Pitino Not Interested in NBA Return

((HT: Louisville Courier-Journal/Rick Bozich))

University of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino said today that he is not interested in any NBA job and will be here to coach U of L for his ninth season. He also announced that senior guards Edgar Sosa and Jerry Smith will serve as captains for the 2009-10 seasons.

In a telephone interview this morning, Pitino said that neither he nor any of his representatives has spoken with the Sacramento Kings about their opening at head coach.

"To tell you the truth, when somebody first asked me about it a couple of days ago, I didn't even know they had a job opening," Pitino said.

Pitino said that he had tremendous respect for Kings general manager Geoff Petrie and had talked to Petrie for 45 minutes two years ago when the Kings hired Pitino's former assistant Reggie Theus. But he said there has been no conversation between him and the Kings about their coaching position. He said that he is represented by only two people -- Lexington businessmen Rick Avare and Lexington attorney Brent Rice -- and that neither man had spoken to the Kings or their representative, contrary to a story that appeared on Yahoo!Sports.com Thursday night..

"That story is false," he said. "I don't have a 'camp'. There has been no dialog about that job."

Pitino said he was concerned that the stories linking him to NBA jobs were having a negative effect on U of L's recruiting of players in the classes of 2010 and 2011.

"We've worked very, very hard to build our brand, and now we've got it built," Pitino said.

"We've had a tremendous amount of success, especially with what we accomplished in the Big East last season, and I'm excited about trying to make it even better. That's my goal, to win a championship here."

Pitino said that his top priority was to hire another assistant coach to replace his son, Richard, who left for the University of Florida nearly three weeks ago. He also said that Smith and Sosa has demonstrated the maturity to move into the captains' roles that Terrence Williams and Andre McGee filled last season.

((HT: WDRB/Fox 41))