Dueling Pitinos to Square Off in College Hoops Next Season

Rick Pitino has been a successful college basketball coach for a very long time, leading three different schools to the Final Four and winning a national title at both Kentucky and Louisville.

Next year, Rick will have the unique opportunity to coach against his own son in the NCAA season opener in Puerto Rico. The elder Pitino will be afforded the chance to educate his progeny on the finer points of being a coaching legend and really good at what he does.

The younger Pitino goes by the name of Richard and is in his first season at the University of Minnesota. He previously spent one season as head coach at Florida International University, where he replaced the utterly incompetent Isiah Thomas.

This will actually be the second time these two have hooked up on the court in an official capacity, as Louisville defeated FIU last season 79-55.

Here's another fun fact: Richard Pitino secured his first head-coaching gig when he was 29 years of age at FIU. While this may seem incredibly young, the elder Pitino became head coach at Boston University when he was 26 years old.

That is weird, wild stuff.

A father and son coaching against each other at this level must make for a fascinating family dynamic. We're certainly not privy to the inner workings of the Pitino clan, but father-and-son relationships can be complicated enough, even without the intense pressure that must surely accompany this level of professional accomplishment. It's one thing for a boy and his old man to shoot some hoops in the driveway, but this is something else entirely.

In the end, I suspect the teacher will school the student yet again next season in Puerto Rico.

One can almost hear Cat’s in the Cradle playing faintly in the distance.