Rick Pitino Says Florida International Is Good Fit for Son Richard's Coaching Debut MIAMI - A decade ago, Rick Pitino tried to dissuade his son Richard from following him into the coaching profession. That didn't work. Pitino, who has led six teams to the Final Four, including last season at Louisville, said he had reservations last spring about Richard taking the head coaching job at Florida International University, which had fired Isiah Thomas. That advice went unheeded as well. On Sunday, Richard Pitino, 30, will travel to his native city to make his head coaching debut at Boston College. "You try to make it about your team and not yourself," he said. But it does feel different running a team for the first time, even in practice. This is something special for me. Among active head coaches, he is the third youngest in Division I, and takes over a program that has had 12 straight losing seasons. Thomas, the former Knicks coach and executive, was dismissed with two years left on his contract and a 26-65 record. F.I.U. went 8-21 last season - 2-9 at home - and its five starters are gone. The leading returning scorer averaged 4 points. Some wonder whether Richard Pitino would have received this opportunity this quickly had it not been for his father, but Jay Bilas, for one, believes F.I.U. made the right move. "His knowledge of the game is considerable - you can't ignore that," Bilas, an ESPN analyst, said. It's on a higher plane than almost anyone I've known at his age. Rick Pitino said he tried to keep all five of his children from going into coaching because of the long hours and the toll life on the road can take on a family. "All of them wanted to go into coaching at one point, and I was able to talk them out of it, except for Richard," Rick Pitino said. I told Richard to go into Wall Street, but he was the only one who was very quiet and didn't say anything. When Rick Pitino saw the passion his son had for coaching, he became convinced. In 2005, Richard Pitino was hired as an assistant coach at Northeastern and followed that with similar positions at Duquesne, Florida and two stints at Louisville, including one last season. "He wasn't going to tell me to take it or not to take it," Richard Pitino said. I told him what I liked about, what I didn't like about it. But in the end, it was me and my wife's decision. "My only concern was: "Why haven't they won in so many years?" " Rick Pitino, who owns a home in Miami, had the same question. After his son was hired, Pitino visited F.I.U. for the first time and became convinced that his son had made the right choice. "I started at Boston University, an urban school, and I envisioned F.I.U. being located in downtown Miami," said Pitino, who led the Terriers to their first N.C.A.A. tournament in 24 years. But it's in the suburbs with a huge student body, and I was taken aback by how nice the place was. Pitino is determined to help his son in any capacity. For starters, he scheduled a home game against F.I.U. on Dec. 19, a matchup that will give Richard's team national exposure. In two years - as long as both Pitinos are still in place - Louisville will visit F.I.U."s 5,000-seat arena, which figures to be one of the biggest sporting events the university has hosted. In addition, Richard Pitino hired an assistant coach, Mark Lieberman, who had been a part of his father's staff, and also signed a Louisville transfer in Rakeem Buckles, a 6-foot-7 forward and Miami native who will be eligible next season. All those things should help, but there is no denying that F.I.U. - which will move from the Sun Belt to Conference USA next season - has a long way to go before it can become an N.C.A.A. tournament-type program. Richard Pitino said the facilities had been upgraded and said new dorms were on the way for next year. But fan apathy is epic, given that the university of 50,000 students averaged just 1,071 in attendance for its 11 home games last season. Bilas said Richard Pitino would be "extraordinarily successful," but warned observers to temper their expectations. "You can be extremely successful at F.I.U. and still win only 55 to 60 percent of your games," Bilas said. You have to build the program from the bottom up. Fan support will come as a result of success - it won't be a help in the process. Rick Pitino is biased, of course, but he believes Richard will build a winner. "I'm positive Richard will turn around the basketball part," Pitino said. When I took over at Boston, we were averaging 400 people a game. You don't get great jobs at a young age unless there is a lot to do.