Speaking in the Carrier Dome on Thursday afternoon, Louisville head coach Rick Pitino discussed the circumstances surrounding Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim.

A week earlier, Boeheim responded to the NCAA report with an hour-long press conference in which he announced his decision to appeal the sanctions dropped on him by the NCAA and explained his decision to retire in three years.

“I certainly don’t need to defend him because he did it quite well himself,” Pitino said at Louisville’s press conference Thursday afternoon.

The Louisville head coach, who was the first assistant coach Boeheim hired at SU in 1976, said that college coaches are part of the NCAA and should refer to the NCAA as such. He also offered suggestions for the governing body’s investigation process.“We’ve got a lot of money from March Madness,” Pitino said. “Hire more people and get the job done in a shorter period of time.

“Outside of that, Syracuse knows how to handle it. They don’t need me to defend them.”

One question earlier, the Cardinals’ 14-year head coach discussed SU’s announcement that Boeheim’s storied coaching tenure now has an end date.

“I don’t believe the three years one bit,” Pitino said. “He’s too cheap to retire in three years. No, I’m only kidding.

“I think Jim is going through a tough time right now and I think — one thing I can tell you about tough times is tough people get through them very well and he will get through it.”

Pitino compared Boeheim’s continuity with one school to that of Mike Krzyzewski at Duke and Lou Carnesecca, who coached St. John’s for 24 years through the Big East’s birth.

“You can’t imagine those programs without that one person at the helm,” Pitino said. “But every great thing does come to an end.”

The UofL head coach also reflected briefly on his two years as Boeheim’s assistant head coach from 1976-78. Despite jokes about the weather, Pitino spoke about the “great memories” he has from Syracuse, where Pitino met many friends he still has today and where his first son was born. He added that he’ll be eating dinner Thursday night with Boeheim and his wife, Juli.

And before ending his response to a question about Boeheim’s retirement, Pitino voiced his support for the 39-year SU head coach regarding the violations the NCAA report condemned him for.

“I do know this, that he’s a man of great integrity,” Pitino said. “I worked with him. There’s not an ounce in him that would ever break the rules knowingly. So I know him very well, no different than (North Carolina head coach) Roy Williams. These are guys with great integrity. And sometimes you just — in today’s culture, anything can happen.”

Published on March 26, 2015 at 4:59 pm

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb