Rick Pitino walked into the Garden last night and took his place in front of visitor’s bench, just as he did when he was the coach at Providence or when he was the face of the Celtics.
Across the way, Norm Roberts stood vigil in front of the home team’s bench. Pitino knows that spot well, too. For two seasons, the New York City native lived the dream of dreams, coaching the Knicks in the World’s Most Famous Arena.
“I still have an apartment in New York City,” Pitino said at his weekly press conference on Monday. “My wife and I live there part-time. Even when I left the Knicks, we lived in Westchester during the summertimes for over 15 years. I never gave up my Knicks season tickets and I never gave up my home. It’s not like I am returning. I live there part-time.”
You know the old saying, “You can take the boy out of the city, but you can never take the city out of the boy.”
Pitino’s latest coaching stint has him in Louisville, where last year he took the Cardinals to the Final Four, and they could go back again this season.
Last night was his first game back in the Garden as a Big East coach since his Providence days, when he had an overachieving guard named Billy Donovan.
Pitino, 53, certainly has come a long way from St. Dominic High School on Long Island – from UMass, where he was the epitome of the scrappy guard; from Boston University, where he was the new-age coach; from Providence College, where he restored the glory with an improbable Final Four appearance; from the Knicks; from Kentucky, where he won a national championship; from the Celtics to Louisville.
The Cards (13-3 overall, 1-2 in the Big East), have yet to beat a highly-ranked team and have yet to look like the tenacious Louisville team of last season. St. John’s (8-6, 1-2) is fresh off a win at South Florida that snapped the team’s 25-game road losing streak.
Roberts knows what he’s up against and he knows what his team is up against. He spoke with respect about Pitino, a far cry from the barely harnessed contempt with which he jabbed at Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun on Monday.
“He paid his dues,” said Roberts. “He worked his way all the way up. How could you not respect that? He’s earned everything he’s got.”
Pitino seemingly has it all – a beautiful family, a national championship at Kentucky, thoroughbreds and Knicks tickets. But he’s known his share of heartbreak and disappointment.
In 1987 he and his wife, Joanne, lost their 6-month-old son, Daniel, to congestive heart failure. He lost his brother-in-law and dear friend, Billy Minardi, in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. He never succeeded in the NBA.
But as a college coach, Pitino has had few equals. He uses his New York roots and connections to lure talent to Louisville. Forward Francisco Garcia went in the first round of last year’s NBA Draft. Swingman Juan Palacios is on this team. Guard Edgar Sosa is signed for next year.
“When you heard Coach Pitino was coming for a visit,” said St. John’s guard Eugene Lawrence, “it was like an event.”
So it was at the Garden last night.
lenn.robbins@nypost.com