INDIANAPOLIS – Rick Pitino has no plans to leave after leading Iona to the NCAA Men’s Tournament in his first season as coach.
Pitino said on Saturday that he did not want ‘any part of the so-called big time’ as the Gaels season ended with a 68-55 loss to Alabama in the first round of the tournament at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
Iona, a number 15 team in the Eastern Region, overcame a long pause to win the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament under Pitino, making 22 NCAA tournaments with five different programs.
He returned to university basketball this season after coaching Panathinaikos in the EuroLeague for Greek club.
Pitino coached Louisville from 2001 to 2017, winning a national title and winning three Final Fours and six Elite Eights. He was fired in October 2017 amid a federal investigation into fraud and corruption in university basketball. Pitino seems to have referred to his departure on Saturday and said, “I’m not turned off by the big shows, but I’m turned off about what happened to me.”
“It’s no longer about me trying to move up any ladder, earning more money,” he added. “I’m in a wonderful place in my life. I can coach six, seven more years, according to God’s will, try to make young men better, and try to achieve the programs that have never been achieved. That’s all I’ve been planning. It’s a great place to be. There are some things that struggle to be 68. The great thing about being with Iona is being able to learn without anyone bothering you. , but only makes the players better.
Before Louisville, Pitino spent eight seasons in Kentucky, winning a national title in 1996 and making three Final Fours and four Elite Eight appearances.
“I want to take a smaller school, like a Providence, like an Iona, a small school and try to make it big,” said Pitino, who made his first Final Four as Providence coach in 1987. ‘But I did not want any part of the other, I had enough of it. It turned me off, to be honest with you, in many different areas. I now do not have to look over my shoulder and see who I am going to trust, what I am not going to trust.
“I’m in heaven now and where I need to be.”
Pitino is looking forward to building more success with Iona and says the team will be ‘much better’ in its second season. He noticed several young players and an improved schedule that he said could make the Gaels a contender for a major NCAA tournament in the coming years. Pitino listed future home games against Seton Hall and BYU in Madison Square Garden and challenged his son, Richard, the new coach in New Mexico, to face “the mighty Gaels” next season.
“We just need to improve the program and take the next step,” he said. “We will take the next step. I have no doubt that Iona will be a force along the way.”