One day after the one-year anniversary that Iona Rick Pitino took on, the Hall of Fame coach led the Gaels to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
Iona defeated Fairfield 60-51 in Saturday’s MAAC title match in Atlantic City, NJ. Never trailing behind, the Gaels ended the first half with a 10-0 run, giving them a 12-point lead they couldn’t give up. They extended the lead to a whopping 16 points in the second half, led by the senior backcourt of Asante Gist (18 points) and Isaiah Ross (13 points).
It is the program’s fifth NCAA tournament in the past six seasons.
Pitino will become the third coach in college basketball history to lead five different teams to the NCAA tournament, according to research from ESPN Stats & Information, which joins Lon Kruger and Tubby Smith. He also led Louisville, Kentucky, Providence, and Boston University to the NCAA tournament.
“I’m just really happy to be with Iona,” said Pitino in his post-game availability. “When you grew up in New York, I grew up on 26th Street, on the east side of Manhattan. I lived in Queens, I lived on Long Island, I lived in Westchester when I was the Knick coach. time strong and it means a lot to be with Iona. “
Iona received a 9th seed in the MAAC tournament, although the Gaels came in third in the conference standings. But the league chose to use wins instead of the winning percentage to place the conference tournament, meaning Iona – who had multiple COVID-19-related breaks throughout the season – was relegated to the 9th seed after dropping 6 -3 ended in conference play. .
Iona struggled last season after former head coach Tim Cluess took a leave of absence due to health issues. The Gaels finished 12-17 overall and 9-11 in the league a year ago. Pitino allowed Ross and Gist to return to New Rochelle, but he knew he needed reinforcements to get the team back into the title fight immediately. So he entered the transfer market for starting wing Berrick JeanLouis and also added a few high school recruits who were still available last spring, most notably starting forward Nelly Junior Joseph.
The Gaels started 5-3 in the first month of the season and then did not play a single game between December 23 and February 12 due to problems with COVID-19. After five games back, the program had to go back to a COVID-19 hiatus in late February and it was announced that it was until the MAAC tournament.
Despite falling back to the 9 seeds, Iona won four games in five days – including an upset from 1 seed and regular season champion Siena in the quarter-finals – to earn the league’s automatic bid.
“For them, it’s remarkable for me to win four games coming out of the COVID hiatus and to do these things,” said Pitino. “We are delighted to participate in the tournament, we have not played that many games this year and we are getting better with every game we play.”
Considered one of the best coaches in college basketball history, Pitino has now won 13 conference tournament championships – in addition to eight regular season titles, seven Final Four appearances, and national championships with both Kentucky and Louisville, the latter being dropped due to NCAA issues .
Pitino was hired on March 14 last year, his first job as a college coach since October 2017, when Louisville fired him after the FBI investigation into college basketball. The Cardinals were linked to the investigation through allegations of Adidas payments made to five-star prospectus Brian Bowen’s family. Pitino and athletic director Tom Jurich were placed on unpaid administrative leave and eventually fired.
Pitino went abroad for a few seasons to coach the Greek club team Panathinaikos, but was often linked to open college jobs. When Cluess officially resigned for health reasons, Pitino was given the opportunity to return to New York and coach the Gaels.
“There were so many things that were out of line [more] more important than between the lines, “Pitino told ESPN the day he was hired.” I am so passionate about the game that I went halfway around the world to coach in Greece. I missed my family; Nobody was there. If I started coaching college basketball, it would fulfill my needs outside the lines.
“I knew it was the right choice. It’s 30 minutes from my New York City apartment, 10 minutes from my son in Harrison, New York. It’s 10 minutes from a golf club I belong to, Winged Foot. , the coach for me did an incredible job, so many small Catholic schools [have had success]Gonzaga, Dayton. Iona has the opportunity to build on what Tim Cluess has done. “
While other schools brought Pitino back to college, Iona president Seamus Carey and athletic director Matt Glovaski took a chance – and it paid off.
“For us, it’s about focusing on great research,” Glovaski told ESPN at the time. “By making sure we were on the same team, we worked forward. Rick’s values aligned with the goals and values for the college. He was the right leader at the right time in his life for this job.”
After Saturday’s win, Pitino praised Cluess.
“No one has done better than Tim Cluess. Obviously I wouldn’t be here if he didn’t have health problems because he was one of the best coaches in the country,” he said. ‘Tim, wherever you are, we’ll share this with you tonight. You are part of our program. ‘