“In a spiritual sense, ego is edging God out” – Rick Pitino explains the dangerous mindset that can stop athletes from reaching greatness

Reaching the top of any profession requires a combination of talent, hard work and a whole lot of confidence. Whether it is basketball, business, or pretty much anything else in life, believing in yourself is often the best first step toward accomplishing something that others might consider impossible at first.

And if there is anyone who has the credentials to talk about what separates good from great, at least in the basketball realm, Rick Pitino is definitely high on that list.

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He knows very well that both players and coaches have to believe in themselves, sometimes even when nobody else does. But there is also a fine line between believing you are good enough and starting to believe you already know everything there is to know.

And according to Pitino, that is exactly where ego can become one of the biggest obstacles standing between someone and greatness.

“Ego stops greatness. I call it edging greatness out,” Pitino explained. “In a spiritual sense, ego is edging God out. But ego is edging greatness out.”

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Pitino has seen both sides of the basketball world

Although his bread and butter has always been college basketball, where he has spent decades building winning programs, Pitino also got a taste of the highest level, coaching both the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics in the NBA. He went 90-74 during his two seasons as the Knicks’ head coach, including a 52-win campaign in 1988-89.

College ball was a whole different story, and it was where Rick really made a name for himself. He won a national championship with Kentucky in 1996 and Louisville in 2013, reached multiple Final Fours and became the first coach to take three different schools to that stage.

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Through all those years, numerous future NBA players and Hall of Famers in the making passed through his hands, both figuratively and literally. So, when Pitino talks about what can prevent talented people from reaching another level, he has more than enough experience to back those…


Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/spiritual-sense-ego-edging-god-174500080.html

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Publish date : 2026-09-21 17:45:00

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