Rick Pitino has agreed to become Iona’s next head coach for men’s basketball according to Jon Rothstein.
BREAKING: Iona will hire Rick Pitino as its next head basketball coach, per Gaels' Athletic Director Matt Glovaski.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 14, 2020
Pitino has spent time coaching Panathinaikos, a professional team in Greece, since his last college job. The 67-year-old last coached for Louisville in 2016-2017. He was fired amid federal investigations into his program for corruption surrounding Adidas paying high school recruits to go to schools that wore their apparel.
He has won two National Championships in college, one with Kentucky and the other with Louisville, although the latter was vacated due to the program breaking NCAA rules. His overall record is 770-271.
Pitino will take over a solid Iona program that has made the NCAA Tournament in six of the last 10 seasons. Their head coach over that span, Tim Cluess, had to step down due to health concerns.
For more news and updates go to our college basketball page!
You can like The Game Haus on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles from great TGH writers!