Was Pitino ready for a Big 10 Job when he was hired, in your opinion?
Not even close, in my opinion. He's still young by Big Ten head coach standards right now, and he's already been on the job 5 years. Age isn't important in and of itself, but it is important insofar as that you have to have adequate time to build up the appropriate level of experience. He had one year of HC experience when hired - that's not enough if you don't have a long tenure as an assistant. At the Division I level, he had 7 years as an assistant and one as a HC - again, not even close to enough, in my opinion. Compare him to the Big Ten coaches hired since he started here:
Brad Underwood - 11 years HC (including 1 in the Power 5, and 7 at community colleges), 18 years assistant
Archie Miller - 6 years HC, 8 years assistant
Chris Holtmann - 6 years HC (3 in the Power 5), 13 years assistant
Chris Collins - 0 years HC, 15 years assistant
Steve Pikiell - 12 years HC, 13 years assistant
Greg Gard - 0 years HC, 25 years assistant
All were vastly more experienced than Pitino - some have been coaching almost as long as Pitino has been alive. The only one who even comes close is Collins, and even he had almost twice as many coaching years under his belt as did Pitino. I don't think it's a coincidence that he's not exactly setting the world on fire either - though, to be fair, he's doing far better against historical program standards than Pitino.
If we were looking to hire Pitino, right now, and he had spent the last 5 years at FIU or another mid-major job, he would fit the profile. We've paid the price for his inexperience over the last 5 years. You don't get treated with kid gloves at a major conference job because you're young and inexperienced - sorry. That's why they pay you a seven-figure salary.
