Pitino’s latest success is, at first blush, his most meaningful

Rick Pitino soaks in MAAC championship celebration, relishing return to NCAA Tournament with Iona. (Photo by Iona College Athletics)

By Jaden Daly (@DalyDoseOfHoops)

Rick Pitino may be many things, and his brutally honest nature will allow him to be one of the first people to openly tell you that.

But behind all the bluster and the checkered past that is already being dredged up in some circles as Pitino goes along on his latest magic carpet ride to the NCAA Tournament after his Iona team — sidelined on four separate occasions due to COVID-19, including once for 51 days — won four games in five days to claim yet another Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship and accelerate the Hall of Famer’s notoriously complex learning curve lies a passion as strong as it was over four decades ago, a competitive fire burning wildly and brightly with the flames of personal vindication.

“Somebody showed me an article,” Pitino said after Saturday’s coronation in a tone that was equal parts fiery and playful. “If there are any writers out there, stop saying I’m old! Joe Biden may be a little up there. I’m young. Although I’m 68, I’m going on 48 with my passion, so stop saying I’m old. Tommy Abatemarco, my assistant, HE’S old!”

It has been said, time and again, that being in the game keeps you young. No further is that evident than in the genuine emotion shared by Pitino and his staff simply watching their players take it all in, a first-time experience for most, a recurring episode for some, but a cathartic revelation for all in light of the path traversed and the numerous hurdles jumped along the way.

“You have no idea how difficult it was coaching this year, and it was even more difficult playing this year,” Pitino reminded everyone. “It’s very difficult to imagine what we went through from a practice standpoint. Every time we got into shape, we got out of shape.”

“When you see, as a coach, the players so happy, it really fulfills you as a basketball coach because the coaching staff is in it for the players. We live vicariously through the players, so I was tickled pink about watching them celebrate, and I’m really proud of them.”

So too is Iona athletic director Matt Glovaski and president Seamus Carey, both of whom took a chance on an embattled Pitino a year ago today, flying halfway across the world to Spain to meet with him after coaching Panathinaikos in a Euroleague game against Real Madrid and afford him the chance to write his own ending, on his own terms, to a career that seemed destined to an ignominious demise. While serving his penance, it was a message from his son, Richard, the head coach at Minnesota, that got him to change his outlook on the game, and on life.

“My son gave me the greatest piece of advice,” Pitino recollected. “He said, ‘Dad, all I can tell you is nobody cares whether you’re innocent, so you might as well stop saying it, because nobody cares. Why don’t you just do you what you do best: Coach, recruit, and stop trying to defend your honor because nobody believes you? We love you, that’s all that counts. So I’ve taken that. I went to Greece with that advice, and I learned a lot at 65 years of age. To me, it’s a great way to end a very long career.” 

“I’m just really pleased to be at Iona. I grew up on 26th Street on the east side of Manhattan, I’ve lived in Queens, I’ve lived on Long Island, I’ve lived in Westchester when I was the Knick coach, I’m New York strong all the way through. It means a lot to be at Iona because the president and the athletic director stepped up for me, they believed in me and my principles, and I’m really appreciative of that. I wanted to coach at a New York school or a New England school, a small Catholic school. It was my goal to end my career. I was able to do that, and that makes me very proud.”

Pitino’s pride was on display in his opening remarks as well, where he made it a point to thank and celebrate his predecessor, Tim Cluess, for establishing the status quo in New Rochelle, which now counts a seventh NCAA Tournament appearance in the past ten years among its accolades, but not long after, it gave way to more self-reflection.

“It’s special, but it’s a lot different,” he said of his latest March experience. “I’ve always said this, my favorite years were at Providence College, where we went from dead last place in the Big East to the Final Four, and you remember that because you were in last place for seven years. This year, we were stopped four different times, we had key injuries, and we still get there to cut down the nets, so it’s pretty darn special.”

Now, the pageantry and accompanying games will come, which if Pitino has his way, will not end anytime soon.

“I told them that I was packing eight suits and I packed for a long time,” he quipped. “And I’m not sure anybody believed me. Now we’ve got a lot of dirty laundry, and we’re heading to Indianapolis.”