By Jordan Long
On this date in sports history, in 1997 the Boston Celtics hired Rick Pitino as their new head coach. This was after firing M.L. Carr. Carr lasted two seasons and went a disappointing 48-116. Pitino had NBA coaching experience with the Knicks from 1987 to 1989. His record in the “Big Apple” was 90-74 and New York reached the playoffs in both years.
Boston hired Pitino who had returned to the college game after being let go by the New York Knicks. He had a lot of success at the University of Kentucky from 1989 to 1997. The Wildcats played well under him with a record of 219-50, an impressive winning percentage of .814. Kentucky advanced to the tournament 6 times and went all the way to the Final four 3 times. They won the National Championship in 1996 defeating the University of Syracuse 76-67.
Boston was hoping his success in the college game would translate into the NBA. Boston hadn’t advanced past the 1st-round of the NBA playoffs since 1992 when they reached the 2nd round. The Celtics’ last championship was 1986.
Unfortunately, Pitino didn’t help the Celtics in his 4 years in Boston. The Celtics record was a disappointing 102-146, a winning percentage of .411. Boston missed the playoffs every year. The top year was 1998. Boston ended up 36-46 but were 7 games behind the New Jersey Nets for the 8th and final playoff spot. Boston decided to let him go 34 games into the 2000-2001 season. Boston’s record was 12-22. They finished 2001 at 36-46.
Pitino went back to college basketball with the University of Louisville for the next 16 years. Pitino has not been back to coach the NBA level. Nobody could have guessed his coaching style wouldn’t work in the NBA. On this date in 1997, the Boston Celtics took a chance on him and it failed.
Leave a Reply