Rick Pitino - Head Coach at St John’s University!!!

lawmanfan said:
I'm not going to repeat things I've already said. I'm just going to say that thus far - unfortunately - Pitino has managed to hit the bullseye on every one of the concerns I had when he was hired, often in spectacular fashion.

The key questions are this: Can his approach work in today's environment? And if it can't or doesn't, does he have the ability to adapt?

I don't know the answers to either of those questions, but it is certainly possible that the answer to both is "no."

Thus far his view has been that his approach is right and if it doesn't work then it's the players' fault, the staff's fault, the fans' fault - anybody but the head coach. The head coach is perfect as far as the head coach is concerned.

I suppose that next year we will find out if players who he now thinks are a better fit for his system suddenly make it all work better - or if his approach just doesn't work anymore.

If it's the latter then after that we will find out if his desire to win trumps his age, ego, and inflexibility enough to motivate adaptation - if it isn't too late by then to salvage the "I Am The Great Pitino" aura with transfers and recruits.

The jury is out here and is likely to be for a long while yet.
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All excellent points. Agree 100%. Next year will be critical. No excuses.
 
SLYFOXX1968 said:
I understand your comment . It has some validity and a personal opinion on having a Son play for Rick .

But , we all have to understand , we aren’t talking about 18-19 year old “ kids “ anymore .
I haven’t looked at the Birthdays of these players but , other than Wilcher and Dunlap , none of our players have seen High school in 3-4 years or longer .
Some of our team ate 23-,24 or 25 years old . The Covid portal and free transfer rule have brought us to now , Professional Basketball with a College uniform on . The Nil is just getting started and will result in totally removing any attachment of the word Student with Athlete .

Sure Colleges will still need to pluck the prime talent out of HS but , unless they are can’t miss NBA players at age 18-19., many of them won’t play much , I.e. Wilcher and Dunlap , etc .
The bulk of College teams going forward is keep as many of your Core players as possible , bring in as many Stud Portal players as you can and grab the HS kid who plays the game you want to play . Tell them they won’t play much the first year .

It’s a new Day for College Athletics. We as fans have to adjust too. We have to stop with the using the word “Kids.” With rare exception , 24 year olds are not kids.

All of are team are being paid to play . Taking money means taking criticism for job performance .
While it’s not Management Principles 101, public scourging of Employees is not a good idea . Ever .
But , most of those players , especially the 24 -25 year olds will be moving on , with SJU $$$ in their pockets . Their performance or , in this case , lack of it , is subject to fan criticism and we , on this Board do it all the time . It’s what fans do , when results don’t equal our expectations .

Poor Jets fans , loyal as the day is long but , hope is now several generations overdue . Mets ? Coming up on, 38 years since 86 . Giants ? Since 2012 . Rangers 1994 .

St John’s mostly 2 decades of poor results .

On the other hand , maybe Pitino has gotten all he can from this team ? But , due to his ego can’t deal with the losing , no matter what .

This fan base has regularly expressed dismay with nearly every player , at one time or another .

Each one of us has their favorite target .
Marillac has Jenkins . Most of us have pinpointed Soriano , since we had him projected as a NBA first rounder . Mr . double double .

Joel isn’t all to blame . Other than he and Jenkins , sometimes Zuby, Alleyne , this is team of 2 Ivy League players in key starting roles , who play hard but , haven’t delivered at a BE level .

I’m excluding Wilcher and Brady as they get incomplete as limited play freshman .

Luis , Taylor , Conway , Traore , are College players but , not at a BE level .

Maybe we should be praising RP for winning 6 games already , with a chance to win 9 or 10, with a Roster like it is .

BE Coaches learned stopping Soriano and tiring out Jenkins would result in a Win . No one else would or could step up and beat them .

No one has commented yet as to how the Media and Pitino will co exist going forward . Rick has taken a beating from nearly all, local and National press .
Will he turn into John Tortorella ? Who knows at this point .
Will anyone in the University Admin make any Publix comments ? Very , very doubtful .
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!000+ Best post on this topic. Hit the nail on the head about posters here posting scathing remarks about various players during games. Please don't respond that he did it on a public forum. As I remember it over the years it has been pointed out at various times that the players read this board. If so, how do you think they feel reading those scathing remarks posted about them by people on here who are supposed to be supporters of them and the program? Self-restraint should rule in all circumstances, including press conferences. Some of the posters who have posted scathing remarks about players are now posting negative remarks about Coach's remarks- people who live in glass houses should not throw stones!
 
To wrap a bow on this whole saga:

I do think Rick cares immensely about our players and wants them to succeed.

I also think Rick has a massive ego, and when the losses are rolling in, his pride forces him to deflect the blame anyway he can.

All people deal with losing differently. I used to be the type to throw shit and punch my pillow after devastating losses. Then the Jets, who needed to lose out in 2020 to get prospect Trevor Lawrence, inexplicably won a game against the LA Rams, ending their chance to draft Lawrence.

I got so angry that day that I essentially had a sports epiphany that I need to change how much emotion I put on my sports teams and their games.

When you are in charge of the team and your name is attached to the team, the intensity and emotion is ratcheted up all the way. You can't separate yourself from the team and their results. Which is why I think Rick mishandled that pressure, but hope, even with his experience, that this is something he learned from. It isn't productive and all it does is bring unnecessary heat to the program, school, and himself.
 
How about Pitino walks into practice and apologizes to the players he highlighted?
"I made a mistake out of frustration of our results this season. I'm sorry."
 
I loved Looie, when we won the first thing he did was talk-up the other team, the other coach and their effort (even if they played and or were coached poorly).

When Looie lost a close game, HE took the blame, never the officials, never a player on his team (God forbid) now privately it might have been different.

Seton Hall players to a man said when Coach Holloway took the T it fired them up and showed them and reinforced how Coach had their backs and would fight for them. Sunday our coach was out-coached. Whatever his locker room speech was at half-time should be tossed out never to be used again.
 
Roamer said:
Do we think what we say on this public board is any better than what RP said during his press conference? He is coaching a team that let another team have a 28-0 run on themselves, I still don't know how that is even possible. I think what he said was fine but then again I saw no issues with Bobby Knight's style. The boot camp mentality will always prevail over the softer PC approach.
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That 28-0 run makes Sunday's 27-5 run look downright acceptable. ;)
 
ZanMan said:
Today's player is arrogant enough to think that HE is way better than the players Pitino is calling out (and hopefully he will be) and that HE is so amazing that HE WILL make a difference. If the NIL is good enough I don't see the problems with recruiting that some of you are seeing. Yes, this will keep the mediocre kids away, but I am starting to think this is his way of
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ZanMan said:
Todays pleyers are exactly what we're dealing with. If this is RP's way to "weed out" by calling out kids in a post game media event. It's a bad sign to ANY player being recruited. If HE the recruit believes HE is better HE will not react well to being called out by HIM. It's a bad strategy if accurate.
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jackfll said:
Unfair that they are calling the loss of Clayton a red flag that playing for pitino is somehow bad.
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A quick way to turn that narrative around is to get Clayton here next year. There is no other player that has played 60 games for Pitino. The kid and Sim would fit together perfectly and Pitino knows this. Get the check ready. Even if we were to somehow land a better player or fit, it would take 3 months for the kid to learn the system.
 
Jack Williams said:
“My players get a lot of love, my players get a lot of attention, my players all have great NIL deals. I’m preparing six guys for a very difficult time that lies ahead for them in the basketball world, and I want to prepare them the right way to be mentally and physically tough, to be able to handle any situation.”

See guys, the moral of the story is that Rick's actually a hero 😂 :rolleyes:
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Was this quote from Rick or Ike Turner?
 
Marillac2 said:
A quick way to turn that narrative around is to get Clayton here next year. There is no other player that has played 60 games for Pitino. The kid and Sim would fit together perfectly and Pitino knows this. Get the check ready. Even if we were to somehow land a better player or fit, it would take 3 months for the kid to learn the system.
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Why would he leave Florida and his young family to play in a shitty facility (Pitino's words)
 
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