by Holly Freeland

Created on: April 05, 2007   Last Updated: May 02, 2007

Rick Pitino would have to be near if not at the very top of the list of the best men's college basketball coaches. He's shown he's a winner at every school he has coached, while keeping each program as clean as can be, and in some cases elevating them back to elite status.

His energy at Providence was clear as a young, up and coming coach. He took a group of players who would have been a good team and made them a great team. He took them all the way to the final four, and he'll never be forgotten there for doing that.

At the University of Kentucky, he took a program that was at the bottom of a barrel, marred by controversy and NCAA infractions and took them back to the top. He's often said it was a mistake for him to ever have left Kentucky, and it makes you wonder if he hadn't, what an incredible legacy he'd have there now. UK fans would surely be talking about hanging banners 10 & 11 by now.

Now at Louisville, he has proven he still has the fire to get the job done. If it hadn't been for a few of his top notch recruits heading straight to the NBA, his stats at UL would be even better. I also personally believe that had it not been for the horrible loss of his brother in law in the 9/11 attacks, we would all see a completely different coach today. I see him at about 80% since that happened, and we all know what a Rick Pitino at 100% can do.

He's taken 3 different schools to a final four, so that shows not only that he can recruit wherever he goes, but he can also WIN wherever he goes. Even the winningest coaches can usually only say they've been successful at one school, maybe two at the best. His assistant coaches also move onto their own head coaching jobs- most notably Billy Donovan, Tubby Smith & Ralph Willard. This shows his ability to lead not only his players, but be amazing influences on his assistants as well.

Rick rises above all from this standpoint and it makes him one of the best coaches in the game today.

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