“I think the other coaches in the Big East will pay more than a passing glance when they pick up their paper and see who the new Providence coach is.”
Big East Commissioner Dave Gavitt was excited about the new face of his old program.
The new face was former-Knicks assistant Rick Pitino. After two seasons in the NBA, Pitino was ready to return to the college ranks where he had previously had success at Boston University.
In just his second year with the Friars, Pitino’s NBA experience would come in handy. Prior to the 1986-87 season, the NCAA adopted the three-point line as an experimental rule. It was a decision panned by many coaches, including Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim, who declared that watching teams shoot from deep was “boring.”
The three-point line had been a reality in the NBA since 1979, and the new Providence coach was much more comfortable with it than many of his colleagues. According to Miracles on the Hardwood by John…
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