New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
‘Perfect’: Pitino relishing his comeback job as Iona prepares to play Fairfield
IONA at FAIRFIELD Friday, 7 p.m. (ESPNU)
As he spent two seasons in coaching purgatory with a professional team in Greece, Rick Pitino was itching for the last spot of his Hall of Fame career.
But it wouldn’t be just any job in any place and it was unclear just who would hire him. Pitino, who turned 68 in September, carried the remnants of an NCAA scandal that cost him his job at Louisville.
Pitino needed a program looking for some juice, a school located in a spot he desired, a place where he could put an exclamation point on a career that began in the mid-1970s.
Iona, the MAAC school in New Rochelle, was the answer.
“I wanted to go back home,” Pitino said after a win at Hofstra Saturday. “Iona’s brought something to me that was really special. I can go back home, close to my family.
“I wanted a small Catholic school, perfect. I wanted a real charming little campus, perfect. So it has everything that I wanted to finish a career on.”
On Friday, Pitino brings Iona to Fairfield as the league foes play two games in two nights. His return to Connecticut — he last coached in the state in January 2014, when Louisville won at UConn — was supposed to happen at Quinnipiac, but Baker Dunleavy’s program is shut down because of a positive COVID-19 test.
So Iona quickly juggled the schedule and landed on Fairfield, which was supposed to host Siena. But that program is also stalled by a positive test.
And amid all of the COVID chaos, one of basketball’s coaching stars is settling into his mid-major gig. How did he get here? Pitino coached Louisville from 2001 to 2017, but was fired for “just cause” after his program was involved in the NCAA “pay for play” scandal. In 2015, Louisville was punished when the NCAA alleged a staff member arranged for an escort to provide sex acts for players and recruits in a dorm.
Pitino has maintained his own innocence in both scandals, although he said he deserved to lose his job. His college coaching career seemed over as he departed for Greece.
But there was interest. Holy Cross was rumored as a possibility and Pitino was reportedly intrigued by Providence when Ed Cooley interviewed for the Michigan job in 2019.
Providence, of course, is one of the spots where Pitino left his mark. He began as an interim head coach in Hawaii in 1976 before eventually landing the Boston University job. Pitino was actually 2-0 with the Terriers at Fairfield’s Alumni Hall. He led Providence, the Knicks, Kentucky, the Celtics, and, finally, Louisville.
But New York is where he was born and raised, where he has family and friends.
“I started my career here, I get the opportunity to end my career here,” Pitino said. “I’m still very young in spirit and very passionate about the game of basketball.”
Pitino often compares Iona to Providence, a Catholic school with a tight campus. At Providence, he inherited a struggling program and guided it to the Final Four within two years.
At Iona, he took over a team what was 12-17 last season. But the program posted eight consecutive seasons with 20 or more wins and was in four consecutive NCAA Tournaments before last year, when coach Tim Cluess missed the season because of health issues. Cluess resigned in March.
A day later, Pitino was hired.
The Gaels returned just four players from last season, so Pitino is rebooting.
“Just trying to improve each player individually,” Pitino said. “To me, there’s 15 new players in a new system, and to them, there’s a new coach and a new system.
“Every situation I’ve been in — at Providence, we were in the NIT the first year; at Louisville, we were in the NIT the first year; at Kentucky, when I took over they were on probation, we had a .500 team. But I always had returning players. ... So we’re just starting fresh. It’s exciting. Very new to everybody, and very exciting for all of us.”
Pitino said he has been using practice time to teach fundamentals. The progress is slow and the uncertainty of COVID-19 makes the rebuild more challenging.
But Pitino being Pitino, there is a buzz around the program. He is quick to reminisce about his New York roots and his long coaching career. He has talked about buying season tickets to the Islanders because the team’s general manager is Lou Lamoriello, who was the Providence athletic director when Pitino was hired.
MAAC scheduling? Pitino said these back-to-back games are not ideal but perhaps the only ways to construct a schedule under the circumstances.
“Back to back games is something that I’m used to, obviously, from my NBA days,” Pitino reminded reporters this week.
And COVID? Pitino has thoughts.
“You’re seeing teams pause in a bubble, teams pause during semester break,” he said. “Once the flu hits in mid-January and February, everything is going to break, unfortunately, the wrong way. My thinking was, collect the vaccine, create herd immunity sometime in March and April, and start playing a full season then. I think the NCAA (thinking) is, let’s just get this season over with until March Madness and then let’s concern ourselves with that and not necessarily the regular season.
“I’m not saying I disagree with that. I’m just saying the healthiest, safest way would have been to create May Madness. That’s just me … because the flu season is coming, states are shutting down and we’re not even into Christmas vacation yet. So obviously it’s not going to change. The NCAA has made their bed and now they’re going to sleep in it. And let’s hope that we get in as many games as possible leading into March and everybody stays safe and healthy.”
Pitino has used Twitter to update his followers on scheduling changes. Most recently: Pitino tweeted the shift from Quinnipiac to Fairfield Tuesday morning, breaking the news to many fans.
Iona shut down for two weeks before the season and it seems schedules will be in a constant state of flux. Pitino, the national celebrity with contacts all over the country, is ready to play games anywhere.
Could be part of expanding the program’s brand, with Pitino as the face.
“We’re open to anything,” Pitino said. “If somebody needs a game, whether it’s home or away, we’ll just get on a plane and play a game.”