Pitino Looking Elsewhere?

Mitch Lawrence from the New York Daily News reports that Rick Pitino is going out of his way to throw his name in the hat for the New Jersey Nets head coaching job.

It's reported while Pitino was at the funeral of Dick Mcquire, he spoke with some New Jersey Nets officials about taking on the overhauling of the Nets program next year. The job is now held by GM and interim coach Kiki Vandeweghe, who is more than expected to be gone at seasons end with the Nets on pace to set all time NBA records in losses. Would Pitino be a good fit for the Nets? Do the Nets even want Pitino?

Rod Thorne (Nets team president)is denying that the conversation never happened. It appears all of the interest has been pretty lopsided, leaning toward Pitino trying to get his name on the short list the Nets had already drawn up. That list has never had Pitino's name on it, and it seems like it never will. The Net's seem to be leaning toward Jeff Van Gundy to take over in 2011.

Whats next for Pitino? Has he grown weary of The Ville in his 9 years? This has been his longest tenured at any program college or pro. Will he continue to seek out other jobs or will he continue with business as usual at Louisville? Lot's of questions are now to be answered. Louisville fans and media won't let this issue go to rest, or at least they shouldn't. It's one thing for your name to be mentioned by a team. But when a coach goes looking on his own, that's where things can get a bit sketchy. Is Rick just looking for a change? Is the Sypher scandal getting to be too much for him living in the city where it all went down? Is Calipari's success at Kentucky rubbing him the wrong way or is a combination of everything?

Maybe Pitino should check his ego at the door being that he could have lost his job this past summer when all the facts came out about his affair. Instead he got the support of Louisville AD Tom Jurich, his players and all the Louisville fans. Not to say he would have been a bum on the streets if he lost his gig here. He would have been coaching again by 2011 after a year off. but does the support of everyone in Louisville especially his boss and his players mean nothing? Stay Tuned to find out...