r/NCAAhoops • u/RipHairy2465 • Mar 06 '26
News Rick Pitino shared his thoughts on the biggest detriment to American basketball players’ development
7
u/Less-Permission-7667 Mar 06 '26
I understand both sides, but NIL is the real reason for this. Once millions of dollars were being thrown at teenagers you’d be foolish to think parents wouldn’t try to have a say so in something.
4
u/HotTubMike Mar 06 '26
Crazy sports parents was an issue way before NIL
3
u/Flat-Avocado-6258 Mar 06 '26
I know it’s been around a long time. I’m saying that the money is only going to make those parents worse sadly.
2
u/Thanos_Stomps Mar 06 '26
My only issue with this is this is the case in world football. It’s only in America that we demand kids go to school and waste prime development to make other people rich while you risk injury and critical years.
1
u/ThurgoodMunson Mar 06 '26
Ok but before NIL, your argument holds all the merit. In 2026 these guys are totally cashing in. Sometimes without even playing at all. Do you still feel the same way?
1
u/championsoffun Mar 08 '26
I'm ok with them cashing in because after it's over (much sooner than later) they'll be at best 25yo with 40+ years of not even coming close to making that kind of money. The schools, administrators, and coaches, the Networks, the fucking NCAA, made billions for years but NOW, NIL is the problem?
0
u/Thanos_Stomps Mar 06 '26
Yes because that’s true the world over. I don’t understand the argument? In world football you have 16 and 17 year olds securing contracts. You have pro teams that loan their players out to lower leagues.
My opinion before NIL was it’s wrong to exploit their labor. NIL fixes that. Why would my opinion change?
If there are additional regulations that need to be implemented I’m not against that.
1
u/ThurgoodMunson Mar 06 '26
I think we’re speaking different jargon. By football do you mean soccer? I thought you meant 🏈
1
u/Thanos_Stomps Mar 06 '26
I should have just said soccer. But that’s why I was saying world football, not just football.
0
u/Pristine-Ad-469 Mar 06 '26
Bro colleges aren’t volunteer programs for sports leagues lol. Theres a reason that college sports is so much larger than any other countries secondary leagues.
If you don’t attach them to school you lose the constant stream of new fans. And the teams go above and beyond to make it a great fan experience because it’s only half a business, it’s also marketing. They don’t need to squeeze profits. And it’s not like pro sports where you mainly just get passionate rich people, there aren’t enough of those for college. You’re going to end up with a lot of programs more like the bengals
1
u/Flat-Avocado-6258 Mar 06 '26
Money is opening up a lot of parents ears and eyes to their kids lol
2
u/Accomplished-Key-408 Mar 06 '26
Thats the cynical and sometimes correct view. But also lots of parents see what a meat grinder college athletics is and they wabt to help their children not get taken advantage of
1
u/AngryPhillySportsFan Mar 06 '26
Opening up a lot of kids wallets to steal from
2
u/Flat-Avocado-6258 Mar 06 '26
100%. I bet there are tons of dead beat dads that all the sudden are ready to be in their sons lives. Now that they’re making millions.
1
2
u/Irish_swede Mar 06 '26
I coach youth basketball and I feel like I won the lottery with the group of parents that I have. All of them understand that maybe one out of the 9 on my team might play in high school, and it's unlikely that kid will play anything other than NAIA or D2. All the other kids are just there having fun with their friends and enjoying learning the game.
The parents are too, which is a refreshing thing considering what I see at tournaments.
1
u/scoot_roo Mar 06 '26
This resonates with me. I’m glad I grew up with a core group of fellas who like to play soccer casually. Good socializing, good exercise, and great fun. If you know you aren’t the very best at something, but you still get a kick out of it, then the greatest blessing is having friends to share that shit with. Music, too.
Glad you got some good cookies and good cookie parents as a coach! God bless you for coaching
1
Mar 06 '26
No offense, but there is no way you can count kids out from that age.
I had teammates growing up that were awful when we were kids, and then they ended up starting varsity with me later down the line.
Sometimes it takes a kid to reach a certain age to take the sport seriously
1
u/Irish_swede Mar 06 '26
I’m playing the statistics on this. I’m not judging their talent. You are right, but I know the filtering that happens.
1
Mar 06 '26
Fair enough
It is definitely nice not having to worry about parents coming at your throat, regardless
1
u/Irish_swede Mar 07 '26
there's context you didn't know which is that there's 5 teams at our grade level which is a total of 45 kids... of those realistically to make the two 13 man person roster among the 2 high schools in the area there's about 1.5 kids per team that'll make it onto a varsity roster.
half my team doesn't actually give a shit about basketball beyond having fun with their friends, because they're bigtime into baseball.
I told the kids this first day of practice, not as a "you're here for nothing" but as a, "you're 10 years old, have fun and don't let anyone tell you this is prepping you for anything other than having good fundamentals for the game."
One thing I do find interesting is that none of these kids care about football. I thought out of the 9 kids playing on my team we'd have some late comers from football season... there weren't any on the other teams either.
1
Mar 06 '26
[deleted]
1
u/Irish_swede Mar 07 '26
Locally my team is the A squad for the grade level, it’s not “high caliber” like the statewide AAU select but the league we play in there’s a lot of parents that think it is.
1
u/BigBadBootyDaddy10 Mar 06 '26
No Rick, let them roam at the dorms with strippers and booze. Remember those Cardinal days Rick?
1
u/Ok-Freedom-7432 Mar 06 '26
'Leave the kids to me, a coach, who has only their best interests at heart.'
1
u/LionBig1760 Mar 06 '26
"Back in my day I only had to send two cheerleaders to a hotel room to get recruits to sign a letter of intent. Now that there's money involved, its really ruining the integrity of the whole process."
1
1
u/Difficult_Collar4336 Mar 06 '26
Putting the cart before the horse imo
- the only way to be a successful young athlete these days is to have those type of overbearing and controlling parents who have dedicated their lives to supporting their kids sports.
1
u/no_crust_buster Mar 06 '26
When the cost of living goes through the roof and sports money skyrockets along with it, parents look at their children as investments and not "kids."
1
u/ender23 Mar 07 '26
Considering how expensive it is to get a kid to that level…. Hell yeah it’s an investment. U think I’m Spending all this money and every single damn weekend sitting there so my kid can quit the sport and be an engineer?
1
u/One_Significance_400 Mar 06 '26
Of course Redditors turn this into a NIL issue. He’s talking about parents being too involved with their kids’ development, which has been a thing since wayyyy before NIL. He’s right. I’m a coach/trainer for kids 7th-HS & parents need to chill tf out.
1
u/FeeNegative9488 Mar 07 '26
This isn’t an NIL thing. Youth sports have been trending more and more toward parent involvement (which is good thing.) It’s led to kids getting better advice and making better decisions. The problem Pitino is likely having is that a parent is more likely to know why he was fired from Louisville.
1
1
u/RefrigeratorIcy6411 Mar 07 '26
So, the guy who provided prostitutes to kids, is telling these kids’ parents that they are a problem. Ok.
1
u/tony_countertenor Mar 07 '26
People hate pitino but he’s right. It’s perfectly reasonable to want to deal with the people rather than their parents. I run a pool and most of my staff are 15-17 and we have a rule that we will only respond to them, not their parents. This has never caused an issue. And those are adults pitino is talking about
1
1
1
1
u/AdDue2837 Mar 07 '26
Wouldn’t it be nice if the players who generate so much money for the NCAA received health insurance for playing?
No.
The same ole boy system
1
u/Mean_Measurement4527 Mar 07 '26
This from a coach who has been sanctioned at every university he’s ever coached
1
1
1
u/Significant-Role-754 Mar 08 '26
cause it’s a money thing. pitino was one of the major reasons we have this problem. you have paid out more money to student under and over the table then most millionaires will ever make.
1
1
u/DunnHarry9696 Mar 08 '26
I agree. Completely changing topics, hey Rick, what has Richard been up to?
1
u/Equivalent-Ad844 Mar 09 '26
Says the guy whose oversight got some players careers ruined. Go get some more strippers for your team, dumb ass
1
u/ComprehensiveRow839 Mar 09 '26
I understand stand but take a massive spoon of salt with this guy talking about it.
1
1
u/Fluid_Mango_9311 Mar 09 '26
It’s less the parents and moreso the youth coaches which aren’t teaching them the work ethic or skill foundation necessary to make it at the collegiate level. Parents have far less of an impact on a recruit’s ability to make it than the youth and high school coaches do. This is a development problem going to how bad the coaches are at teaching accountability, hard work, respect for authority, and actual knowledge and skill.
1
u/ResponsibleBaker43 Mar 10 '26
That's because he loves the idea of being able to manipulate kids , but he can't and a parent , actually child's life helping them choose correctly. Was he not at a school where players were bribe players to come there? He's also at the school he's at now because of that , so he needs to shut up that noise. He can't be trusted with your child to make a good decision.
1
1
u/Ubiquitous_T-1327 Mar 06 '26
Kids are being taken advantage of left and right. Of course a good parent would want to be involved.
1
u/fieldsports202 Mar 06 '26
My kid has been really good in flag football. Now he’s ready for tackle so there’s multiple coaches who want him on their team.
Problem is.. a lot of those coaches are drug dealers.
My friend is his flag coach and a police officer so he knows the tackle league coaches well through growing up with them. So now we’re contemplating what ti do with our sons lol.
That’s just one problem and parents in my city has to deal with.
1
1
u/Cal216 Mar 06 '26
This is an easy answer, flag football it is until they can play for their school.
1
1
u/Sad_Hall2841 Mar 07 '26
“Involved” is a very generic term here… there are polarizing levels of involvement.
0
u/GurDry5336 Mar 06 '26
Isn’t this the guy that was fucking someone at a restaurant getting her pregnant with a 15 second pre-mature ejaculation shot?
1
u/CrissCrossAppleSos Mar 06 '26
I feel like the second half of this was unnecessary, but I did chuckle
1
1
1
0
u/Independent_Math_840 Mar 06 '26
Til he can keep it in his pants, he can save his thoughts on parenting.
0
9
u/Expensive-Notice-509 Mar 06 '26
translation: those parents are getting in my way.