John Clay's Sidelines

Ralph Willard

Update: It’s official.

Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports is reporting that Ralph Willard has decided to resign as head coach at Holy Cross and join Rick Pitino at Louisville.

This development would throw water on rumors that Pitino would be interested in the opening at Southern Cal, now that Tim Floyd has resigned.

After all, why would Willard agree to come to Louisville if Pitino was on his way to Los Angeles?

It’s also a good hire. Willard is a terrific basketball coach, who was Rick’s assistant at UK before becoming head coach at Western Kentucky, then Pittsburgh and Holy Cross.

This is probably the best news Pitino has received in quite some time.

Big Blue Links for Tuesday:

• In his notes column, the H-L’s Mark Story says Landon Slone should be allowed to play right away.
• Bruce Simpson, a Lexington attorney, writes an open letter to Mark.
• Cory McCartney of SportsIllustrated.com writes on how Rich Brooks ended the basketball monopoly at Kentucky. (Hat tip to Tom Leach.)
• Tom Leach writes that decision time looms for Jodie Meeks.
• Rick Bozich of the Courier-Journal reports that ex-UK assistant Ralph Willard is still mulling Rick Pitino’s offer at Louisville.
• Fox Sports’ Jeff Goodman writes that Memphis’ Doneal Mack also had his test score thrown out by Florida.

Continue reading ‘BBL: How Rich Brooks turned around UK football’