The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) will honor University of Louisville head coach Rick Pitino with the NABC Metropolitan Award for long and outstanding service to men’s college basketball. Pitino will receive the award at the annual AT&T NABC Guardians of the Game Awards Show on Sunday, April 5, at 6 p.m. at the Murat Theatre at Old National Centre in Indianapolis.

The Metropolitan Award has a long and storied history, which began in New York City. The Metropolitan Basketball Association presented its first Metropolitan Award in 1941 to legendary City College of New York coach Nat Holman and followed that a year later with Ned Irish, who first brought college basketball to Madison Square Garden.

Over eight decades, most of the most famous names in men’s college basketball have been honored with the award, including Adolph Rupp, Clair Bee, Henry Iba and Dave Gavitt.

Pitino, like the award, was born in New York and has earned his place as one of the most outstanding coaches in men’s college basketball.

Having just completed his 30th season as a college coach just one game away from reaching the NCAA Final Four for the eighth time, Pitino was the first college coach to win NCAA championships with two different programs (Kentucky-1995-96 and Louisville-2012-13) and the first to take three different schools to the Final Four. His Providence College team reached the Final Four in 1986-87.

Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013, Pitino’s overall won-lost record is 722-254 (74%). In the last 14 seasons at Louisville, Pitino’s Cardinals have reached the NCAA tournament 12 times, moving on to the Final Four three times and the Elite Eight six times.

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