Culture

Rick Pitino Will Not Regret His New Back Tattoo

Tattoos can often symbolize bad decision making, but the Louisville basketball coach got his new ink because his team won the national championship.

By Esther Zuckerman
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Tattoos can often symbolize bad decision making—cough, cough, Wino Forever—but we're pretty sure Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino doesn't feel too bad about the circumstances that led to his inking. With the Cardinals having won the national championship early this month, the usually covered up and rather dapper Pitino has made good on a bet with his players, and has gotten a tattoo.

Louisville's Kenny Klein tweeted out a picture of the artistry:

Over at ESPN, Darren Rovell  has the story of how the tat came to be. Pitino said he told his players that "they have to stop with all these tattoos," but they challenged back with a bargain: they win the championship, he gets the tattoo. The owner of a tattoo shop in town, after hearing of the deal, offered to do the ink work for Pitino.

Reactions to the tattoo have been mixed. Tom Ley at Deadspin called it a "perfectly fine tattoo." Grantland's Rembert Browne tweeted: "Get Pitino on the next cover of Inked, on a motorcycle, shirtless, while Hayden Panettiere sits sidecar." Of course, there were some who found the shot of Pitino's bare skin, well, a little gross:

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.