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Coaching Legends Of The Big East Hit Tampa

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Syracuse's Jim Boeheim is one of a number of coaching luminaries to visit Tampa this month.

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By BRETT McMURPHY

bmcmurphy@tampatrib.com

Published: January 10, 2009

Updated: 01/10/2009 02:25 am

For a magical six-day stretch that began Jan. 2, three college basketball coaching legends brought their teams to Tampa for games against the University of South Florida: Syracuse men's coach Jim Boeheim, Connecticut women's coach Geno Auriemma and Louisville men's coach Rick Pitino.

Boeheim and Auriemma already have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, and it's only a matter of time for Pitino. Combined, their college coaching numbers are obscene: 1,988 victories, 17 Final Fours and seven national championships.

Before they left sunny Tampa and headed back north, we managed to squeeze in a few questions about a variety of subjects. You know, important stuff, like who's on their ultimate dinner guest list, their wardrobe and, of course, with the Super Bowl coming to Tampa, we had to get their Super Bowl picks.

Syracuse's Jim Boeheim, 64

33rd season; 785-279, three Final Fours,

one national title

Most memorable win? "Anytime you win a national championship 2003 against Kansas that has to be it. It's a great feeling, a great accomplishment."

Toughest loss? "There's been a few of those. In 1987, when we lost on the last shot by Indiana's Keith Smart in the NCAA final, that was very painful."

Biggest coaching influence? "I take stuff from high school practices, I watch college teams, from professional coaches, it's not just one thing."

Describe Auriemma and Pitino: "Geno, he has two tough games a year, and he has four of the five best players in America on his team. No wonder he's successful. Rick, I had him as a 22-, 23-year-old kid as a graduate assistant at Syracuse. He's a great basketball mind and a tremendous coach."

Favorite Tampa spot? "Innisbrook"

Biggest misconception of you? "I've been around a while. I think perceptions have changed. People accept I'm here to stay. I've been here a long time. Your critics die or go away."

Super Bowl pick? "The Giants over Pittsburgh."

In favor of a college football playoff? "Yes. It's obvious this year is a perfect example one is needed. They can't figure out the money," which is why there isn't one.

If you could have dinner with any three people, alive or dead? "Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill and Dwight D. Eisenhower."

How many suits do you own? "About four, and I wear only one."

UConn's Geno Auriemma, 54

24th season; 672-122, nine Final Fours,

five national titles

Most memorable win? "Most people would think the first national championship in 1995, that's probably accurate, but the win that put us in the Final Four for the first time in 1991 60-57 against Clemson when no one knew who we were."

Toughest loss? "At Gampel Pavilion in 1990, Kerry Bascom missed a 3 at the buzzer, it kept us from going to the NCAA regionals for the first time ever."

Biggest coaching influence? "I try to dress like Pitino and be a little more happy than Boeheim. The first one is hard; second one not too hard."

Describe Pitino and Boeheim: "Pitino is IBM. He's a walking corporation. Marketing, sales, he's got it all done. Jim? Jim is the neighborhood hardware store. He's been there for 50 years. Everyone knows who he is. He knows everybody. And when you come in, you try to get him down a couple dollars and he's 'Nah, I'm not sure.'"

Favorite Tampa spot? "Playing Old Memorial and eating at Bern's. To me, that is a great day."

Biggest misconception of you? "The average person has no idea about my relationships with the people that I care about, my players, coaches, other coaches in the profession. The only people that have a reason to hate me know me. The ones that don't are misguided."

Super Bowl pick? "Eagles over who cares. I hope the other team forfeits."

In favor of a college football playoff? "Yes."

If you could have dinner with any three people, alive or dead? "I have dinner with my mother all my time, so I'd go with Walt Frazier, Bruce Springsteen and Abraham Lincoln."

How many suits do you own? "A lot fewer than Pitino and a lot more nicer ones than Boeheim."

Louisville's Rick Pitino, 56

23rd season; 531-194, five Final Fours,

one national title

Most memorable win: "It's a tie: the 1996 national championship with Kentucky against Syracuse and coming back from 31 points down with 15 minutes to go at LSU on Fat Tuesday in a 99-95 victory in 1994."

Toughest loss: "The Duke game in the 1992 region final, when Christian Laettner hit that shot in Duke's 104-103 victory against UK."

Biggest coaching influence? "Hubie Brown and Jim Boeheim."

Describe Boeheim and Auriemma: "Behind closed doors, Jim is a very intense guy in a much different way. He's a very humble man and doesn't take himself too seriously. Geno's been at UConn a long time, and since he turned the corner there, he has dominated the sport. No one has been able to do that in the men's game since John Wooden."

Favorite Tampa spot? "No question: Old Memorial."

Biggest misconception about you? "I'm 56 years old. At this stage of my life I don't think that I'm significant enough to be concerned with that."

Super Bowl pick? "Tom Coughlin and the Giants over Pittsburgh."

In favor of a college football playoff? "It's the greatest sham they don't have one. College basketball is light years ahead of them in that aspect."

If you could have dinner with any three people, alive or dead? "Jesus, Martin Luther King and Vince Lombardi."

How many suits do you own: "I guess I've got too many, because I don't know."

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