Rick Pitino calls out ‘football calendar’ after Lane Kiffin controversy: ‘What’s going on here?’

St. John’s men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino called out the football calendar after a high-profile coach made a lane change.

In the wake of Lane Kiffin announcing Sunday that he was leaving Ole Miss ahead of the College Football Playoff to take over at LSU, Pitino took to social media to comment.

“I’m not knocking football, but there’s something wrong with their calendar,” the Naismith Hall of Fame coach posted. “I’m at SJU and we are potentially a one seed and can win a National Championship this year, and I leave in March??? What’s going on here?”

Pitino, the only coach to lead six different schools to the NCAA Tournament and the only coach to win titles at two different schools, has a point.

On the other hand, nothing is new here and this has been going on forever.

In basketball, the NCAA Tournament runs in March and April and ends during the spring semester.

When coaches and players leave, they can be at their new school for the start of a new school year in the fall. Last March, Will Wade famously did not hide the fact that he would be departing McNeese State for N.C. State after the Big Dance.

In rare cases, a basketball coach will leave before or during an NCAA Tournament run. Jai Lucas left Jon Scheyer’s staff at Duke before the NCAA Tournament last spring to take over as the head coach at Miami, but he was an assistant at Duke.

In college football, the College Football Playoff begins in December but ends in January when the spring semester has already begun, complicating the process.

Kiffin openly said he wanted to remain at 11-1 Ole Miss to coach the Rebels in the CFP, but Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter would not allow it.

“My request to do so was denied by Keith Carter despite the team also asking him to allow me to keep coaching them so they could better maintain their high level. of performance,” Kiffin wrote in his official statement.

In an interview with ESPN’s Marty Smith, Kiffin added: “I hope they play really well and go win the national championship.”

LSU presumably wants Kiffin to get to work immediately building his staff (potentially with some current Ole Miss coaches) and roster (potentially including some current Ole Miss players), and thus would not want him coaching the Rebels potentially through the CFP Championship Game on Jan. 19.

In contrast, Florida will allow new coach Jon Sumrall to coach his current school, Tulane, through the end of their season, including a College Football Playoff run if the program wins Saturday against North Texas, per 247Sports.com.

Ironically, Kiffin is leaving one school that already has a chance to win the national championship this year for a chance to become the fourth different coach to lead LSU to a title since 2003.

The Ole Miss fans clearly weren’t happy, and let him know as he boarded a plane out of town.

As for Pitino, he is bidding to cement his legacy as the greatest active current head coach by trying to win an NCAA championship with a third different school.

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