Rick Pitino gets another chance to coach in college basketball

Rick Pitino is getting another shot at coaching college basketball.

The former University of Kentucky and University of Louisville head coach will be taking over the program at Iona, the school announced Saturday.

“His energy, desire, willingness to build a winning program will be a great fit for Iona,” Gaels Athletics Director Matt Glovaski told CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein.

Pitino takes over for Tim Cluess, who stepped down for health reasons. Cluess won five Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament championships and four regular-season titles during his 10 seasons at Iona, which is located in New Rochelle, N.Y.

“I’m incredibly excited,” Pitino told Rothstein. “I started my journey in basketball in Manhattan. I’m now able to end my journey in New Rochelle. I’ve admired the stellar job that Tim Cluess has done. I’m going to try and carry that on and elevate it to prominence.

“I missed college basketball when I was (coaching) in Greece. I’m back home where it all started. It’s the greatest feeling in the world.”

Last season, Pitino coached EuroLeague’s Panathinaikos to the Greek Cup and Greek League championships. He returned to coach the team this season but games are on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Pitino won the national championship at Kentucky in 1996 and at Louisville in 2013. Louisville was ordered to vacate its 2013 championship as the result of NCAA violations.

After being fired from Louisville two years ago in the wake of a college basketball corruption scandal, Pitino and the university reached a settlement in September 2019. As part of the settlement, his personnel record was changed to say he resigned.

This story was originally published March 14, 2020 at 4:03 PM.