To a lot of people, the fact Mike Rice is a new assistant basketball coach at Pitt doesn't mean much. To a lot of people, he's just another young coach working his way up the ladder, another guy who will be here a couple of years and move on.

But Mike Rice at Pitt is more than that -- lots more.

Mike Rice and Pitt, at least to a certain segment of the population, don't go together. To understand the full enormity of Mike Rice working at the University of Pittsburgh, let alone being a member of the basketball coaching staff, you need a little history.

Rice is the son of Mike Rice, a former player and coach at Duquesne. The elder Rice was a good player in his day, which was the early 1960s. It was a time when the Dukes were still in their glory and the dominant basketball program in town.

He was a talented player. If he played today, he'd be a shooting guard or a small forward. He could slash from the wing. He wasn't necessarily a star, but no one was surprised when he scored 20 or 25 points in a certain game. He twice went over 30 in his career.

But despite his ability, he was better known for other things. To call him a scrapper would be an understatement. He was as ferocious a competitor as you might see. He was the kind of player you loved if he was on your team and hated if he was on the other.

Mike Rice would do anything to win, and the word "anything" is not used lightly.

On-the-court brawls were not uncommon for Rice, and, if memory serves, he lost a couple of teeth in one.

In those days, the Pitt-Duquesne rivalry was the fiercest in town, and, needless to say, it brought out the best -- or worst -- in Rice. There is nothing he liked more than to beat Pitt.

It was the same when he became the Dukes' coach in 1978 -- he would do anything to win. At the same time, Tim Grgurich was the coach at Pitt. The two had competed as players in the intense Duquesne-Pitt rivalry.

Grgurich was the same type of scrappy competitor as Rice, although with not as much talent. He likely wasn't as willing to do "anything" to win. The two men did not like each other -- they once were thrown out of a summer league for fighting -- and their personalities enhanced the rivalry about tenfold.

Now it wasn't just Duquesne and Pitt, it was Rice and Grgurich. It was personal. It was nasty. Rice made it so.

For what it's worth, Grgurich resigned from the job he loved at the college he loved in 1980, four days after losing an NIT game -- to Rice and Duquesne.

Rice is the last Duquesne coach with a winning record, the last to have a 20-win season.

Here's what someone who knows the elder Rice well had to say about him.

"If you know Mike Rice, Sr., if you play tennis with him or Monopoly with him, you know it will be heated and nasty and as competitive as it can possibly get. That's the way he is. He doesn't enjoy himself unless he was going at someone's throat."

The speaker was Mike Rice, Jr., who added, "Many times, my mother had to separate us."

There's one more thing you need to know about Mike Rice, Sr. He is about as engaging and charming a guy away from competition as you could meet. He had a snarl on the court, a wide smile and an extended hand off it.

He probably could have made a fortune in sales. But he was a basketball junkie and, when he finished coaching, he got into television. For the past 16 years, he has been the color analyst for the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers. No one should be surprised that he is excellent at what he does.

The years have mellowed Rice. How do we know that?

He hasn't threatened to disown his son.

In fact, he is pleased and proud, although still holding out a bit.

"He said he'd send me a Pitt sweatshirt. I'm not sure I'll wear it."

But the dad knows this is best for the son. Being who he is, he has followed events closely in Pittsburgh. He knows what's happened to Duquesne, he knows what's happened to Pitt. He knows this is a great deal for his son, a former St. Joseph's assistant.

"If you look at Pitt since I left, it's pretty remarkable what's happened. When I left they were Eastern Eight. Then, they made the move to TV land [Big East Conference], and that was one marvelous thing. Pitt's done a great job with its basketball. If you're an assistant coach, it's a plum. That's where you want to be.

"I've never seen Mike so excited about moving to a new job as he is right now. He's very good. It's in his blood from day one. He knows basketball. He's lived it all his life."

If Pitt is lucky, the son has some of the old man in him.

The old man thinks he does. "He's outgoing like me, he works hard like me. The big difference is he has some common sense."