Pitino Offers Louisville Job to Good Friend Ralph Willard

Rick Pitino has confirmed via Twitter that he has offered the vacant Louisville assistant position to his good friend Ralph Willard. Willard is currently the head coach at Holy Cross, but has served as an assistant to Pitino at Kentucky in the past.

Jeff Goodman at FoxSports.com feels that it is a bad move. Here are his thoughts:

I understand Louisville coach Rick Pitino needs someone he can trust these days, but hiring his good friend and Holy Cross head coach Ralph Willard makes no sense.

Pitino confirmed via Twitter that he has indeed offered Willard the job - one that opened when Pitino's son, Richard, left for Florida.

Pitino is a proven coach who has won a national title and has been to multiple Final Fours.

With the addition of John Calipari down the road in Lexington, Pitino needs recruiters - not veteran coaches who are in the tail end of their careers and can't get players.

If I were Pitino, I'd hire either the best young coach out there - or hire someone who can get me players.

Plain and simple.

Pitino doesn't need an X's and O's guy who he can bounce things off. Not at this point in his career.

Willard isn't going to go out there and get any players. That would fall squarely on Steve Masiello and Walter McCarty.

Why not add a third big-time recruiter to the mix? Because that's the only way Pitino is going to be able to compete with his new rival: Calipari.