BOSTON -- Rick Pitino resigned as coach and president of the
Boston Celtics on Monday, unable to restore the NBA's most
successful franchise to its former glory.
Assistant coach Jim O'Brien was hired as interim head coach. The Celtics lost their first game under him Monday, 98-90 to Portland. O'Brien was given a generous ovation when he was introduced before the game.
|  | | Rick Pitino watched the Celtics get blown out Saturday in Miami. |
"It has been a great privilege to coach the greatest basketball
tradition in sports," Pitino said in a statement released by the
team. "I wish we could have accomplished more between the lines,
but I am proud with the efforts of my staff and players."
Team owner Paul Gaston lauded Pitino for his dedication.
"I have greatly enjoyed our relationship and consider his work
ethic to be without equal," he said.
Pitino said he would spent the next few weeks with his family
considering his future.
Pitino told ESPN's David Aldridge on Sunday that he would like to stay in pro basketball but would likely return to the college game to finish his career. Pitino indicated that no schools or NBA teams have contacted him.
O'Brien started his new job by leading practice on Sunday, when
Pitino said he was taking the day off to mull his options. Pitino
told Gaston that he was through, and he reportedly gave up the
remaining 6½ years and $27 million on his contract.
"He's a guy I have been with a long time," O'Brien said after
Monday's shootaround. "It did not end the way we had come into the
franchise hoping it would.
"There's nobody more disappointed with Rick leaving than I am.
That being said, you don't have too much time in the NBA to get too
up or too down. We have to get on with life. Rick wants us to get
on with life."
Pitino had hinted since the end of last season that he would
leave if the team did not improve this season, his fourth as coach
and president. But the tone of his comments became more immediate
as the Celtics stumbled to a 12-22 record, leaving Pitino 102-146
overall.
Pitino said in November he would meet with Gaston in mid-January
to discuss the team. If there wasn't any progress, Pitino promised
to finish the season and then leave.
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Pitino in the pros
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|
Year
|
Team
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Record
|
|
1987-88
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Knicks
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38-44
|
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1988-89
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Knicks
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52-30
|
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1997-98
|
Celtics
|
36-46
|
|
1998-99
|
Celtics
|
19-31
|
|
1999-00
|
Celtics
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35-47
|
|
2000-01
|
Celtics
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12-22
|
|
Totals
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6 yrs.
|
192-220
|
On Saturday night, though, it became clear Pitino had changed
his mind. He hugged Paul Pierce as he came out of the game, and
spoke afterward as if his mind were made up. Newspaper reports said
he would step down as early as Sunday.
"Sometimes change is good just for the sake of change when
things aren't going well," he told the Boston Herald after the
112-86 loss to Miami. "It's heartbreaking to me, what's happened
here. I love the Boston Celtics and I'll always be a fan.
"This organization has treated me like royalty since I came
here. But you know, I've been going at this pretty hard now for 3½
years and I haven't seen many results. It hurts, but life goes on
and it will for the players and for the people in this
organization."
Pitino skipped practice Sunday and had asked his wife to join
him in Miami to discuss his next move.
"He looked at it more personally. He's not getting the job done
as a coach and he wanted to move on," said Celtics forward Antoine
Walker, who also played for Pitino at Kentucky. "He's made a
decision that's best for him and now he's got to move on."
In an interview from Florida, Pitino told WBZ-TV that he had a
"major difference" philosophically: "The fundamentals of
basketball weren't necessarily getting through to the team."
"I love the guys on this basketball team outside the line,"
Pitino said. "Between the lines we had differences."
Pitino came to Boston with a reputation for turning around
troubled teams, and the Celtics were indeed troubled: Their 16 NBA
titles is a record, but their 14-year drought without one is their
longest.
The team went 15-67 the year before he arrived, earning the most
chances in the draft lottery for Wake Forest star Tim Duncan.
Pitino promised fans he would have Boston back in the playoffs in
three years.
But the Celtics didn't get Duncan. San Antonio did, and he led
the Spurs to the NBA title in 1999. Instead of Duncan and Keith Van
Horn, who was also coveted by Pitino, the Celtics got Chauncey
Billups and Ron Mercer; both have since been traded.
Pitino has since said he would never have taken the job if he'd
known how the lottery would turn out. Last March, he said he would
leave if the team didn't make the playoffs, giving up what's left
on his reported 10-year, $50 million contract if the Celtics don't
make the postseason this year.
"All I would be doing if I stayed at that point is trying to
take Paul Gaston's money," he said. "If I don't see a major
difference in our ball club and we're still struggling, I think
enough's enough. What I will do is just go on and try my next job
and wish everybody well."
The Celtics have lost 11 of their last 14 games, allowing 100 or
more points in nine of those games. This would be an unprecedented
eighth consecutive losing season for a franchise that had never
before gone more than four years in a row without a winning record.
"There's a lot of pressure when you put on a Boston Celtics
uniform, or when you get the title of head coach of the Celtics.
There's a lot of pressure in that job," Pierce said Sunday. "We
really haven't fulfilled the expectations put on us.
"I just want him to make the decision that's going to make him
happy. ... I don't know how happy he was lately."
Pitino played at Massachusetts and coached at Boston University
and Providence, two programs he took from mediocrity to the NCAA
tournament. He spent two seasons with the New York Knicks, taking
them to the playoffs in 1989 for the first time in four years.
Then he took over a Kentucky team that had been on probation,
leading it to the Final Four three times in eight seasons, winning
the NCAA title in 1996. Before joining the Celtics, he had just two
losing seasons in 17 years.
Walker said he
still hoped the team could turn things around with its current
personnel.
"Right now, I would prefer not going through an adjustment,"
he said. "But you have to respect and understand what he's going
through. If he's not going to be at the top of his profession, then
obviously he needs to move on."
O'Brien said he would retain the swarming defense that seemed to
be Pitino's undoing. But where Pitino was constantly shouting
instructions to the players, O'Brien said he expects the players to
take more responsibility for making the system work.
"They understand why he left," O'Brien said. "I think the
players understand that in order to make the playoffs, which they
want to do in the worst way, they have to change. I'm not going to
make them change. I'm just going to prepare them."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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ALSO SEE
Denberg: Coaches report card so far
Dr. Jack: Celtics need to dump the full-court press
Lawrence: Jim O'Brien's task is mighty
Katz: Pitino has plenty of options
May: Dear Rick, it's time for you to go
Heat torch Celtics in what might be Pitino's final game
AUDIO VIDEO
 ESPN's David Aldridge on the Rick Pitino's decision to walk away from the Celtics.
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
 Rick Pitino knows winning is fundamental in professional sports. (Courtesy: WBZ)
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Rick Pitino regrets giving up 'Camelot' by leaving Kentucky. (Courtesy: WBZ)
wav: 409 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Rick Pitino leaves knowing that he gave it his best effort. (Courtesy: WBZ)
wav: 140 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Antoine Walker says Rick Pitino was discouraged with the defensive execution of the Celtics.
wav: 220 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Paul Pierce says that he has grown to love Rick Pitino as a coach and as a person.
wav: 140 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
ESPN.com's Andy Katz looks at where Rick Pitino can go from here.
wav: 315 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
ESPN's Dr. Jack Ramsay is proud to have another coach in the family, as his son-in-law, Jim O'Brien takes over in Boston.
wav: 413 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
ESPN's Dr. Jack Ramsay breaks down what went wrong in Boston for Rick Pitino.
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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