COLLEGE HOOPS COACHING LEGEND RICK PITINO URGED CHRIS STAPLETON TO GIVE UP BASKETBALL FOR MUSIC?

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Rick Pitino is one of the most legendary college basketball coaches in history, so one would expect him to be able to recognize hoops talent - and those that don't quite have it. 

While Pitino was coaching the Kentucky Wildcats (1989-1997), he also held Rick Pitino Basketball Camp in Lexington, Kentucky - and one summer, one of the kids looking to soak up some hoops tips from the coaching legend was a kid named Chris Stapleton. 

So did Stapleton turn heads, alerting Pitino that there was a budding superstar in his camp? Maybe not so much. Yesterday Pitino posted a throwback pic on Twitter/X of a much younger, beardless Stapleton at his camp, with the caption “Chris Stapleton at Kentucky Wildcats basketball camp. Didn’t like the way he played defense. Told him to go into music instead. Don’t thank me Chris, it’s okay." While we doubt that's an actual exchange Pitino had with the teenaged Stapleton (we're guessing he's joking), it's fair to say that Chris abandoning his hoop dreams for dreams of country music stardom was the right call.

Source: WhiskeyRiff