Rick Pitino at Iona’s Helm

By: Matthew George

As the college basketball season came to an abrupt close, the Iona Gaels Men’s Basketball team went to straight to work and started planning for the future. After being eliminated by the Saint Peter’s Peacocks in the quarterfinal round at the MAAC Tournament at Atlantic City, NJ, the Gaels coaching staff got busy right from the get-go.

Despite having an outstanding 10-year career at the helm for Iona, the 5x MAAC Champion Head Coach Tim Cluess made decision to step down after battling a major health issue ever since the start of the 2019-2020 season. Cluess will now have an advisory role with Iona.

As major way of moving forward, the program acquired former head coach of the University of Louisville from 2001-2017 Rick Pitino. After the pay-for-play scandal back in October 2017, Pitino had been coaching in Greece for the Panathinaikos. Pitino has spent several seasons with coaching in the NBA for the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics. The NCAA has not announced anything related to scandal regarding penalties to this upcoming season with the Gaels.

This season was a very mediocre throughout the entire season for the program. The Gaels finished with a 9-11 record in the MAAC; that is the first time they have been under .500 in the conference since the 2008-2009 season when they went 7-11 and 12-19 overall.

Part of the issues that staggered the team was the coaching. Now, do not get me wrong, Acting Head Coach Trey Arnold did a tremendous job throughout this season with the absence of Cluess. However, it felt as if the Gaels were scrambling the make their note for the 2019-2020 season. In addition, the team did lose a major leader in 4x MAAC Champion Guard Rickey McGill due to graduation.

With Pitino in place, his professional experiences with different leagues and teams will bring a wide range of offensive and defensive schemes to help the Gaels move forward. Despite Iona is a mid-major school, the team has made it to the NCAA Tournament for four straight years since 2016. I believe that Pitino would only help alleviate this trend.

“We’ll play EuroLeague offense with full-court pressure defense,” said Pitino said to New York Post columnist Steve Serby. This is a very interesting tactic from Pitino from the offensive standpoint. Obviously, most teams in Division I would use intense full-court pressure especially late in the game during the second half. However, this will be much different on offense, especially when Cluess’s fist, Boston, and three play call just to name a few.

In terms of recognition, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity for the Gaels and I think they had nothing to lose and everything to gain. Obviously, it will yet to be determined whether Pitino can live up to the high standards that Cluess brought to his nine seasons with 5x MAAC Championships. Let alone, it will also yet to be determined if Pitino can help Iona win a game in the NCAA Tournament, which has not happened yet in the team’s franchise. Despite these theories, having an astounding and very professional head coach like Pitino changes the game for the MAAC for the next few years.

I believe that his passion for college basketball like he had with Louisville and Kentucky and his experiences with the NBA will only help him in the long run for the Gaels. I highly doubt that this Louisville scandal would hinder him as a coach, despite whatever the social media say about him. If Pitino can solidify himself and keep everything together, he can be the pinpoint for this franchise. In addition, he needs find the best recruits this offseason, since EJ Crawford, Tajuan Agee, Ben Perez, and Niksa Nikolic were all seniors and graduating this year. He will need to find some quality big men along-side Mo Thiam and guard help with Isaiah Washington and Isaiah Ross.

I think there is going to be a bright future for Gael Nation. Not to mention, since the MAAC Tournament was canceled this season due to the COVID-19 spread, the Gaels still have a chance of making it five straight MAAC Championship. However, only time will tell where Pitino and the Gaels will go.