Report: New Mexico's Richard Pitino Entering The Mix for Louisville Job

The son of former Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino is very much in the mix to take over his father's old job.

LOUISVILLE, Ky - A new contender has stepped into the ring for the vacant Louisville men's basketball head coaching job, and it's one who Cardinals fans are very familiar with for a multitude of reasons.

New Mexico head coach Richard Pitino "has had conversations with Louisville about its vacant coaching position," according to Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde.

Pitino is coming off of his third season with New Mexico, guiding the Lobos to a 26-10 record while winning the Mountain West Conference Tournament. UNM ultimately fell to Clemson in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

Of course, Pitino is the son of former Louisville head coach Rick Pitino, who was in charge of the Cardinals from 2001 to 2017. Richard also served as an assistant coach at UofL under Rick from 2007 to 2009, and was the associate head coach during Louisville's 2011-12 Final Four season after a two-year stint as an assistant at Florida under Billy Donovan.

Richard Pitino is one of a few candidates currently in the running to be the next head coach at Louisville. Not long after FAU head coach Dusty May chose to take the Michigan job, three head coaches - Seton Hall's Shaheen Holloway, College of Charleston's Pat Kelsey and South Florida's Amir Abdur-Rahim - were reported as UofL's next targets to pursue.

After his lone year as the UofL associate head coach, Pitino made his jump up the coaching ladder, spending the 2012-13 season as the head coach at FIU. After going 18-14 in year one with the Panthers, he then made a quick jump to Minnesota, where he was the head coach for eight seasons before being fired and later taking over New Mexico.

Pitino went 141-123 as the head coach of the Golden Gophers, which includes an NIT championship in his first year at the helm, two NCAA Tournament appearances and a win in the Big Dance in 2019 over Louisville in Chris Mack's first season. He's 221-178 overall as a head coach, including a 61-41 mark currently with the Lobos.

Louisville officially fired former head coach Kenny Payne on Mar. 13, one day removed from their season-ending loss to NC State in the ACC Tournament. Payne's tenure at Louisville was nothing short of an abject disaster, going 12-52 record in his two years at his alma mater. This includes 5-35 in regular season ACC games, 1-28 in road/neutral site games and 0-19 in Quad 1 NET games. 

(Photo of Richard Pitino: Orlando Ramirez - USA TODAY Sports)

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