Pitino to coach pro team in Greece

Rick Pitino, the Hall of Fame basketball coach who was fired from Louisville last year amid allegations that he was aware of illicit payments to a prospect that were revealed by federal prosecutors, has agreed to become coach of Panathinaikos, one of Greece’s top teams.

Pitino, 66, is known as one of the most accomplished college basketball coaches of his generation, widely regarded for his tactics and motivation. In the late 1980s, he revived the scandal-ridden Kentucky program, winning a national championship in 1996 and laying the groundwork for another two years later.

Starting in 2001, he similarly rejuvenated Louisville’s program, winning the Cardinals’ third national title in 2013, though the NCAA subsequently vacated it because of recruiting violations. In 1988, he took Providence to its only Final Four.

He remains the only coach to reach the Final Four at three programs and the only one to win national titles at two.

Stints in the NBA, with the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks, were less successful.

Louisville and Pitino are litigating a dispute over tens of millions of dollars that Pitino says he is owed under his contract, which ran through 2026. Louisville insists it does not owe him anything because it justifiably fired him for cause.

Panathinaikos, based in Athens, is a basketball power in Europe, having won the continent’s major championship, the Euroleague, six times, most recently in 2011.

This season, though the team is undefeated in the Greek league, the more important Euroleague has been a disappointment, with the team sitting in 10th place at 6-7, out of the eight playoff spots.

The team includes several American players, including Deshaun Thomas of Ohio State and James Gist of Maryland, both NBA draft picks, and Keith Langford of Kansas.

The most notable name on the team is Thanasis Antetokounmpo, the 26-year-old older brother of Giannis, the Milwaukee Bucks star.