Rick Pitino was fired at Louisville in 2017 and, in late 2018, he accepted the head coaching job with EuroLeague powerhouse Panathinaikos. In recent days, though, there has been plenty of buzz about the 67-year-old potentially returning to college basketball for one final run and, on Saturday afternoon, word broke that Pitino will accept the position at Iona after head coach Tim Cluess stepped down this week for health reasons.
BREAKING: Iona will hire Rick Pitino as its next head basketball coach, per Gaels' Athletic Director Matt Glovaski.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 14, 2020
“I’m incredibly excited,” Pitino told Rothstein. “I started my journey in basketball in Manhattan. I’m now able to end my journey in New Rochelle. I’ve admired the stellar job that Tim Cluess has done. I’m going to try and carry that on and elevate it to prominence.”
Pitino did not leave Louisville under the best circumstances, with an investigation leading directly to his ouster. As a result, there was skepticism in some circles that the legendary coach would be able to land another Division 1 position. Still, Iona seems to be excited about the potential of Pitino leading their program in the coming days.
Matt Glovaski on Rick Pitino: "His energy, desire, willingness to build a winning program will be a great fit for Iona."
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 14, 2020
It will be exceptionally interesting to see how this experiment works, especially since it has been a long time since Pitino operated at a non-blue blood institution. Pitino accumulated more than 600 wins (and two national titles) at Boston University, Providence, Kentucky and Louisville, but a lot has changed and there is a lot of baggage with this particular hire. If nothing else, there will be a lot more national attention paid to Iona than usual, and fireworks could follow.
