I actually think Richard Pitino will be a solid head coach someday but not here. Pitino was very involved in gameplanning and X&Os under both his dad and Billy Donovan. You're not the X&Os assistant for elite programs by luck. He knows basketball even if incompetent fourth-year players Buggs and Morris combined with a young team suggests otherwise. I actually think he knows basketball. I'm not suggesting he's one of the country's best X & Os coaches...just that he's good enough to be a competent coach.
He can obviously recruit too. We've seen that and I don't have to give examples there. He recruited well at FIU too btw. He also seems to be a decent-enough evaluator of talent.
So he can coach, recruit, and evaluate talent. I'm not saying he's great in all of those regards but he's at least passable. So why he is a bad coach? I think what he's missing is an intangible...leadership.
Body language of the players has never been good in his three years here. The players don't have to go running through a brick wall like the football team would be willing to do for Kill, but at least show some fight. But they rarely play inspired basketball. They also don't seem to be mentally tough and Pitino has pointed out as much. It doesn't matter if Amir Coffey, Reggie Lynch, and Davonte Fitzgerald are on the team next year, if the team isn't tough and playing inspired, they won't be better than a 9 win team in the Big 10. Body language from the assistant coaches hasn't been good either. Chewing out players is to be expected, everyone does that. But you don't see many head coaches chew out their assistants like Pitino does (although there are a few). So my point is: the body language from the players and coaches and the players' lack of heart and mental toughness leads me to believe that Pitino is lacking as a leader. Good leaders (regardless of their basketball IQ) don't have those issues in year three.
I think he can become a good coach someday because leadership can be learned and improved and I hope this happens very soon. But unfortunately I'm worried that it will take a firing and a blow to his ego for him to take a balcony view and realize that his own non basketball related deficiencies have been a significant and the primary issue.
Would you agree with me?
He can obviously recruit too. We've seen that and I don't have to give examples there. He recruited well at FIU too btw. He also seems to be a decent-enough evaluator of talent.
So he can coach, recruit, and evaluate talent. I'm not saying he's great in all of those regards but he's at least passable. So why he is a bad coach? I think what he's missing is an intangible...leadership.
Body language of the players has never been good in his three years here. The players don't have to go running through a brick wall like the football team would be willing to do for Kill, but at least show some fight. But they rarely play inspired basketball. They also don't seem to be mentally tough and Pitino has pointed out as much. It doesn't matter if Amir Coffey, Reggie Lynch, and Davonte Fitzgerald are on the team next year, if the team isn't tough and playing inspired, they won't be better than a 9 win team in the Big 10. Body language from the assistant coaches hasn't been good either. Chewing out players is to be expected, everyone does that. But you don't see many head coaches chew out their assistants like Pitino does (although there are a few). So my point is: the body language from the players and coaches and the players' lack of heart and mental toughness leads me to believe that Pitino is lacking as a leader. Good leaders (regardless of their basketball IQ) don't have those issues in year three.
I think he can become a good coach someday because leadership can be learned and improved and I hope this happens very soon. But unfortunately I'm worried that it will take a firing and a blow to his ego for him to take a balcony view and realize that his own non basketball related deficiencies have been a significant and the primary issue.
Would you agree with me?
