US college coach guiding Puerto Rico’s Olympic bid

Rick Pitino, basketball coach at the University of Louisville, has agreed to coach Puerto Rico’s national team as it tries to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics.

The Puerto Ricans finished sixth in the 2004 Olympics and became the first team in Olympic history to defeat a United States squad of NBA players, but the Caribbean island squad failed to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Puerto Rico must reach the finals of next year’s FIBA Tournament of the Americas to earn a trip to the London Olympics.

Pitino, the only coach to guide three teams into the US college national tournament’s Final Four, knows how difficult the challenge will be.

“It’s a tall order and that’s why I’m taking it,” Pitino said.

“If they were already in (the Olympics), I wouldn’t do it. Their backs are to the wall.

“It will be a great challenge.”

Pitino, who has no international coaching experience, met with Dallas Mavericks guard J.J. Berea and Miami Heat guard Carlos Arroyo on Sunday in Miami and walked away excited about the passion of the Puerto Rican NBA stars.

“These guys, playing for the national team is the biggest thing in the country,” Pitino said.

“They are very, very passionate about it and that was a major factor for me.”

Pitino follows in the footsteps of other American coaches to guide global squads, including long-time NBA assistant Del Harris coaching China’s eighth-place team in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.