Reports: Louisville Coaching Candidate Richard Pitino to Stay at New Mexico

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - As quickly as he became a candidate for the Louisville men's basketball program's vacant head coaching job, Richard Pitino is reportedly no longer an option.

The New Mexico head coach will remain with the Lobos and is "no longer in the mix at Louisville," according to Forbes Sports' Adam Zagoria. Less than 24 hours ago, Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde reported that Pitino "had conversations with Louisville about its vacant coaching position."

After Louisville parted ways with head coach Kenny Payne earlier this month, Baylor head coach Scott Drew and FAU head coach Dusty May were quickly established as Louisville’s top two targets. However, Drew announced last week that he would be staying with the Bears, then Mayspurned Louisville at the 11th hour for the Michigan job this past Saturday.

In the immediate wake of May saying no this past Saturday, a bevy of candidates for the job began to float around. Seton Hall's Shaheen Holloway, College of Charleston's Pat Kelsey and South Florida's Amir Abdur-Rahim were reported as UofL's next targets to pursue, and Indiana State's Josh Schertz had also emerged as a target of interest.

Pitino is coming off of his third season with New Mexico, guiding the Lobos to a 26-10 record while winning the Mountain West Conference Tournament before ultimately falling to Clemson in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. Pitino is 61-41 overall at UNM, and is 141-123 in 12 years as a head coach, which includes an eight-year run at Minnesota and one year at Florida International.

Of course, Pitino is also the son of former Louisville head coach Rick Pitino, who was in charge of the Cardinals from 2001 to 2017. Richard also served as an assistant coach at UofL under Rick from 2007 to 2009, and was the associate head coach during Louisville's 2011-12 Final Four season after a two-year stint as an assistant at Florida under Billy Donovan.

Louisville officially fired Kenny Payne on Mar. 13, one day removed from their season-ending loss to NC State in the ACC Tournament. Payne's tenure at Louisville was nothing short of an abject disaster, going 12-52 record in his two years at his alma mater. This includes 5-35 in regular season ACC games, 1-28 in road/neutral site games and 0-19 in Quad 1 NET games. 

(Photo of Richard Pitino: Orlando Ramirez - USA TODAY Sports)

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