Getty Image / Rob Carr
Rick Pitino is one of the greatest coaches of a golden generation of college basketball coaches. The 70-year-old has over 700 wins in an illustrious history that spans over 45 years.
Pitino, who also coached in the NBA for the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics, had led three schools to the final four in Providence, Kentucky, and Louisville. He won national championships at Kentucky in 1996 and at Louisville in 1997, and is the only coach to win the national title at two schools.
But, as we all know, Pitino was caught up in a scandal and was fired by Louisville before the 2019 season due to allegations of paying recruits and an associated NCAA investigation.
Rick Pitino went to coach in Greece in two years, but returned to the college game for the 2020-2021 season to coach the Iona Gaels, a suburban New York school that plays in the MAAC. The New York City native has excelled there, and has gone 64-22 there in three seasons, including three postseason trips and two to the NCAA Tournament, where they lost to UCONN this year.
But, now, Pitino is being linked to the opening at St. John’s, the pride of New York City, after the University fired Mike Anderson.
Sources: Iona's Rick Pitino will meet with St. John's administration in person later tonight.
The Red Storm have no secondary candidate.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 19, 2023
This would really come full circle for Rick Pitino. He would once again be coaching in Madison Square Garden, the same building where he coached the Knicks in the late 1980s. And, it wouldn’t be hard to see him turning the Red Storm, who are in the top-ten all-time in wins, back into a perennial tournament team.
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