Iona Hires Rick Pitino

Tommy Reynolds

March 27th, 2020

As the sports world was reeling through postponement after postponement of major sports seasons, Iona College, a small Catholic college 20 miles north of New York City, made what might turn out to be the best signings college basketball has seen in awhile.

Rick Pitino, the former Louisville and New York Knick head coach, agreed to take over after long serving Tim Cluess retired at the beginning of the month. Pitino,who was last in charge of a college team in 2017, has a close relationship with the president of Iona Seamus Carey and was born in New York City. These close ties to the area may be his reasoning for returning to a school such as Iona but although his departure from Louisville was filled with controversy, his return to college basketball at an organization such as Iona will prove a tremendous fit for both parties.

“There's a relationship that goes before Iona, with the president of the school, Seamus Carey. He was the president of Transylvania -- before Iona -- in Lexington, Kentucky. He came to a few of my games, I left him tickets.”

It hasn't taken long as well for Pitino to already have an impact at the small school. So far six recruits have already committed to the program for next year's season. Though none of the recruits are starred, the approach that Pitino has to take at Iona, being that they play in the MAAC, has to differ from when he was coaching at prodigious schools like Louisville.

Going under the radar for players that could turn out to be star players is a way to make a name for Iona but also with experience that Pitino brings to the table, the recruits you know will have talent. That experience also will help instill a new game plan at Iona that will hopefully add on the Cluess’s 4 MAAC’s.

Some may see the hiring as a mistake or a lapse in judgement by Iona’s athletic department due to circumstances that surrounded him in Louisville, I disagree. Although what he did there was wrong and in no way excusable, he served his punishment coaching in the Greek Basketball League for the past couple years. He had to bid his time away from the NCAA to air out his name and regain the pedigree he held before the scandal. His hiring at Iona does just that. Being at a smaller school like Iona means less time for him in the spotlight and for him to actually work his magic with the team. Also all the talent that usually heads to conferences like the MAAC will likely be putting Iona on their list of schools just because of his name. This congregation of talent will yield, in my opinion, extraordinary results. Due to this onslaught of talented players visiting the school and/ or playing, Iona's name will get bigger, as well as Pitino’s. Iona will steadily gain name recognition along with Pitino’s head coaching stock. Hopefully this will propel him to be better and advance the schools program even further.

This hiring is a chance for smaller schools like Iona to get some of that big school glamour. This is also a chance for Pitino to prove his coaching ability. Leading the school to conference championships and taking them to multiple NCAA tournaments like Cluess did will not only cement him in Iona history but college basketball as well.