When Fujio Matsuda hears about the Final Four these days, the name of Louisville coach Rick Pitino invariably stirs long-ago memories.

“I say to myself, ‘I remember him,’ ” Matsuda, a former University of Hawaii president, notes with a chuckle. “Or, ‘I knew that guy back when.’ ”

Thirty-five years ago this month, a then-23-year-old Pitino shared headlines of a different kind here by being named in an NCAA report on infractions involving the UH men’s basketball program.

In “Case No. 560 — University of Hawaii,” the NCAA Committee on Infractions cited Pitino for involvement in eight of the 68 violations assessed against UH, including arranging free flights for players, handing out coupons for free meals and filing an “erroneous” statement about involvement in the violations. They are allegations Pitino has denied.

They made Pitino a figure in the most turbulent chapter in UH athletics and are undoubtedly why, though his name is still remembered here, there has been scant reciprocity on his part. It is a period he is loathe to acknowledge, much less embrace.

As Pitino heads to his fifth Final Four, mentions of his first college coaching job are few and brief. His 28-paragraph biography on the Louisville website devotes one sentence to the two-year stay in Manoa. His listed coaching record does not show the 2-4 mark he had as interim coach at the end of the ‘Bows’ 1975-’76 season, following Bruce O’Neil’s departure. There is no mention of lessons learned.

The NCAA sentenced UH’s basketball team to two years of probation, and it was ordered to sever ties with 10 individuals, including Pitino. Some sought — and won — reinstatement, but not Pitino.

For UH, the impact was debilitating and long lasting. The 9-18 finish UH stumbled to in the wake of the scandal was the ‘Bows’ first losing season in six years. It would be five more years before they achieved another winning one and 12 years before they returned to the postseason.

By then, Pitino was on his second head coaching job and had already taken the first of a record three schools (Providence) to the Final Four. Not that many who followed his career here were surprised by the coach who, legend had it, had vowed to become a head coach by age 25.

“He was a young kid, then, very bright, as I recall,” Matsuda said. “Kind of brash.”

Presumptuous and ambitious enough, in fact, to ask for the UH head coaching job while O’Neil’s chair was still warm and the NCAA investigation was under way.

“He wanted that job,” Matsuda said. “He would have taken it had it been offered, scandal or not. That’s the impression he gave me, that he really wanted the job. He had a lot of guts.”

Matsuda, new to the job when the scandal broke, said, “I told him we had a process going, so let the process run through. I was not going to step in to make an appointment or even make a recommendation because I didn’t know enough about the program.”

Pitino was not a finalist for the job that eventually went to Larry Little and landed as an assistant at Syracuse.

These days, Matsuda notes with amusement, “(Pitino) could have been ours.”

You figure it was best for all concerned that he wasn’t.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com for 529-4820.