"Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. " John Milton, Paradise Lost.Ralph Willard turned that quote on its head in every way. The head coach of the Holy Cross Crusaders has apparently decided that he would rather give up his successful reign as head coach of his alma mater to return to being an assistant to Rick Pitino at Louisville.
While there is no word on Willard's Web site yet, Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv is reporting that Willard has decided to accept Pitino's offer to be his assistant coach. It is doubtful that Willard will take much of a paycut. It is more likely that he will get more money from Louisville to be Pitino's assistant.
Willard and Pitino are old friends and Willard has been Pitino's assistant at Kentucky and with the New York Knicks. His son Kevin Willard was also a Pitino assistant at Louisville for several years before being hired as the head coach of Iona.
When the news first broke that Pitino had offered the job to Willard broke, Pitino explained that it was no big deal.
"Yes, I have offered the position to Ralph," Pitino said in a statement released by Louisville. "I've also offered the last four openings we've had at Louisville to Ralph because he's always my number one choice. I do it every time and it's nothing new. I fully expect him to turn me down for the fifth straight time."Apparently five times is a charm.
The speculation from the side of why Pitino would pursue his old friend so diligently, is that he needs his friends as the messy trial for extortion looms.
On the other side, Willard has fought prostate cancer in 2005 and had heart issues in 2008. So, perhaps he wanted to re-evaluate his career. It does seem odd, though. Being an assistant and recruiting for Rick Pitino at Louisville does not seem like a less stressful job than being head coach of the top teams in the Patriot League.
