They’re Wild About Pitino : His First Team at Kentucky Is Short and on Probation, but Coach wins Over Fans

As construction continues on Rick Pitino’s new home, so does the steady stream of drive-by gawkers, who cruise past the work site as if it were a shrine, not a residence-to-be for Kentucky’s latest basketball coach.

Pitino stopped by one Sunday to check on the building’s progress and found a caravan of cars about 300 yards long weaving through the neighborhood.

One disc jockey went so far as to sneak into the yard, steal some dirt and then tell Kentucky athletic department officials that he planned to reward lucky listeners with the stuff. He would have done it, too, had not university public relations types begged for mercy.

Of course, Pitino-mania isn’t limited to the work of a deejay’s shovel. Readers of the Lexington Herald-Leader recently were treated to “The Ballad of Rick Pitino,” a heartfelt poem penned by an adoring fan. Emily Dickinson, it wasn’t.

In the school’s bookstore are “Pitino’s Bombinos” sweat shirts. In the magazine racks are nearly a half-dozen basketball preview magazines, many of them with Pitino’s smiling mug on the cover. And at one of the nearby hotel gift shops are copies of Pitino’s biography, “Born To Coach.”

“Nothing comes close to this,” Pitino said. “There’s nothing else in the people’s lives bigger than Kentucky basketball. Vacations, social life . . . everything they do with their family revolves around Kentucky basketball. These people could talk about Kentucky basketball the entire year, every minute of their lives. It’s a pleasure for them to do that. It’s a lot different from everything else I’ve experienced.

“I’ve signed more autographs in the short time I’ve been here than I have in my life, maybe 10 times over,” he said.

This is what happens when a boy wonder from the North, wearing a Final Four ring the size of an infant’s clutched fist and sporting a New York accent as thick as a pastrami-on-rye from the Carnegie Deli, steps up to the podium and promises to restore a shamed Kentucky basketball program to past glories.

Pitino did this and more last June. He vowed that the Wildcats’ recovery would be relatively swift and done according to the NCAA rule manual, a copy of which seemed to be permanently misplaced during previous coach Eddie Sutton’s era.

Because of the speech and the surprising 11 victories that have been recorded by a team short on seniors, stars and scholarships, Pitino has become as valued by Kentucky faithful as one of those national championship banners that hang from the rafters of Rupp Arena. After nearly 19 months of unwanted notoriety, a university is beginning to feel good about itself and its basketball program.

Among the reasons: former UK President David Roselle, Athletic Director C.M. Newton and, of course, Pitino, only the fourth Kentucky coach since 1931, but the third in the 1980s.

Roselle guided the school through the embarrassing NCAA investigation and sanction process, and later enacted measures to ensure it never happened again. He was branded a traitor by some factions of school supporters, a savior by most others.

Newton, a respected former coach, earned praise for his hands-on administrative style. He hired Bill Curry, last seen on the Sugar Bowl sidelines with a 10-2 Alabama team; and Pitino, 37, who last season led the New York Knicks to a division title, their first since 1971, in only his second season as an NBA coach. Before that, Pitino directed Providence to a surprising Final Four appearance.

The normally reserved Newton couldn’t contain himself the day he introduced Pitino to the media last June 1.

“We have just . . . named the very best head coach in the country,” he gushed. “Today begins a new day in Kentucky basketball.”

Added a beaming Roselle: “It’s a historic day and a happy day.”

There have been few moments in the past two years that have brought smiles to Kentucky followers. Sutton’s tenure often was marked by crisis and controversy, to say nothing of Kentucky’s first losing season in almost 65 years.

Still, had everything gone as planned by Sutton, the Wildcats would have begun the year as a likely Final Four participant. The roster would have included such stars as Rex Chapman, Shawn Kemp, Eric Manuel, Chris Mills and LeRon Ellis.

Instead, Chapman opted to turn pro and is in his second season with Charlotte Hornets. Kemp, one of the country’s most sought-after high school players, decided to forgo a college career and jump directly to the NBA. He is a rookie with the Seattle SuperSonics.

Manuel, a gifted offensive player, was forbidden to play for any NCAA member school because of a cheating scandal. Mills, the team’s leading rebounder last season, transferred to Arizona after becoming the focal point of the NCAA’s investigation. Mills was sent the infamous Emery overnight package, allegedly containing $1,000 from then-Kentucky assistant coach Dwayne Casey.

Ellis, UK’s leading scorer in 1989, fled to Syracuse.

Kentucky was left with eight scholarship players, only one of them a senior. When Pitino took his place for the preseason team photograph, he found that his coaches and support staff outnumbered his players almost two to one.

According to the NCAA sanctions, Kentucky cannot make any live television appearances this year and won’t be able to participate in the Southeastern Conference or NCAA tournaments until 1992. Probation ends after the 1992 season.

Pitino had only three scholarships to offer this year but will be under no NCAA restrictions next year, meaning he can offer up to five for the 1991-92 season.

Faced with such an array of constraints, Pitino asked for and received a seven-year contract--worth a reported $5 million--from Newton.

In addition, he was promised remodeled basketball offices, weight room and practice facilities. So old was the Memorial Coliseum locker room, that the same hook Newton used to hang his clothes when he played at Kentucky in 1951 still was being used in 1989.

Pitino considered the program’s possibilities and told Newton he had a deal, thus ending a four-month courtship that had begun with a simple no.

“(Newton) called me probably sometime in February and told me he had four people he was going to talk to: Mike Krzyzewski, Lute Olson, myself and Pat Riley,” Pitino said.

“I thought to myself, ‘Well, you’re oh for four right off the bat.’ I knew I wasn’t leaving. I knew Pat Riley wasn’t going to leave the Lakers, that Mike Krzyzewski certainly wasn’t going to leave Duke and I wondered, you never know, if Lute Olson possibly may be interested in it.

“I just told (Newton), ‘Thank you very much,’ but I just wasn’t interested in leaving the Knicks.”

Newton persisted.

Pitino suggested he consider Seton Hall’s P. J. Carlesimo.

Newton did but decided to work on Pitino instead.

“OK, when the playoffs are over, I’ll come visit,” Pitino told Newton.

And?

“I came here to visit and I just fell in love with the potential of the place,” he said.

There were other factors. Pitino didn’t consider his efforts fully appreciated in New York. He helped turn around a struggling franchise in two seasons, but still he heard the occasional remarks concerning his coaching style (too rah-rah, critics said) and his playing scheme (too heavy on the press and three-pointers). Nor did Pitino get along well with Knick General Manager Al Bianchi.

“I should have never left Providence, in hindsight,” Pitino said. “Though my experience in New York was invaluable, I should have never left Providence.

“It was an emotional time for me. It was a thing that if you’re a New Yorker and you grow up 10 streets away from Madison Square Garden, how do you turn down the New York Knicks’ job? A year later, the Providence job reopened, and I was offered the job to come back. In hindsight, I felt that I couldn’t do that, but that’s what I should have done.

“When this job opened up, I just wanted to get back to college basketball at that point. And there’s no finer place to go than Kentucky if you’re going to come back to college basketball.”

Pitino’s impact has been immediate and noticeable. For instance:

--Without a player taller than 6-foot-7, the Wildcats have won with a stifling defense and an offense that specializes in the three-point shot.

A seven-man rotation works only because Pitino ran the Wildcats in their preseason conditioning drills until they dropped . . . or worse. A large garbage can strategically placed near courtside was a multipurpose container.

“It was basically for cups, but it wasn’t uncommon to see someone hanging around there, if you know what I mean,” said John Pelphrey, a forward who survived.

--When Kentucky traveled to Somerset, Manchester, Maysville and Frankfort for its traditional in-state scrimmages, Pitino took the on-court microphone and conducted a question-and-answer session with fans, as well as detailing the proper techniques for cheering.

“In one year, he’s gotten the crowd to do what cheerleaders have been trying to do here for years,” said Chris Cameron, the school’s sports information director.

--During a practice session the day before Kentucky played North Carolina, Pitino organized a slam-dunk contest for his players, answered questions from the assembled fans and then invited everyone down to the court to meet the Wildcat players.

Another time, he conducted a team scrimmage exclusively for Kentucky students, staff and faculty--no general public allowed.

--Pitino actually put in some serious time at his own UK basketball camp, something of a first for the people used to the cameo appearances made by Sutton.

--He appealed for the school’s best musicians to try out for the pep band.

--He happily agreed to include such state schools as Eastern Kentucky and Western Kentucky on future schedules, heretofore considered sacrilegious by Adolph Rupp, Joe B. Hall and Sutton.

“I didn’t realize that Kentucky didn’t play in-state schools before, figuring it had everything to lose and nothing to gain,” Pitino said. “(Kentucky) wanted fans border to border. I said, ‘That’s ludicrous.’ If they wanted to play us, we’re no better than anyone else.”

--He already has plans to hang the jerseys of Kentucky’s All-Americans from the Rupp Arena rafters, to attach plaques to each player’s locker. Engraved on each plaque will be the names of previous UK players who wore that particular jersey number.

--And, in what amounted to the Kentucky equivalent of merging church and state, Curry was invited to appear on Pitino’s weekly television show.

“Everybody made such a big deal about it,” Pitino said. “I said I had him on for two reasons: one, to make him feel welcome; and, two, for the ratings.”

Little things, but all designed to give Kentucky back some of its pride.

Pitino can do little wrong these days. Kentucky fans loved it when Pitino, during a game against Indiana, told the game officials never to allow Indiana Coach Bobby Knight to intimidate them. And despite a later reprimand from the SEC commissioner’s office, Kentucky followers weren’t overly upset when Pitino nearly traded punches with Louisiana State’s Dale Brown at courtside last month.

So popular is Pitino that about 5,000 fans remain in their seats to watch the coach do his postgame radio show. One time, as forward Reggie Hanson walked toward an exit, Pitino called him over to the microphone and asked him on the air why the player was so well dressed. Hanson smiled nervously.

“No, really,” Pitino said. “Is this a big date or a regular date?”

Pitino’s workday usually begins about 5:30 a.m., when he and the rest of his coaching staff arrive at Memorial Coliseum for their daily pickup basketball game. According to Ralph Willard, associate coach and longtime friend, Pitino is the best player because of sheer will.

“No matter what he does, he wants to win,” Willard said. “He has a real passion for what he does. Rick takes it to another level. He lives, breathes, eats, sleeps, drinks (basketball).”

Willard, who coached with Pitino in New York, said his boss becomes so involved in games that he often returns to the locker room at halftime with shirt and suit coat soaked in sweat. Nor is it unusual for Pitino to become so enraged over a costly error that he turns to Willard and, in all seriousness, says, “You’re fired.”

Said Willard: “Sometimes he doesn’t even realize he said what he said. He’s fired us a hundred times.”

It is a Pitino coaching tradition to have a cup of diet root beer or cream soda nearby at all times. It keeps his throat moist, allowing him to yell constantly. Last year, as the Knicks played the Detroit Pistons, Pitino reached for his cup and found it empty. His face filled with rage, Pitino turned to the team trainer. “What do you think I am, a camel?” he screamed. “Get me a drink!”

For the first time since he began coaching college teams, Pitino is telling recruits that he will be there to see them graduate. It is his way of informing Kentucky that he has made an honest commitment to a program in dire need of one.

At times, he misses New York, when he could dine at a restaurant and have to sign only the credit card receipt. The Knicks used to play in Los Angeles, Seattle and Chicago. Kentucky visits Starkville, Miss.; Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Athens, Ga.

It is a different life, complete with some local wise guy entrepreneurs selling hats that read, “Rick Pitino: Brought to you by Emery.”

The hats are gone, but Pitino remains. He said he plans to stay for a long time.

“Wherever I’ve been, I’ve been happy,” he said. “But my life is not the life of a normal person. My life goes as basketball goes. That may sound shallow, but it’s true.”

And right now, life couldn’t be better.