It wasn't Kentucky's tradition and national exposure that were too tough for Hawaii basketball assistant Scott Rigot to resist. Rigot can’t refuse
job at KentuckyBy Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comIt was the coach at the helm of the program. The chance to work with friend Tubby Smith was an opportunity Rigot couldn't refuse.
Rigot, 39, resigned yesterday to accept an assistant coaching position with the Wildcats. He fills the vacancy created by Mike Sutton's departure in April. Sutton left Kentucky in April to assume the head coaching job at Tennessee Tech.
"Tubby Smith is the reason why I made this move," Rigot said. "Because we love it here. We're extremely happy here. We have a lot of friends here. We love Hawaii. We love the people very much.
"Tubby was the deciding factor. Kentucky is a great school, but to me, who you work for is more important than where you work. I'm going to miss Riley. I'm going to miss the kids. I really care for the program and all the hard work we've done in the last three years. It's a difficult, difficult decision."
Rigot interviewed for the position in mid-June and was one of three finalists for the job.
His decision didn't surprise Hawaii coach Riley Wallace.
"We've had good coaches at that position," Wallace said. "Because it doesn't pay a lot, there's turnover there.
"He's been looking for a head coaching job, which you want your guys to do. He wants to be a head coach so he feels he can move better from the University of Kentucky than he can at the University of Hawaii because it's one of your top three or four teams in the country every year."
Rigot will be reunited with Smith, whom he coached with at South Carolina.
Rigot began coaching collegiately 15 years ago as an assistant with the Gamecocks. He and Smith were assistants on the South Carolina staff from 1986 to '89.
Rigot came to Hawaii in 1999 after a three-year stint as an assistant coach at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Rigot was an effective recruiter and his mark on the Rainbows will be seen for a few more years. He was instrumental in signing incoming recruits Dane Dmitrovic and junior transfer Jason Carter from Barton County (Kan.) Community College.
Wallace said that Rigot will be missed.
"More than anything, you lose a really nice person," Wallace said. "He's a good family man. His family really fit in well with our people. So you miss him first of all as a person.
"Secondly, he did a good job working with our players on the court and recruiting, as have all my coaches. They all have a job to do and he did his job and did it very well. He'll be difficult to replace, but we have (replaced) before and we'll do it again."
Turnover isn't uncommon. Wallace searched for assistants before Jeff Law (head coach at UH-Hilo) and Jamie Dixon (assistant at Pittsburgh) left.
"I've had tons of calls on it," Wallace said. "I'm going to be on the mainland most of July for recruiting. I will line up some interviews with people (after) the university advertises the position."
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