Burke is glad to go a long way for buddy Pitino

[bullwark]

What Rick Pitino wanted Bill Burke to do was travel from Boston to Cleveland for a look at a high school basketball player they were recruiting at Boston University.

They had one scholarship to give and two players to consider. Pitino wanted Burke, his top assistant at BU, to get to Cleveland and make the final call.

"What time is my flight?" Burke asked.

"Flight?" said Pitino, whose recruiting budget was on empty. "You're driving. There's no money for a hotel. And make sure you're back for practice at 3 the next day."

Sure.

So Burke jumped in his car early one morning, drove like Jeff Gordon to Cleveland, scouted the kid, got back in the car, drove to Pittsburgh, slept on a friend's couch, got up and drove to Boston University -- in time for a 3 p.m. practice.

"Made it with a few minutes to spare," Burke said. "I believe it was 12 hours each way."

Investment guru

Burke left coaching a few years later. He convinced a brokerage firm that a former basketball coach with a psychology degree was a perfect match to deal with institutional investors. Burke made enough money in two decades on Wall Street that money is no longer a worry in his life.

Get this: At 54, Bill Burke does not have to work. But he wants to work -- and work around-the-clock at the University of Louisville for the guy who made him make the Boston-Cleveland drive for a player who was not worth the scholarship.

"After 9-11, Rick and I drank a little wine and had some great talks," Burke said. "Rick convinced me I was too young to retire and relationships were so important in life.

"You have a chance to work with a friend, do something you love and be around people you like, you take it."

Anybody who questions the loyalty, passion and energy that Rick Pitino stirs inside his friends better talk with Bill Burke. After three seasons as U of L's director of basketball operations, Burke has replaced Vince Taylor and his predecessor, Scotty Davenport, as Pitino's administrative assistant.

He'll make the schedule, book travel, coordinate camps and a million other jobs. Burke doesn't need the job. Burke wants the job.

Pitino and Burke trace their friendship to the melting pot of East Coast basketball, Howard Garfinkel's legendary Five-Star camp in Honesdale, Pa.

Big money

"I offered him $11,900 to come to BU," Pitino said. "I closed the deal by throwing in $1,100 in camp money."

Burke stayed three seasons and took the head job at Loyola (Md.). He quit Loyola when the school balked on a plan to improve facilities.

He went to Wall Street, selling himself as the perfect fit for a trading desk. The first administrators that interviewed him listened politely and asked him to leave.

Said Burke, "They shook their heads and said, 'You're a coach. We don't need any coaches.' "

Oh, yes they did. Burke finally found somebody willing to give him a chance. Before he was finished, Pitino was watching him on CNBC several times a month as a market analyst. He did things like convincing institutional investors to wait two hours before buying a million shares of IBM because he believed the price would drop.

"He was strong," Pitino said. "He understands people. He's very analytical. He's been through everything you can imagine. He'll be a great calming influence for our program."

And Burke won't have to drive from Boston to Cleveland and be at practice the next day anymore. I hope.

[bulls96go]

great story

think you will hear this kind of stuff about billy boy at UF...me thinks not!