Rick Pitino Says He Was 'Blackballed' from CBB Before Becoming Iona Head Coach

Iona men's basketball coach Rick Pitino appeared on the Dan Patrick Show Monday and discussed what led him to the job as well as his next moves.

"I was blackballed incorrectly for two-and-a-half years," he said of his time away from college basketball.

In an interview with WFAN, Pitino took full responsibility for his actions and said he "deserved to be fired by Louisville" (around 2:30 mark):

Pitino was named Iona's next men's basketball head coach on Saturday.

He also noted he was considering Providence and Holy Cross before landing in his current spot:

The coach emphatically said he wouldn't schedule a matchup against Louisville, but there could be a game against another of his former teams. 

"I would love to schedule Kentucky in the Garden in the Jimmy V Classic," he said Monday, per Adam Zagoria of the New York Times. "I think that would be a great draw and that would be exciting and I hope John [Calipari] would entertain that."

The 67-year-old Pitino had been coaching Panathinaikos of the Euroleague and Greek Basket League prior to striking a deal with the Gaels.

A two-time NCAA Division I national champion, Pitino is one of men's college basketball's most decorated coaches.

The owner of a 770-271 coaching record at five Division I stops, Pitino also led the New York Knicks for two seasons and the Boston Celtics for three-plus years.

He's most known for his times at Kentucky and Louisville. At UK, Pitino led the 1995-96 team to a national championship. At Louisville, he took the 2012-13 Cardinals all the way.

The NCAA record shows a vacated title for the 2012-13 season, however, as the organization imposed sanctions in response to a sex scandal during Pitino's era.

Jacob Bogage and Roman Stubbs of the Washington Post provided details in a February 20, 2018 piece:

"The program was also stripped of 123 wins dating from 2012 to 2015 after an NCAA investigation found that a member of the coaching staff had provided prostitutes and strippers to players and recruits. Louisville also must pay the NCAA roughly $600,000 in fines, interim university president Greg Postel said at a news conference Tuesday, which stems from revenue the school earned by NCAA tournament appearances from 2012 to 2015."

The FBI also put Louisville and other schools under investigation for a "pay for play" scandal. Thomas Novelly of the Courier-Journal wrote that "an Adidas executive conspired to pay $100,000 to the family of a top-ranked national recruit to play at Louisville and to represent Adidas when he turned pro." Novelly mentioned other allegations as well.

Pitino denied knowing about any of the incidents, but the University of Louisville Athletic Association board fired him in October 2017 for "just cause," per Jeff Borzello of ESPN. He joined Panathinaikos in Dec. 2018 before deciding to return to the college ranks.

"I took the job wanting it to be my last job," Pitino told Zach Braziller of the New York Post in a phone interview.

"I spoke to numerous people about it, and I’m glad I’m ending [my career] with a small Catholic school that has the potential to be built up into a major power, regardless of what people think. I’m super excited about it. It’s a perfect fit at a perfect time in my life."

Iona, which made the NCAA tournament each season from 2016-2019, finished 12-16 last year.