In 2017, the NCAA was shaken up by an FBI investigation that put a permanent stain on some of college basketball’s greatest coaches. Among those wrapped up in the charges was longtime Louisville coach Rick Pitino, who was fired by the University in 2017.
“Looking back on it now, I deserved to be fired by Louisville,” Pitino said in an interview with WFAN. Pitino was accused by the FBI of taking part in a pay for play scheme that sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to Louisville recruits.
Pitino maintains his innocence but says that his failed leadership is what became deserving of his termination. Pitino addresses the case in his 2018 book “Pitino: My Story.”
The two-time National Championship Head Coach lucked out in what could’ve been a career-ending allegation and landed a job at Iona College in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, a much smaller conference than the former SEC and ACC coach is used to working in.
Pitino said in the interview that Iona will be his “last stop” before retirement.
