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What: Rick Pitino on “Up Close Prime Time.”

Where: ESPN

When: Tonight at 7:30 (time approximate, following hockey).

After winning only 15 games last season, the Boston Celtics have won four of their first nine this season, including an opening-night victory over the Chicago Bulls.

The man behind the Celtics’ surprising success, Rick Pitino, recently sat down with Roy Firestone for one of ESPN’s periodic “Up Close Prime Time” specials. Though this one is only half an hour, that doesn’t mean it’s only half as good as the one-hour specials. Firestone, as he is known to do, got plenty from the coach the Celtics believe is worth $70 million over 10 years.

* On the challenge of turning the storied Celtics around, Pitino says: “I think this is the supreme challenge, more difficult than Kentucky, [Boston University], Providence or the Knicks. The whole organization needed to be revamped and headed in a different direction.”

* On the possibility of having Larry Bird as a part of it all: “We talked privately, and I asked him to join me. But he is bitter at the Celtics for reasons I’d rather not go into. I never thought he’d get into coaching, but I guess the Pacers made him a part owner.”

* On why he would never return to New York: “I think criticism in coaching is a good thing, something you can build on. But in New York it was too personal. Every loss was catastrophic.”

* On his game plan for the Celtics: “When I took this job, I said I want us to be a .500 team the first year, to be a playoff team in three years and a championship-caliber team in five years. But this year I want us to fight to make the playoffs.”