Two years ago, I wrote a column that UCLA should hire Rick Pitino, who at the time was in the middle of his Grecian exile, practically begging to be considered for any decent college job.
Since then, a bunch more schools fired their coaches but shrugged aside any temptation to bring Pitino on board, figuring he wasn’t worth the controversy.
Guess what? He absolutely is.
Iona’s gamble on Pitino paid off in a major way Saturday as the Gaels clinched an NCAA Tournament bid by beating Fairfield, 60-51. Despite a regular season wrecked by COVID-19, Iona got healthy enough for the MAAC tournament, played its best basketball when it mattered most and proved there's still plenty of juice left in Pitino at age 68.
The Gaels’ stay in the NCAA Tournament probably won’t last long. They’ll likely end up being a No. 15 seed, a No. 14 at best. But if you’re Oklahoma State, Ohio State, Alabama or any of these other teams projected on the No. 2 line, is there any scarier draw than a coach with seven Final Fours on his résumé?
In a sense, it doesn’t really matter. For Iona, the decision to hire Pitino has already paid off. The question now is whether Pitino has redeemed himself enough this season for a bigger school to give him one last chance at a place where he can be nationally relevant once again.
If any of these athletics directors about to be looking for a coach are smart, they absolutely should.
Look, there’s no doubt Pitino has baggage. Lots of it, from the Karen Sypher fiasco to Strippergate to the end of his time at Louisville when the FBI uncovered that recruit Brian Bowen’s father was getting paid by an Adidas executive to play for Pitino.
These are all very public, very embarrassing stories that will be brought up alongside Pitino’s name from now until the end of time. Any school that hires him will have to endure some bad publicity and trot out the school president to dodge questions about why their respected institution would entrust such a morally compromised person with their basketball program.
The answer is very clear: Because Pitino is among the best who’s ever done it.
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