Rick Pitino claims he is not interested in leaving Europe for college job

Rick Pitino’s name has been linked to virtually every prominent college basketball opening this offseason, but he’d have you believe he’s not interested in any of them.

Pitino’s Panathinaikos team is about to start the playoffs in Greece, and he said that takes priority right now — and no job or amount of money could change his mind.

“I’m enjoying being a pro coach. So far, we’ve had Las Vegas, we’ve had UCLA, we’ve had… It’s very difficult for me to be a college coach,” Pitino said, via EuroHoops. “All you have to do is look at the calendar timing-wise. I would have to leave to be a college coach and these guys are way too important to me, for me to leave at any point.

“There’s no amount of money, there’s no job, there’s nothing that would make me leave this team right now as we start the playoffs. So, if I was anybody in your shoes or elsewhere, I would not pay attention to any rumors because this basketball team is way too important to me to leave them at this time.”

It’s in the eye of the reader whether they find this believable or not. For what it’s worth, though, he has spoken about his preference to coach professionally, which is what he’s doing now.