Pitino open to return to coaching

Rick Pitino would coach college basketball again — if any school will have him.

The former Louisville coach, fired last month amid a slew of alleged offcourt issues, said he doesn’t care about the money — but he would give a school “a shot” if someone came to him with plans for coaching.

“If a school, come April, comes to me in Miami and says, ‘We believe you. We believe you were innocent,’ I would give it a shot,” Pitino, who moved to Miami after the firing, told ESPN. “I don’t care about the money, the salary.

“But the way I’m look- ing at it now is that I’ve got to get on with a different part of my life — build a different life that doesn’t include coaching. I need to be happy, be content.”

Pitino had been the Louisville head coach since 2001 before his name and the university were spotlighted in an NCAA corruption scan- dal, in which the FBI accused the Cardinals program of funneling $100,000 through Adidas to land prized recruit Brian Bowen.

“The way I feel today, I’m not going to coach again,” Pitino said. “But that may not be my feeling in February.

“I’ve got to get over the hurt. It’s going to take some time. But the bitterness is gone.”

If Pitino returns to college basketball, he would have a five-game suspension waiting for him for his role in the Cardinals’ recruiting scandal involving exotic dancers and prostitutes, which also could strip Louisville of its 2013 national championship.