I have a hard time listening to Pitino anymore and I feel like those that really enjoy his personality really only have experience with his blogs and his Twitter game. My biggest objection to the way he answers questions is he never has acknowledged how fortunate he is to still have this job. He's much like Glen Mason in that respect (only this respect) in that he feels like he's somehow entitled to keep the job regardless of his performance. There have plenty of times during his tenure where something like "Look, I know I haven't gotten you the results here, I know I would have been fired at most other jobs, and I am appreciative of getting another chance". Instead what we get is the constant "I don't want to make excuses but..."
Some things he's said on his coaches show before:
- Insinuated that Gaston Diedhiou would make a signifcant difference AS A FRESHMAN when he wasn't cleared to play early in his tenure. We believed him here and people were putting pressure on the AD to clear Gaston.
- When his 2nd year was falling apart and the Gophers were underachieving. He said that Seniors were "weird" in response to why some of his players had regressed.
- After a failed 2nd year would claim that he told the AD that the 3rd year would be bad. People, at the time, actually bought that an AD would be ok with a coach taking over a program that had been to 3 of the last 5 tournaments missing the tournament in his first 2 years and then following up with one of the worst seasons in program history in year 3...because of the previous coaches recruiting failures? Pitino would have had 3 recruiting classes to get ready for year 3, but clearly a disaster was just destiny.
- Suggested that it was important in the B1G to "get old" and "stay old" during the terrible year 3. This was after declaring that Seniors were "weird" and a reason for the underachievement in year 2.
- Called Lynch and Fitzgerald "future pros" while sitting out that terrible 3rd year. Frequently suggested Fitzgerald was the best player on the team. It's entirely possible that Fitzgerald's final knee injury robbed him of a ton of potential, but did he really go from best on the team to virtually unplayable? Possible, but not likely.
- Constantly brought up the facilities and in particular the lack of a practice facility for his first 3 years as a big reason for his recruiting struggles.
- Talked about "treating scholarships like gold". Since that time he used a scholarship on Stockman for 2 years, didn't move off Konate, Diedhiou, or Hurt, has only once filled all his scholarships, took chances on extremely low rated recruits Freeman and Greenlee late in the Spring, etc, etc.
- Takes no responsibility for year 5 and suggests it was going to be a great year. Doesn't acknowledge that they were underachieving prior to losing anyone (losses to Miami, Nebraska, and Arkansas). He lost to Indiana at home when he had everyone but Lynch. He lost to a 6-12 Northwestern team twice, he lost to a 4-14 Iowa team, and then a 3-15 Rutgers team. He had a returning 1st team All B1G point guard Nate Mason and a Junior Jordan Murphy all year. Wisconsin had Ethan Happ and their second best player was a freshman Brad Davison. They had walk-ons in their rotation due to guard injuries and were on a much lower tier than Minnesota to start the year. They still managed 7 B1G wins. This season, like season 2, was a clear underachievement in record no matter how you look at it.
- Has changed his tune on the practice facility and says that it doesn't really help at all with out of state kids and helps more with the in-state kids who were aware that "we" didn't have it and others did.
- Talks about how "young" they are this year, but never acknowledges his losing record the year before with 4 Seniors and a Junior Amir Coffey. Which is it coach? Losses on the road that year to Rutgers and a Nebraska team that was every bit as depleted as Pitino's year 5 team was.
- Doesn't acknowledge that the "youth" on this team doesn't contribute. His 4 freshman have done next to nothing except for Ihnen flashing some over the last few games. Illinois' 3 best players are a Sophomore, another Sophomore, and a Freshman. A number of teams ahead of him in the strandings have a Freshman or Freshmen contributing to their success.
-Talks about how tough it is to win on the road in the B1G, but never acknowledges how poor his HOME record is. If you want to be excused for your road record, you better not drop your home games. Gophers are just 5-4 in home conference games this year.
- Consistently mentions Amir Coffey leaving as an excuse for the poor performance this year. Ryan James had a fantastic article listing all the schools that lost a guy early after last year. Michigan lost two, Michigan State, Maryland, Purdue, Nebraska, Iowa off the top of my head. Rutgers lost there top scorer and rebounder to transfer.
-Brings up the Eric Curry injury as an excuse for the poor performance this year. Once again a list could be made of players that were lost to injury this year around the conference and you will see that well over half the conference has lost a player at least as impactful as Eric Curry if not significantly more so. There's no acknowledgment that this year's team has been remarkably healthy: No missed games for Marcus, Daniel, or Gabe.
These are just the things I remember off the top of my head. He consistently says things that fit the narrative of whatever he wants you (the listener) to believe at the time.