Rick Pitino will be heading back to college basketball according to Jeff Borzello of ESPN. He will be replacing head coach Tim Cluess, who announced on Friday that he is stepping down after 10 seasons with the Gaels. Cluess was a very successful coach for Iona, winning either the regular season or conference tournament championship from 2012 to 2019. Pitino will have big shoes to fill as he tries to continue the continued success of the Gaels.
Rick Pitino is the New Coach for Iona
Rick Pitino’s Career
Pitino will be coaching college basketball after coaching many years in the NBA with the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics. He was then hired by Panathinaikos in Greece. There he won a Greek Cup and the Greek Basket League Championship. He said he will remain with Panathinaikos, even with becoming the new head coach with Iona.
Rick Pitino Looking Forward to Coaching Iona College
Pitino is looking forward to the challenge of coaching Iona. He first talks about the memories he has of Iona:
“Iona brings me back,” Pitino said. “Something that [ESPN’s] Dick Vitale said to me last week. He said Jim Valvano said the best years of his life were coaching at Iona. I knew it was the right fit; it’s 30 minutes from my apartment in New York City; it’s 10 minutes from my son in Harrison, New York.”
He is also really looking forward to coaching Iona College according to Sports Illustrated.
“My passion for basketball started in New York and will end there at Iona College,” Pitino said in a statement. “At Iona, I will work with the same passion, hunger and drive that I’ve had for over 40 years. There is a real professionalism in how things are run here and this is a very tight, strong community.”
He is also a controversial signing, as he was linked to an FBI investigation in 2017. However, Matthew Glovaski, the director of Athletics at Iona College has calmed concerns of that happening:
“We have no reason to believe that would happen,” Iona director of athletics Matthew Glovaski said when asked about the NCAA potentially punishing Pitino. “Because we’ve had such a thorough interview process. … Rick’s values aligned with the goals and values for the college. He was the right leader at the right time in his life for this job.”
With the coronavirus, it is unlikely that Pitino will be coaching Iona College anytime soon even being becoming the next head coach for Iona.
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