Just a month after saying he wasn't about to leave Kentucky, Rick Pitino is thinking about leaving the national champions - to be coach, general manager and part-owner of the New Jersey Nets.
Pitino said at a news conference Friday that he is considering an offer from the Nets following conversations the last few days between his agent, Rick Avare, and the NBA team.Jim Lampariello, executive vice president of operations for the Nets, said team president Michael Rowe "has been brought into the negotiations and discussions are going on."
Pitino, who last month turned down a five-year, $20 million offer to coach the Nets, said he was addressing the subject because of a report in New York Daily News on Friday.
"This is not a coaching change," the 43-year-old said. "This is a career move. I've been here seven years, six years longer than many of you thought."
Pitino said he will discuss the offer with Nets' officials before leaving on a week-long trip to Ireland that begins Sunday. He said he would not announce his decision until after he returns.
"Do I want at my age right now to take on this challenge and try to make that a model of excellence at the next level?" said Pitino, a New York native who coached the Knicks from 1987-89. "That's something I've got to decide. You're going to hear a lot of high figures, but money will not come into the equation."
Last month, Pitino said "there would be no way I'd leave Kentucky."
"I have no interest in any situation right now," he said at the time. "It wouldn't matter what opened up. I would not leave Kentucky at this point in my life."
Before arriving at Kentucky in 1989, Pitino had developed the reputation as a coach who jumped from one job to another. He has often said that he regretted leaving Providence just weeks after signing a new contract to go to the Knicks.
And at Kentucky every spring there has been the ritual of NBA teams asking for his services. He came close to leaving a couple years ago when the Los Angeles Lakers came knocking.
"I don't want to make a mistake in my life by leaving a place I love," Pitino said of the current offer. "I have tremendous friends here at Kentucky, as close a group of friends as any place I've been. I'm not looking to go back home."
While Pitino called the Nets' latest offer intriguing, he said, "I've got to temper my excitement because I love this place dearly."
He called Kentucky the best job in basketball, college or pro.
"Don't speculate about new coaches (at Kentucky)," he said. "Don't throw me out the door yet because there will be plenty of time for you to do that when it happens."
Pitino has a 184-45 record in seven seasons at Kentucky. He has taken five Kentucky teams to the NCAA tournament, guiding the Wildcats to one national championship, two Final Fours, two final eight finishes and one round of 16.
"With the magnitude of the offer from the New Jersey Nets, we realize it is something he has to consider," Kentucky athletics director C.M. Newton said. "We appreciate the job he's done in leading the University of Kentucky back to a national title and we hope his decision is to remain as the head basketball coach of the Wildcats' program."
Pitino said a formal offer has been made by the Nets, but he did not disclose the terms.
"It's more important that I have the ability to put the whole show together, top to bottom," he said. "That program has to be rebuilt from top to bottom."
Pitino said that he was impressed with the recent restructuring of the Nets under Henry Taub, who was named chairman of the team's board of directors.