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Louisville coach Rick Pitino hasn't let all his personal problems get in the way of his usual slimy recruiting techniques. Yesterday it was announced that he had hired a new "personal assistant". It is Shabaka Lands, a former assistant coach at Indianapolis Pike High School, and former AAU coach.
Pitino probably didn't need another "personal assistant", but Lands is closely connected with and is a former coach for one of Pitino's top recruiting targets Marquis Teague who is a junior at Pike High School this season. Marquis Teague is rated as the #1 point guard in the national class of 2011.
Package deals like this are not uncommon, but Pitino has perhaps done this more of this than any coach. There are already numerous "assistants" working under Pitino and his other assistant coaches. Here is an article in the Louisville Courier-Journal that labels it as an obvious package deal designed to get Teague.-
Lands' hiring: new package, familiar deal-
And here is a Rivals/Yahoo writer who goes farther, labelling it slimy-
Rick Pitino's recruiting tactics slightly slimy, very common-
Incidentially, since Shabaka Lands was hired as a "personal assistant" and not as an assistant coach, the NCAA has no say in such a case. They only limit how many assistants a team can hire, and what duties they can have.
Also, here is The Sporting news Mike DeCourcy's thoughts on this (see section 2)-
The timing is horrendous, but lately it seems Pitino has made horrendous public relations part of his everyday routine. Imagine that as the title for his next business book: Do Whatever The Heck You Want: Going Through Life And Work With Utter Disregard For How Things Look.
There was no urgency to him hiring Shabaka Lands to work at Louisville. It's not like the Cardinals are understaffed. There are assistants to assistants' assistants. And any college decision Teague makes will not lead to matriculation until autumn 2011.
This could have waited. It should have waited.
Pitino probably didn't need another "personal assistant", but Lands is closely connected with and is a former coach for one of Pitino's top recruiting targets Marquis Teague who is a junior at Pike High School this season. Marquis Teague is rated as the #1 point guard in the national class of 2011.
Package deals like this are not uncommon, but Pitino has perhaps done this more of this than any coach. There are already numerous "assistants" working under Pitino and his other assistant coaches. Here is an article in the Louisville Courier-Journal that labels it as an obvious package deal designed to get Teague.-
Lands' hiring: new package, familiar deal-
And here is a Rivals/Yahoo writer who goes farther, labelling it slimy-
Rick Pitino's recruiting tactics slightly slimy, very common-
Incidentially, since Shabaka Lands was hired as a "personal assistant" and not as an assistant coach, the NCAA has no say in such a case. They only limit how many assistants a team can hire, and what duties they can have.
Also, here is The Sporting news Mike DeCourcy's thoughts on this (see section 2)-
The timing is horrendous, but lately it seems Pitino has made horrendous public relations part of his everyday routine. Imagine that as the title for his next business book: Do Whatever The Heck You Want: Going Through Life And Work With Utter Disregard For How Things Look.
There was no urgency to him hiring Shabaka Lands to work at Louisville. It's not like the Cardinals are understaffed. There are assistants to assistants' assistants. And any college decision Teague makes will not lead to matriculation until autumn 2011.
This could have waited. It should have waited.
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