PITTSBURGH — So it's all about push-ups with NBA icon Pat Riley?
Push-ups.
Really?
"I'm 77 years old and, right now, I can do more push-ups than you can do right now," Riley said Monday when asked if he planned on retiring any time soon as president of the Miami Heat. "You wanna to the mat, let's go."
Clearly, Riley didn't appreciate the question and made it clear he isn't going anywhere. His Heat had just been eliminated a few days earlier by the Boston Celtics in seven games in the Eastern Conference finals. The last thing he wanted to discuss was his future plans.
Understandable, right?
Riley has done everything and more in an NBA career that has spanned six decades as a player, assistant coach, coach and front-office executive. He won five NBA titles as a coach, including four with Magic Johnson's "Showtime" Lakers. He won two more championships as the Heat's president. He was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.
An icon, to be sure.
Riley had to be wondering how anyone could question his work or his credentials despite his, ah, advanced age.
"I feel an obligation to finish this build," Riley said. "We got a great, great player in Jimmy Butler. We put together a team that got to the Eastern Conference finals and it was bitter. It was a bitter loss. The dragon hasn't left my body yet from that loss."
I'm not exactly sure what that last part means, but I'm guessing it says that Riley is hyper-competitive.
That has to be among the reasons Riley has no plans to retire despite his, ah, advanced age. He's no different than any player or any sports figure. He lives to compete. He lives for the power that goes with his job. He lives for the spotlight. And, yes, he lives for the money.
The same thing is true for other older coaches such as Nick Saban (70), Jim Boeheim (77), Bill Belichick (70), Pete Carroll (70), Gregg Popovich (73) and manager Tony LaRussa (77). It is true for former head coach Romeo Crennel, who retired from the NFL on Monday — I'm thinking reluctantly — a few days before his 75th birthday.
But there's another reason older coaches and executives have a hard time walking away from their sport after dedicating their adult life to it. It's probably the biggest reason.
Bobby Bowden once said it best:
"There's only one big event left in life after retirement."
That would be death.
The fear of dying is very powerful.
Joe Paterno felt it as much as anyone. He always preached to his players and to anyone who would listen that there is so much more to life than football, but he was a hypocrite when it came to himself. He was a brilliant man, a learned man who loved to read and loved to travel. But he couldn't pull himself away from coaching. He just couldn't do it.
One day, years and years ago, when Paterno actually was accessible and we had a private conversation in his office at Penn State, he brought up Bear Bryant without solicitation. Bryant retired after coaching his final game at Alabama, a 21-15 win against Illinois in the Liberty Bowl on Dec. 29, 1982. He died on Jan. 26, 1983, after a massive heart attack.
Chillingly, Bryant, who was a heavy smoker and heavy drinker and had many long-term health issues, predicted he would "croak in a week" after retiring. He was 69 when he died.
Paterno knew that story. I'm convinced that's why he hung on as Penn State's coach way too long, until he was almost 85. He probably would have tried to coach a few more years if not for the Jerry Sandusky scandal. He died of lung cancer on Jan. 22, 2012, two-and-a-half months after he was fired by the Penn State administration.
Do you think Riley knows the Bryant story?
I would bet on it.
