Byrne should reach out to Rick Pitino when he starts contacting potential candidates. It’s at least worth a phone call or lunch at the Final Four.
People will overreact to that idea, of course, and fake outrage on Twitter because that’s what we do now, but Pitino is, arguably, one of the three greatest college basketball coaches alive, and he’s currently not coaching college basketball.
Is Pitino unhirable for Alabama? Probably so, and for more reasons than one, but he wasn’t arrested by the FBI after its investigation into college basketball corruption, and there currently isn’t a show cause against Pitino by the NCAA. Maybe one is coming, but Pitino has vehemently maintained his innocence.
Pitino was fired by Louisville in the wake of the bombshell case that linked bribes by Adidas to Louisville basketball recruits, but a member of the Alabama basketball team was linked to that investigation and Avery Johnson wasn’t fired. Auburn assistant coach Chuck Person just pled guilty in federal court, but Bruce Pearl wasn’t fired.
It’s a low bar in college basketball, is all I’m saying, and if you can win a national championship the bar doesn’t really exist at all.
Auburn hired Pearl while Pearl was still under a show cause. The gamble paid off for Auburn, and the Tigers are now selling out Auburn Arena and winning championships. Sampson, a rumored early candidate for Alabama, was out of the game for five years under a show cause.
Byrne and his search committee should ask themselves this simple question when they begin interviewing candidates: can this coach win a national championship at Alabama? That’s a short list, but Pitino is on it.
Would SEC commissioner Greg Sankey prevent Alabama from hiring Pitino? Not likely. Pitino would be an enormous draw for the conference. Would the NCAA slap a show cause on Pitino if he tried to return to college coaching? For Bryne, it might be worth finding out.
If you care to read the rest of the drivel. https://www.al.com/alabamabasketball/2019/03/there-are-logical-coaching-choices-for-alabama-and-then-theres-rick-pitino.html (https://www.al.com/alabamabasketball/2019/03/there-are-logical-coaching-choices-for-alabama-and-then-theres-rick-pitino.html)