Celtics assistant coach Walter McCarty is not hiding his interest in the Boston College coaching vacancy.
McCarty, a University of Kentucky product who played 7 1/2 of his 11 NBA seasons in Boston, joined the Celtics this season after serving as an assistant to Rick Pitino at Louisville for three years (2007-10) and then working one year as a Pacers assistant under Jim O’Brien in 2010-11.
“I’m very interested,” McCarty told the Boston Herald’s Steve Bulpett. “I want to be highly considered. I love the city. I have great ties in the city. I have a great foundation here, especially with recruiting.
“If you look at Louisville’s 2013 national championship team, four of those five starters were my guys. So I’m very confident in my ability to coach and lead a program. I think that I’m ready.”
Added McCarty: “This city loves basketball, and that’s a great university. I think the people in the area and the students can be re-engaged with the basketball program. There’s a good fan base. It just needs to be revived and be resurrected with the right person in place who can re-engage the community, who can engage the fan base and bring them back together.
“And it also has to be a person who can bring players to campus who will be a part of not just the program, but the community. I think if you bring the right type of players here and put a good product on the floor, you can do that.”