Former Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino killed more dreams than just those associated with college basketball fans who thought he was on the up and up.
Pitino, along with former Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich, reportedly blocked an attempt by the Charlotte Hornets to move to Louisville several years ago, per Joe Nocera, Eben Novy-Williams and Michael McDonald of Bloomberg.
Jurich and Pitino had other ideas. They had no intention of sharing an arena with an NBA team—they didn’t even want to share the city with an NBA team. Louisville was theirs. David Stern, who was then commissioner of the NBA, recalls thinking, “If Rick Pitino doesn’t want us there, why are we going there?” The Hornets went to New Orleans instead.
If you think about it, having an NBA team in Louisville would've been a great idea. The big Kentucky cities are already vibrant, with a great music scene and myriad sports teams for the community to enjoy.
Add any NBA team, and not only do you get even more fans going to games, but the city around the area gets a boost to its economy. The morale around Louisville would have an amazing momentum that would be hard to stop.
It's sad that Pitino and others had a hand in killing the dream on an NBA team in Louisville. But now that the coach is not associated with the program, maybe another NBA team can look into moving there.