SI pegs Richard Pitino as dad's successor

The same day I asked Rick Pitino about how long he plans to continue coaching, Sports Illustrated continued its summer series on successors for the top coaches in college basketball.

The magazine has run through Syracuse's Jim Boeheim, Kansas coach Bill Self, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and several other high-profile hoops coaches, and each list of hypothetical replacements possesses a bunch of intriguing names. The group of names mentioned as potential successors of Pitino was just as interesting.

These are all hypothetical, "some day" speculations, and though they're interesting, Pitino's contract runs through 2022 and the 61-year-old coach looks as vigorous and energetic as ever as the 2014-15 season approaches.

So the speculative situation here might not even become reality for another decade.

The first, and most obvious, name was Richard Pitino, Rick's 31-year-old son who has been a head coach for two seasons and is already considered one of the top young coaches in the game. His dad called Richard's one season at FIU "truly amazing" after the younger Pitino took a program in a dire situation and won 18 games.

That success after one year landed Richard at Minnesota, where he guided his first team to the 2014 NIT title.

"Richard just had two great years," Rick Pitino said Wednesday. "He had a great year at Minnesota last year, but what he did at FIU blows away what he did at Minnesota because he was playing walk-ons, he had no program and he was a basket away from the NCAA tournament in his first year. What he did at FIU is truly amazing. He's off to a great start."

The connection there is a regular topic of discussion here in Louisville. Richard was an assistant for Rick at U of L and the chance for the Hall of Fame father to pass his legacy to his up-and-coming son would be awfully appetizing for the Pitinos -- with the caveat that Richard may already be at a big-time program whenever his dad steps down.

A few other rather obvious names popped up, too: Former Louisville/Pitino assistant Mick Cronin, who has done a fantastic job at Cincinnati but would probably leave for the right opportunity.

If Rick Pitino has a say in his successor, and there's not convincing evidence that that'll necessarily be the case at this point, I would be shocked if the search went beyond Richard Pitino and Cronin. That said, who knows how former Pitino/Louisville assistants like Steve Masiello, Kevin Keatts, Kevin Willard or even Frank Vogel will be doing by the time Pitino steps down.

The reason I wonder about Pitino's say in the matter is the power of Louisville AD Tom Jurich, who is known to have a very shortlist of successors for just about every coach he has in the athletics department. The shortlist isn't a fire-under-his-current-coaches thing, but rather a down-the-road-if-anything-happens-we-have-to-be-prepared list.

The rumblings here in Louisville are that VCU's Shaka Smart is at or near the top of that list. Who knows how legitimate those rumblings are -- sources close to the football coaching in January were certain there were seven coaches on Jurich's list to replace Charlie Strong, but to me, I don't know if I buy that the search ever truly went further than Bobby Petrino.

And Smart's where the SI speculation goes, too. After Smart, SI also lists Xavier's Chris Mack, Dayton's Archie Miller and former Florida Gulf Coast-turned-USC coach Andy Enfield. I'd imagine a bunch of other hot-shot young coaches will emerge between now and the actual time to hunt for a Pitino replacement. Who knows how current U of L assistants Mike Balado, Kenny Johnson and Wyking Jones will be doing by then?

It's fun to speculate, but I hope you have a good place to save articles like this. It might be a long while before Pitino hangs 'em up. Besides, Marlins season tickets aren't all that appealing.