Iona coach Rick Pitino shares years of experience through a love of storytelling
Who doesn't love a good story?
Iona coach Rick Pitino has a virtual tome of tales from his hall of fame career, and he's certainly not afraid to share them, whether in post-game press conferences or at practice.
"Coach P's seen a lot, he's been around, and he's been coaching basketball longer than I've been alive," Iona junior Daniss Jenkins said. "He's got stories for days, and it's good to just learn. You can never stop learning. Each story he tells, I try to learn something different."
The longtime coach often name-drops his past standout players or pro connections, or reminisces back to the glory days of Kentucky and Louisville, or his two-year turn at Providence, where he sometimes wished he spent more time.
There are also the instances he game-planned for Larry Bird and Michael Jordan, reminding those of his experiences coaching the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics. He's even cherished his recent stint in the Euroleague, coaching Panathinaikos.
"More than anything else, I just constantly share stories with my guys," Pitino said. "I told them about how Michael Jordan comes out for a game and what he does in the beginning. ... I tell them about the air of Michael Jordan. I constantly tell them stories, mostly professional stories and things we accomplished, so they have that same feeling."
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The 70-year old coach has nearly five decades of coaching experience, since making his coaching debut as an assistant at Hawaii in 1974.
Pitino is hardly the cranky grandpa anxious to set this generation straight about how things were done in the good old days.
Instead, he uses past experiences as learning tools and reminders.
Madison Square Garden might feel like it's in an entirely different galaxy from the much smaller, intimate Hynes Center gymnasium, and Final Fours and national championships may seem to be in a different stratosphere, but Pitino has found ways to bridge the gaps.
Sometimes, he'll get assistance from former players and well-known friends, like when NBA All-Star and Elmsford native Donovan Mitchell stepped in to practice last fall.
"It's very authentic with him because it's real-life experiences, it's not hearsay," Iona director of basketball operations and longtime Pitino protege Steve Masiello said. "A lot of people tell you stories. For him, it's life experiences. He knew what it was like to guard Isiah Thomas and he came up schemes to guard Kareem and these guys. He's developed NBA all-stars. He's always using examples of the great ones good and bad, it's something that resonates with players right away.
"It's easy to say sit here and do this, but when you tell a young man who's striving to be a pro, you tell them this is how Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Kobe Bryant, Donovan Mitchell or Gorgui Dieng did it − it makes the buy in go up right away. He's very brilliant with how he presents things because it's a way for him to connect with players right away and our guys love it."
The Gaels will admit though, sometimes, they have no idea who he's referring to, before finding out it's a former basketball great.
"At times, it's people we don't know, and then you gotta do your research," Jenkins said. "He's been around a long time, so you're not going to know every single person he names, so you do your research on it or you ask another coach, 'who is he talking about?' Then they'll tell us, and we understand the message."
To those outside of the program or unfamiliar with Pitino, it might seem like he's big-timing everyone in the room, but his players don't think that's the case. They don't get tired of his tales either.
"The one story I love that he tells is when he had to play Wichita State in the 2013 Final Four and that Louisville, he knew his team was going to struggle offensively, because Wichita State is a great defensive team," Iona senior Berrick JeanLouis said. "He said that Louisville had to be a better defensive team than Wichita State in order for them to win. I feel like we need that as well, because we need to be a great defensive team to win. That's all it is, defense, and then the offense will come."
That 2013 Louisville team entered the NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 seed with championship aspirations, but stylistically, it shares some similarities with the Gaels.
Iona has strong guard play in Jenkins and Walter Clayton Jr., plus standout big men in the frontcourt like Nelly Junior Joseph, a two-time All-MAAC first-team selection. Pitino has utilized his trademark press, and much like the 2013 Cardinals, the current-day Gaels pride themselves on their high-pressure defense.
It will be a steep climb as the No. 13 seed, though.
"I don't think there's anything close to March Madness in the world," Pitino said. "There's so many upsets, so many teams, so many people rooting. It's not like the Super Bowl, which only has two teams. There's so many people right now who think they all have a chance, and certainly we do as well."
The Gaels will face the fourth-seeded UConn Huskies in Friday's NCAA Tournament opening round game.
The Huskies are 25-8 and at one point of the season, they were ranked as high as No. 2 in national team rankings.
"We have to play a near-perfect game to beat UConn," Pitino said. "They're a tremendous team. It's possible. We have terrific guard play, but we've got to keep them off the backboard and stay out of foul trouble. If we can do those two things, we can stay out of foul trouble."
While Pitino has accomplished so much and has been on the winning and losing ends of the big stage, he hasn't pulled off a major NCAA Tournament upset as the coach of a double-digit seeded team.
His 1987 run to the Final Four with Providence certainly had its share of upsets along the way, reaching that point as a No. 6 seed, but of the 23 times he's competed in the NCAA Tournament, he's only been a double-digit seed three times.
In 1983, Pitino and Boston University were seeded 12th, then in 2004, he was a No. 10 seed with Louisville. In his last NCAA Tournament trip in 2021, he and the Gaels were seeded 15th. In each of those three instances, Pitino's teams exited the tournament empty-handed, but maybe this year, the Gaels can defy the odds.
And just maybe, Pitino will have stories about the 2023 Gaels to share with his future players, too.
Follow Eugene Rapay on Twitter at @erapay5 and on Instagram at @byeugenerapay.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Iona's Rick Pitino passes knowledge through NCAA, NBA coaching stories
