Pitino ‘Listens to Heart,’ Stays Put

Rick Pitino listened to his heart and turned his back on a fortune.

The Kentucky coach Thursday declined a five-year offer estimated at up to $30 million to become coach, general manager and part-owner of the New Jersey Nets.

“My wife gave me some simple advice: ‘Listen to your heart,’ ” said Pitino, who guided the Wildcats to a national championship this past season. “I realized now that my heart is with the players of Kentucky.”

“We stayed up all last night,” Pitino said of his wife, Joanne.

Pitino, who grew up in the New York area and left the NBA’s New York Knicks in 1989 to coach at Kentucky, makes about $1 million a year in Kentucky in salary and other deals. But he was seriously tempted by the Nets’ offer.

Pitino also rejected a suggestion that he might consider an offer from another NBA team.

“I honestly believe I’ll be here in Kentucky for the duration,” he said.

Many Kentuckians believed that Pitino would leave, particularly after finally getting his national title this year.

The Nets were disappointed.

“The team’s ownership made a very serious and aggressive offer to Coach Pitino. It was an offer that would have given him complete control of our basketball operation and made him the highest paid coach in the NBA,” the NBA team said in a statement.

“We wish him the best of luck in the future at Kentucky and perhaps our paths may cross sometime in the future.”

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The Philadelphia 76ers have spoken with an attorney for Massachusetts Coach John Calipari about their head coaching vacancy, said a university spokesman.

Massachusetts spokesman Bill Strickland said that someone from the 76ers had spoken to Craig Fenech, a Parsippany, N.J.-based attorney who represents Calipari.

Strickland said he had no further details. Fenech, who is in Arizona attending a convention, did not return a call. Calipari’s secretary said the coach was not returning reporters’ phone calls.

Brad Greenberg, the 76ers’ general manager, refused to say whether he had talked to Calipari or anyone representing him.

“I really can’t answer that,” said Greenberg, who hopes to have a coach by the June 26 NBA draft in which the 76ers have the first overall pick.