Rick Pitino Visits a Texas Tech Red Raider Basketball Practice
Former Louisville and Kentucky head coach Rick Pitino was an observer at Wednesday's Red Raider Basketball practice.
Pitino's visit to Lubbock comes less than a month after he finalized a settlement of litigation related to his 2017 departure from the Louisville Cardinals.
The 67 year-old Pitino won NCAA championships at both at Kentucky and Louisville, and reached a total of seven Final Fours. However, his last title with Louisville in 2013 was vacated as a result of a scandal that eventually saw him fired from the Cardinals in 2017.
Pitino took to Twitter, to make his observations about the Red Raiders practice. He said that, "Chris Beard is a great teacher of fundamentals." Pitino also observed that "practice is fun", and he said that if he was a player he 'would love to play at Texas Tech.'
Might Pitino be a guest on a future fireside chat with Coach Beard? During the offseason, Beard has welcomed Jim Rome and Seth Greenberg as guests on his fireside chat videos which have proven popular on social media.
Last season, Texas Tech Red Raider Basketball had their best season in school history, losing to Virginia 85-77 in overtime in the National Championship game. The Red Raiders open the 2019-2020 season with a charity exhibition, Saturday, October 12 at UTEP. The exhibition game will be played at the Don Haskins Center with an 8pm CDT / 7pm MDT tip-off.