Rick Pitino, American basketball player and coach
Richard Andrew Pitino (born September 18, 1952) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach for Iona College. He is also the head coach of Greece's senior national team. He has been the head coach of several teams in NCAA Division I and in the NBA, including Boston University (1978–1983), Providence College (1985–1987), the New York Knicks (1987–1989), the University of Kentucky (1989–1997), the Boston Celtics (1997–2001), the University of Louisville (2001–2017), and Panathinaikos of the Greek Basket League and EuroLeague (2018–2020).
Pitino led Kentucky to an NCAA championship in 1996. He is the only coach to lead three different schools (Providence, Kentucky, and Louisville) to a Final Four. In 2013, he was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.In June 2017, the NCAA suspended Pitino for five games of the 2017–18 season for his lack of oversight in an escort sex scandal at the University of Louisville involving recruits. Louisville's national championship from 2013 was eventually vacated as well. In September, Pitino was implicated in a federal investigation involving bribes to recruits, which resulted in Louisville firing him for cause.
In February 2021, as the head coach of the Iona College Men's Basketball Team, he earned his 800th win in his coaching career.