Photo Courtesy: Brad J. Ward
Louisville men’s basketball program will continue to be successful for years to come with Rick Pitino deciding to extend his stay at the school.
It was announced by the school on Tuesday that they and the head coach had come to an agreement on a contract extension that would take the Hall of Famer through the 2025-26 season. Though that seems like a really large contract extension to give someone in any profession, we are not talking about just any old head coach here.
This is a man who has done nothing but win at a prolific level everywhere he has been in college basketball. His accomplishments and record speak for themselves at Louisville. He is 368-126 at Louisville in his career, that is a .745 winning percentage, something few other coaches can boast in the current era of college basketball coaching.
His ability to bring in highly ranked recruits routinely to the campus of Louisville has been off the charts, but even more important is his ability to teach these young men the game of basketball and how to properly play it.
He just does not roll the balls out and let his guys wing it while on the court during games. He has proven to be a master at developing players from the highly ranked ones coming in from high school to ones that might have been overlooked by other power schools and who do not possess all the gifts and talents of a five star player.
Pitino has been able to be flexible with his style of play and been able to maximize a player’s abilities. Those skills and instruction with the players of current and past for Louisville have benefited them in so many great ways that not only has it helped them on the court during games, but in someway off the court as well. Basketball takes discipline to play and a certain maturity to truly flourish and reach the highest level of success personally and in a team setting.
The lessons Pitino has instilled in his players over the years helps them grow into productive, highly motivated individuals who want to succeed in basketball but also in other careers that they may go into after their playing days are over. You can see this from some of his former players who gush and praise him for what he did for them as young and upcoming basketball players and young men.
His impact on the court is no question known by everyone who watches or covers college basketball. It is his off the court impact on his players that is not completely profiled and given the right amount of accolades that it should have.
So while this contract extension ensures that Louisville basketball will continue to win at a high level for many years to come, this also means Pitino will impact even more young men’s lives in the future years to come and help them reach their ultimate goals.
