Charles Barkley praises Rick Pitino as 'one of the greatest coaches'
Iona head coach Rick Pitino against the Marist in the MAAC Conference championship game on Saturday. Credit: Matt Rourke
Charles Barkley considers Rick Pitino “one of the greatest coaches ever.”
Beyond that, he is not interested in hearing from pundits who point out that Pitino’s resume also includes personal and professional baggage.
“I’m a big Pitino fan,” Barkley said Monday on a Warner Bros. Discovery / CBS video news conference to promote coverage of the NCAA Tournament. “I don’t ever want to be one of these [expletive] on television who [criticize him]. I’m not here for moral authority. I don’t believe in doing that. That’s not our job to try to play the moral authority. I’ve always said that.
“Rick Pitino is a hell of a coach. I love the way he coaches . . . Rick Pitino is going to be great wherever he goes, period.”
Barkley and fellow analysts Jay Wright and Clark Kellogg were responding to a question from Newsday about the job Pitino, 70, has done at Iona and whether he might be able to return St. John’s to national relevance if he lands there.
Iona has made the NCAAs twice and the NIT once in three seasons under Pitino, who is believed to be a candidate to succeed Mike Anderson at St. John’s.
The Gaels will face Connecticut in the first round Friday.
Barkley and Wright both praised Anderson, Wright saying that he hated playing against Anderson’s St. John’s teams when Wright was at Villanova.
But without getting into specifics about the St. John’s challenge, the analysts all suggested that Pitino would be up to that or any other coaching task.
“I do think Rick Pitino is one of the best coaches of our lifetime,” Wright said. “He coached in the NBA. He coached at different colleges. He coached over in Greece and won a championship.
“Then he came back and coached at Iona, and he’s won championships wherever you put him. He’s going to be successful.
“His coaching mentality is suited for this NIL/transfer portal era. He has a really young mind in that sense, because he can use his professional experience, his international experience.
“It’s basically, ‘Give me a group of guys each year. I don’t care if I have them for one year or two years. Give me a group of guys. I will coach them up and find a way to make them a successful team.’ I think he can do that as well as anybody.”
Said Kellogg: “You’re talking about Rick Pitino. I mean, come on. He’s one of my favorite guys to actually go watch work. There are a lot of them out there that I enjoy, but he’s unique.
“He has the vast breadth of his experience, the success he’s had, I mean, that just is a no-brainer. The guy is phenomenal as a coach. He’s fun to talk basketball with when you’re a broadcaster and even a player.”
Alabama controversy
Barkley, who played at Auburn, said he believes that unlike in football, Alabama fans will root for Auburn and vice versa with both teams in Birmingham this week.
But Barkley still struggles with Alabama as the No. 1 overall seed, even if he does agree with it.
“I still think they have the best team; it’s painful for me to say that,” he said. “I want you to know that’s really painful.”
Barkley said it will be a big advantage for Alabama star Brandon Miller to play in friendly territory, given the controversy surrounding him and the program.
Miller reportedly delivered the gun to former teammate Darius Miles, whose friend, Michael Lynn Davis, allegedly used it to shoot and kill Jamea Jonae Harris in Tuscaloosa in January. Officials have said Miller will not face charges in the case.
“Some of these fans can be really, really mean-spirited, especially some of these kids,” Barkley said. “They are going to really notice a difference when they go on the road, because fans are going to say stuff.”
Barkley said he thought Alabama should have suspended Miller initially.
“I don’t know how long,” Barkley said. “I think they should have just given him a timeout, like, ‘Yo, man, what you did was wrong.’
“I don’t think they should have kicked him off the team. I thought they should have said, ‘Hey, sit out a couple games. Have a timeout to know what you did was wrong.’ To do nothing, I thought, was wrong. Somebody died, which changed the whole dynamic of the conversation.”
Barkley added: “He’s a great player — great player. But, man, this young lady lost her life. She was a mother.”
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
