April 16, 2012

Richard Pitino will get a golden opportunity as a Division I head coach.  Florida International decided to hire the 29 year old to replace Isiah Thomas.

I believe the son of future Hall of Famer, Rick Pitino, is ready for this.  He served under his dad at Louisville last season and was an assistant at Florida under Billy Donovan before that.  His father was a head coach at 26 and he went on to have a pretty good career.

I give FIU athletic director, Pete Garcia, credit for taking a chance on the younger Pitino.  I look at what happened when Roy Williams was given a chance at Kansas after serving as North Carolina’s assistant coach.  People can take advanatge when opportunity knocks, and I believe Richard Pitino will do just that.