Louisville Makes Move for Pitino

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville Athletic Director Tom Jurich doesn’t care if Rick Pitino coached at rival Kentucky or failed to turn around the Boston Celtics.

He’s the only man Jurich wants to replace Hall of Fame coach Denny Crum.

Jurich and Pitino will meet in Florida this weekend about the job vacated when Crum retired last Friday.

“What I’ve tried to focus on is who would be the best fit, and who would do the best job and who I would enjoy working with,” Jurich said at a news conference Tuesday. “I feel at this point, Coach Pitino is really who I want to focus on. I want to go down and spend as much time as I possibly can selling the amenities of this program.

“It’s a program I feel is one of the top five jobs in America and I want the opportunity to tell him.”

Pitino said earlier in the day on ESPN Radio that he was interested in the Louisville job. He took over a Kentucky program strapped with NCAA probation in 1989 and turned it into an NCAA champion seven years later. He left the program after the following season to run the Celtics, but resigned in January after 3 1/2 unsuccessful seasons.

Pitino’s disappointing stint with the Celtics doesn’t faze Jurich.

“He had a bump in the road in Boston, but I don’t compare an NBA job to this job,” Jurich said.

Pitino’s ties to the Kentucky program are a bonus, Jurich said.

“He’s a very well-known man in this state, a man of very high stature,” Jurich said.