the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu. The Gaels will face SMU on Dec. 22 and potentially meet UNM's Mountain West rival, Utah State, the following day.
The Lobos hammered SMU in Dallas, 84-63, one month ago.
