section_path: Early years and education
section_name: Early years and education
paragraph_text: Early years and education
  
  Pitino was born in New York City, and was raised in Bayville, New York. He was the team captain of the St. Dominic High School basketball team in Oyster Bay, Long Island.
  
  Pitino enrolled at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1970. At a listed height of 1.83 metres (6 feet 0 inches) tall, he was a point guard for the Minutemen basketball team. Pitino held the tenth spot at UMass for career assists, with 329, until Chaz Williams (2011–2014) became the leader in career assists following his final season with the Minutemen. He led the team in assists as a junior and senior. The 168 assists as a senior is the eighth-best single season total ever there.
  
  Pitino was a freshman at the same time future NBA legend Julius Erving spent his junior (and final) year at UMass, although the two never played on the same team because freshmen were ineligible to play varsity basketball at the time. Other teammates of Pitino's include Al Skinner, who also went on to become a successful college coach, and baseball player Mike Flanagan, who went on to pitch in the major leagues and win the AL Cy Young Award in 1979. Pitino earned his degree from UMass in 1974.
  
  Pitino was born in New York City, and was raised in Bayville, New York. He was the team captain of the St. Dominic High School basketball team in Oyster Bay, Long Island.
  
  Pitino enrolled at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1970. At a listed height of 1.83 metres (6 feet 0 inches) tall, he was a point guard for the Minutemen basketball team. Pitino held the tenth spot at UMass for career assists, with 329, until Chaz Williams (2011–2014) became the leader in career assists following his final season with the Minutemen. He led the team in assists as a junior and senior. The 168 assists as a senior is the eighth-best single season total ever there.
  
  Pitino was a freshman at the same time future NBA legend Julius Erving spent his junior (and final) year at UMass, although the two never played on the same team because freshmen were ineligible to play varsity basketball at the time. Other teammates of Pitino's include Al Skinner, who also went on to become a successful college coach, and baseball player Mike Flanagan, who went on to pitch in the major leagues and win the AL Cy Young Award in 1979. Pitino earned his degree from UMass in 1974.