[5] In June 2017, the NCAA suspended Pitino for five games of the 2017–18 season for a perceived lack of oversight in an escort sex scandal at the University of Louisville involving recruits.

In September, Pitino was implicated in a federal investigation involving bribes to recruits, which resulted in Louisville firing him for cause.

At a listed height of 1.83 metres (6 feet 0 inches) tall,[1][8] he was a standout point guard[9][10] for the Minutemen basketball team.

He was also cited, along with the head coach, Bruce O'Neil, for providing misinformation to the NCAA and University of Hawaii officials.

[18] In 1978, Boston University athletic director John Simpson hired Pitino as head coach, funding the Terriers men's basketball team with $20,000 for recruiting players and fifteen full scholarships, the maximum allowed under NCAA rules and far more than prior head coach Roy Sigler was allotted.

Pitino used the full-court press for almost the entirety of each game, eventually leading the Terriers to their first NCAA tournament appearance in 24 years.

The Kentucky program was recovering from a major recruiting scandal brought on by former coach Eddie Sutton that left it on NCAA probation.

The following year, Pitino's Kentucky team made it back to the national title game, losing to Arizona in overtime in the finals of the 1997 NCAA tournament.

Pitino's fast-paced teams at Kentucky were favorites of the school's fans, implementing his signature style of full-court pressure defense.

After being beaten by the Toronto Raptors on March 1, 2000, on a buzzer-beater by Vince Carter, Pitino's frustration reached critical mass as he addressed the press.

Pitino's remarks became a cornerstone of Celtics lore, and has served as a metaphor for other sports franchises and their inability to relive past successes.

[28] Pitino himself reprised the speech in a tongue-in-cheek manner at Louisville in November 2005, challenging his freshmen players to play as tough as past seniors and drawing laughter from sportswriters in a postgame press conference.

They made the semifinals of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), where they were defeated by eventual champions University of South Carolina.

The Cardinals defeated Davidson, New Mexico, and top seed Michigan State to advance to the regional final against Florida and his former player and friend Billy Donovan.

The University of Louisville self-imposed a postseason ban for the 2015–16 season amid an ongoing NCAA investigation over an escort sex scandal involving recruits between 2010 and 2014.

[33][34] On September 26, 2017, federal prosecutors announced that the school was under investigation for an alleged "pay for play" involving recruits at Louisville.

[35] The criminal complaint did not name Louisville specifically but appeared to involve the recruitment of Brian Bowen, who committed on June 3, 2017, to the school.

[39][40] According to a letter interim president Greg Postel sent to Pitino, the information spelled out by prosecutors amounted to a "material breach" of his contract.

Under the terms of Pitino's contract, Louisville was required to give him 10 days' notice and "an opportunity to be heard" before firing him for cause.

[42] According to CBS Sports' Gary Parrish, school officials did not intend for Pitino to ever return to the sidelines again, and planned to cut ties with him as soon as they could legally do so.

[43] On October 2, the board of the University of Louisville Athletic Association voted to formally begin the process of firing Pitino for cause.

[46] On December 26, 2018, Panathinaikos announced Pitino as the head coach of the team until the end of the season, marking his debut in the EuroLeague.

[48] In the EuroLeague Regular Season, they managed to make a comeback after a 6–8 start, to finish in sixth place and reach the playoffs, after they registered ten wins in their last 16 games.

[50] On November 26, 2019, Pitino was rehired by Panathinaikos as the team's head coach on a two-year deal after the firing of Argyris Pedoulakis.

[51][52] He remained with the team until March 2020 when the 2019–20 EuroLeague season was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving Panathinaikos at sixth place.

On March 20, 2023, Pitino was named the head coach of St. John's, just a week after Mike Anderson was fired after four years.

On April 29, 2011, it was announced that Pitino would not coach the Puerto Rico national team, due to scheduling conflicts and NCAA regulations disallowing it.

Both were especially hard-hit by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, as Joanne's brother and Rick's closest friend, Billy Minardi, was working as a bond trader for Cantor Fitzgerald on the 105th floor of the north tower of the World Trade Center when it was struck by American Airlines Flight 11.

A detailed biography, it also delivers his version of events regarding the Adidas sneaker scandal and his subsequent ouster as the University of Louisville men's basketball coach.

[66] In 2005, Pitino's Louisville team posted a tie for the most single-season wins in school history (33)—since surpassed by the 35 total wins by the 2013 NCAA title-winning Cardinals team—while he is one of two men's coaches in NCAA history to lead three separate schools (Providence, Kentucky, and Louisville) to the Final Four.