This is still March.
In a time when college basketball seemed like it was put on pause like the rest of the world due to the Coronavirus, Iona College made headlines on Saturday that sent the entire sport into one complete frenzy.
The Gaels’ decision to hire Hall-of-Famer Rick Pitino to succeed Tim Cluess guarantees national relevance.
It guarantees a prominent place in the New York landscape after Cluess’ run over the last decade where he separated himself as the best head coach in the history of the MAAC.
And it also guarantees that winning at the highest level will earn you second chances in college sports.
One of the top coaches in the history of the game, Pitino was fired from Louisville in 2017 for being linked to an FBI scandal, where the school was alleged to be involved with a “pay for play” scheme involving a recruit. Pitino was never found guilty of anything involved with the case.
There were other off-the-court incidents prior to 2017 at Louisville, including one where strippers were found to be entering a men’s college basketball dormitory, but all of those things didn’t deter Iona from making this hire.
Why?
Rick Pitino is good for business.
Rick Pitino wins basketball games.
And Rick Pitino has churned out more quality assistant coaches who have gone on to become successful head coaches than anyone in the history of the game.
“His energy, desire, and willingness to build a winner will be a great fit for Iona,” Gaels athletic director Matt Glovaski said on Saturday.
No one is questioning that.
After spending the past two years coaching professionally in Greece, Pitino yearned for a return to college basketball. His off-the-court issues may have been too much for a power conference program to take a chance on, but for Iona it was a chance to get a brand name head coach who needed them as much as they needed him.
“I missed college basketball when I was in Greece,” Pitino said on Saturday.
America feels the same way right now.
In a time where the sport is normally taking over this country, a pause has occurred during college basketball’s most hallowed month due to the Coronavirus.
There’s no NCAA Tournament. There’s no Selection Sunday.
And there will be no Final Four or national champion.
But there is the story of Rick Pitino returning to his New York roots to lead Iona.
He’ll attack this job with the same ferocity that he’s attacked every task he’s undertaken during his Hall-of-Fame career, sleeping less and working more.
Cluess — his predecessor — went to six NCAA Tournaments in nine years in New Rochelle before stepping down this week due to health issues and was often underappreciated nationally for his greatness.
He came to Iona in 2010 hungry for his first Division 1 head coaching opportunity.
A decade later, Pitino is coming to Iona for his last.
“I started my basketball journey in Manhattan when I was young,” Pitino said. “Now I’ll be able to end it in New Rochelle.”
And that will occur with everyone involved in the sport watching closely.
This wouldn’t have happened for just anybody, but then again few are Pitino.
He’s taken multiple schools to the Final Four, is arguably the best player development coach in the history of college basketball, and most of all, wanted Iona as much as Iona wanted him.
During a week where the college basketball world felt as dry and barren as a desert during the middle of August, Iona and Pitino reminded us all of one important thing:
This is still March.
