ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, April 1, 1996 TAG: 9604020020
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
TONIGHT'S GAME for the national title isn't all Rick Pitino and Jim Boeheim have in common.
Not far from where they addressed the media Sunday on the eve of the NCAA championship game, Jim Boeheim and Rick Pitino had a meeting 20 years that neither will forget soon.
Boeheim, then 32, had just been appointed men's basketball coach at Syracuse and had prevailed upon a friend to get him a phone number for Pitino, then a 23-year-old graduate assistant at Hawaii.
It turned out that Pitino was in New York at the time, where he had checked into the Americana Hotel with his bride, Joanne, at the start of their honeymoon. As far as Boeheim was concerned, the honeymoon could wait.
``I had really two priorities,'' said Boeheim, a former Syracuse player and assistant under Roy Danforth. ``One was to sign [center] Roosevelt Bouie and the other was to get Rick signed as an assistant coach.
``He had to go on his honeymoon, which I didn't want to have happen if he was coming to work for me. I guess today maybe I wouldn't do such a thing. But, I was young and a little bit more fired up back then.''
The problem wasn't getting Pitino to take the job, which was a big step up, but Boeheim wanted his new assistant to get on the road and try to land Louis Orr - who joined Bouie as the prizes in Boeheim's first recruiting class.
``He put in a phone call around 5 or 6 o'clock in the evening and I literally had just carried my bride across the threshold [and] put her on the bed,'' Pitino said. ``She's an Irish-Catholic girl, so this is a very big moment for me.
``And, the phone rang. And, I heard this whining voice at the other end. He said, `This is Jim Boeheim.' And, I said, `Jim, congratulations on getting your job.' He said, `I'd like to talk to you.'''
Pitino was willing to talk in the morning, but Boeheim was in too much of a hurry. And, he had more than a conversation in mind. After 2 1/2 hours, he offered Pitino the job and practically demanded an answer.
``I just wanted to think about it - think about it in terms of inches of snow and so on,'' Pitino said. ``He would not let me leave until I committed to taking the job.
``I kept calling my wife every half hour, telling her I'd be up. The best part about the story is, I started out [negotiating] at $14,000. Because I kept calling my wife, he thought I was trying to up the ante and I finished at $17,500.''
So, Pitino got his raise. Boeheim got his assistant. The only loser was Joanne Pitino, who not only didn't have a honeymoon, but had a husband who was out of town and not home.
Boeheim, then single, had a bachelor ``pad'' at the time. He was going on the road, so he offered his room to Pitino's wife.
``She went to live with his three roommates - an honest-handicapper sort named Brad Benjamin, another guy named Gary who was a bartender and the other guy who was a coach who was the worst derelict of the three,'' Pitino said.
Pitino was at Syracuse for two years before becoming, at 25, the nation's youngest head coach when he took over the program at Boston University. However, he and Boeheim have remained close through the years.
They have more in common than it would appear on the surface. Pitino cuts a dashing figure in his designer suits and styled dark locks, while Boeheim is losing a battle with his hairline and prefers the first tee to the corporate board room.
``I did most of the talking in recruiting,'' said Pitino, now in his seventh year at Kentucky. ``I used to get very upset with him because he would slump over and almost fall asleep. I'd give out - depending on the number of people - six No-Doz tablets. He is a boring, boring guy.''
Pitino was joking, but that's the image most people had of Boeheim until this week, when he showed a different side in a news conferences associated with the Final Four. Some stand-up comics don't get as many laughs.
``He's extremely funny,'' Pitino said. ``And, if you go to a party with him - it's going to sound strange to hear this - but he's the life of the party. He has a great personality, great wit, great charm.''
Pitino and Boeheim and their families have vacationed together and their friendship is as least as deeply rooted as Pitino's relationship with Massachusetts coach John Calipari, whom he faced Saturday night in the semifinals.
``Somebody is going to be a national champion,'' Pitino said. ``We want to win it badly. But if, God forbid, we lose it, a small part of me will be happy for the other guy.
``If I had to pick one coach that I had to lose to, it would be Jim Boeheim.''
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim (left) and Kentucky coachby CNBRick Pitino have been friends for 20 years.