Rick Pitino is discussing head coaching vacancy with Iona basketball

Rick Pitino has been out of college basketball since being fired by Louisville in 2017, and he may be looking to get back into the D-I sports scene as a candidate for Iona’s head coaching vacancy.

The college basketball coaching carousel may be slowed because of novel coronavirus concerns, but a few mid-major jobs have already opened. One of those is at Iona, where long-time head coach Tim Cluess has stepped down due to health concerns.

Cluess, who did not coach at all this season due to a medical issue, leaves New Rochelle as one of the most successful coaches in program history, guiding the Gaels to six NCAA Tournament appearances, including four straight out of the MAAC from 2016-2019. Filling that void won’t be easy, but Adam Zagoria is reporting two names have already emerged as candidates for the job.

The name that will garner the most attention is Rick Pitino, the legendary head coach who has a pair of national championships on his resume. Pitino has been out of college basketball since 2017 when he was fired by Louisville for his role in several scandals that helped lead to the NCAA vacating the team’s 2013 national championship.

Since leaving Louisville, Pitino has been coaching professionally in Greece, but he no doubt wants to get back into the college game. No high-major school will go near Pitino right now, so his best path forward is to look at mid-majors that could allow him to be successful and launch him forward into a higher paying gig.

Update: According to CBS Sports’ Matt Nolander, Pitino has indeed informed his Panathinaikos B.C. players that he will be returning to college basketball. He plans to finish out the Euroleague season if and when it resumes, however. CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein reports Pitino has already begun discussions with Iona regarding its head coaching vacancy.

Iona fits that bill since the program is highly successful and recently renovated its facilities. Pitino, who has also been linked to the opening at Grand Canyon, could bring some big-time recruits to New Rochelle and potentially help the program schedule bigger non-conference home games thanks to his ties to many former assistants who now run their own programs.

The risk a school like Iona would face is that Pitino wouldn’t be a long-term answer for the school since it is highly unlikely he would stick around for more than a couple of years. The other candidate Zagoria mentioned, Jared Grasso, is more in line as a real successor to Cluess.

Grasso was Cluess’ top assistant for a number of years, is familiar with the MAAC, and is an outstanding recruiter. Right now Grasso is the head coach at Bryant, which has improved significantly since he first arrived.

The Bulldogs won just three games in 2017-2018, the year before Grasso arrived, and have improved to a 15-17 team in just two years. Grasso is also just 39 years old and could be Iona’s next long term head coach if he wants the job.

The debate here for a program like Iona is whether it is worth it for a short-term shot in the arm to hire a big name like Pitino or go for a more logical long-term candidate like Grasso to keep building the program into a mid-major powerhouse. The sexier choice is definitely Pitino, and the added revenue his presence could generate is certainly a factor, but the savvier long-term play would be to add a guy like Grasso that can keep building on the foundation Cluess has laid in New Rochelle.