March Madness 2023: Where is Iona University?

Iona University is in the NCAA Tournament as the champions of the MAAC. Where is the program located in the tri-state area?

March Madness has made legends out of small schools, including MAAC champion Saint Peter’s Cinderella run to the Elite Eight as a 15-seed last year. The Peacocks didn’t get back to the NCAA Tournament this season, but Iona University will look to make their own mark in 2023.

Where is Iona University located?

Iona University is a private Roman Catholic college located in New Rochelle, New York. The school was founded in 1940 and currently has an enrollment of just under 4,000 students split between its main campus and a satellite campus in Bronxville, New York.

Fans of the NCAA Tournament may be more familiar with the program from its Iona College days but the school achieved university status prior to the 2022-23 academic year.

Iona University basketball NCAA Tournament history

The Gaels are the MAAC’s most successful program, reaching the NCAA Tournament 16 times since their first appearance in 1979. Most of those appearances have come via the MAAC’s automatic bid to March Madness but Iona actually earned an at-large appearance in 2012 under head coach Tim Cluess, who guided the Gaels to six NCAA Tournament berths, including four straight from 2016-2019.

There have been a few close calls for Iona over the years but the Gaels are just 1-15 in March Madness. The lone victory came in 1980 and was vacated when the NCAA discovered that star center Jeff Ruland had signed with an agent in-season, making him ineligible for the game.

How long has Rick Pitino coached at Iona?

The current head coach at Iona is Hall-of-Famer Rick Pitino, who was hired in 2020 after Cluess stepped down due to health concerns. The Gaels gave Pitino the opportunity to return to college basketball after stepping away from the sport due to rules violations at Louisville.

Pitino has done a lot of winning for the Gaels, going 64-21 with a pair of MAAC regular season titles and NCAA Tournament appearances in three years. With the NCAA officially clearing Pitino of all wrongdoing at Louisville earlier this year, it appears likely that he will receive plenty of interest from high-major programs looking for a quick fix to their struggles.