Rick Pitino gets brutally honest on potentially leaving college to coach the Knicks

Coach Tom Thibodeau led the New York Knicks back to relevance and playoff contention. Unfortunately, that didn’t lead to a trip back to the biggest stage: The NBA Finals.

That’s why, even after all he did for the organization, the team chose to part ways after their heartbreaking elimination to the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals.

With that in mind, St. John’s coach and college basketball legend Rick Pitino took some time to show some solidarity for coach Thibodeau, but also to make his thoughts on potentially coaching the Knicks loud and clear.

Rick Pitino feels bad for Tom Thibodeau, won’t coach the Knicks next year

“I feel bad for Thibs because he captured all of New York and built something very, very special,” Pitino said before claiming that he would ‘absolutely not’ take the Knicks’ coaching job. “A lot of us don’t comprehend what happened, but Thibs is going to be well taken care of and move on to other passages.”

Tom Thibodeau

It had been years since Pitino had been linked to any NBA coaching opening, and this might all but shut the door on any potential return to the pros in the foreseeable future.

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While that’s obviously great news for St. John’s, it might leave the Knicks scrambling to find a suitable replacement for Thibodeau, assuming they were even interested in Pitino in the first place.