But it wasn't in shambles. He took a program that hadn't been to a Final 4 in decades and turned it into a national powerhouse. Chris Mack stepped into a goldmine. Look at how he recruited from the jump. The program reverted back to the pre-Pitino, post-Denny Crum "peak" era because Mack turned out to be a bad hire (and had a scandal of his own) and Kenny Payne was as bad as you can be.
Pitino is not saint, to say the least. His transgressions are well-publicized. And yes I believe every head coach knows what is going on with their program. That includes Kevin Willard, when our current head coach was undertaking illegal recruiting activities to get players and got a Show Cause Order because of it.
Here is what I know -- if Pitino was coaching Seton Hall, you wouldn't have this view. Just like if ISIS agreed to contribute to our NIL tomorrow, they would be called "misunderstood" and analogized as Greenpeace or the Red Cross.