I don't doubt that he was thinking of getting out after the Morehead St. loss. It was fairly well accepted that he looked into the Arizona job in that time frame. They have had a good 4 year run (we own them, yes) - it's easy to forget the state of the UofL program as recently as early March 2012. At that point, he was a decade into the job, and the natives were very restless. The most common topic on Louisville sports radio was "how come Pitino can't win at UofL like he did at UK?" There was a real feeling that the results did not match the hype when hired or the expectations. 7 times in 10 years he had exited the NCAAT in the first weekend, etc. Sypher Saga happened during that - and so yes it's very easy to believe he wanted out. The last 4 years have really rehabbed his reputation - prior to that, he was largely forgotten on the national scene, and source of disappointment to many UofL fans.
either way, the Gottlieb comment is silly, and designed solely to get BBN to bite, as it does so well.....