Reunion Season for Rick Pitino

It’s that time of the year for Rick Pitino, with reunions on the agenda. First, he’ll be back at Iona this Saturday, followed by a return to Kentucky a week later in Atlanta.

Iona took a chance on him after his stint at Louisville and his time coaching in Greece. He managed to lead the MAAC school to two NCAA Tournament appearances before making the move to St. John’s in 2023.

Pitino shared a memory from the past week: “The president, Seamus Carey, and athletic director, Matthew Glovaski, flew to Madrid to watch me coach against Real Madrid. We ended up meeting late at an Irish pub with my son, niece, and nephew. We talked about Iona there. I think we were there from around midnight to 1 p.m. Then they made me an offer.” It was kind of a whirlwind, really.

He had just 48 hours to leave Greece to get to London, or else he wouldn’t have been able to return due to the new coronavirus restrictions. It all came together so quickly.

Iona has since moved on, and Dan Gerriot is now at the helm. The Gaels are off to a solid 8-3 start, and Dan spent the last seven years as an assistant with the NBA’s Cavaliers and Pelicans.

Interestingly, both Iona and St. John’s have faced off against Quinnipiac. St. John’s won their season opener against them, but Iona recently lost to them in New Rochelle.

Pitino recounted a conversation in the offseason: “The president called, and Iona mentioned wanting to play at Madison Square Garden again. I told them, ‘Sure, let’s do it.’ It feels like a long time since they were last there.”

He added, “I’d love to see this become a holiday matchup every year. The crowd there is just fantastic.”

This upcoming game will mark the first meeting between St. John’s and Iona since 2017, where the Red Storm came out on top by ten points at the Garden. It looks like they’ll be expecting at least 15,000 fans in attendance.