Rick Pitino went as far as he possibly could — almost 5,000 miles and over one ocean — from home to earn his first win as a Division I head coach.

It took almost 45 years for Pitino to return to Long Island as a head coach, and when he did, none of his New York-based family or childhood friends — or anyone else, for that matter — could watch him make another bit of history.

Pitino continued penning the latest chapter in the long, strange trip that is his career Saturday afternoon, when the Hall of Famer earned his first win as Iona’s head coach as the Gaels beat Hofstra, 82-74.

“I didn’t live too far from here,” said Pitino, whose remnants of a Long Island accent belie the fact it’s been almost 50 years since he graduated from St. Dominic’s in Oyster Bay. “My wife’s from Hicksville. We used to go to Borelli’s all the time, the pizza place right down the street. I saw it was still there.”

And, somewhat remarkably, so is Pitino, who, with Saturday’s win, became the fourth Division I coach — along with longtime peers and rivals Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim, and Cliff Ellis — to win a game in six decades. (Yeah, but have any of those guys beaten Hofstra with three different programs over 34 years?)

Game underway. Rick Pitino has now opposed Hofstra w/three schools (Providence 12/29/86, Louisville 11/12/13). Only others to do that:

Jim Lynam (Fairfield, American, St. Joe's)
Nick Macarchuk (Canisius, Fordham, Stony Brook)
Jim Baron (St. Bonaventure, Rhode Island & Canisius)

— Jerry Beach (@JerryBeach73) December 5, 2020

Pitino’s first Iona victory was the 771st of his career (or, perhaps, the 648th — more on that shortly) and his first Division I win since Mar. 17, 2017, when Louisville beat Jacksonville State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Exactly seven months later, Pitino was fired by Louisville after the school was implicated in an FBI investigation into corruption in college basketball. Federal authorities alleged Adidas gave $100,000 to the family of Brian Bowen, who committed to Louisville in 2017 but never played collegiately. Pitino denied any knowledge of the payment to Bowen’s family and was never charged in the case.

It was the second scandal of the decade for Louisville. In 2015, an escort said she was paid $10,000 by staffer Andre McGee to coordinate parties for players and recruits at the team dorm. Pitino denied knowledge of the parties, but the NCAA vacated Louisville’s 2013 national title, as well as 123 wins from 2011-15, because “…student-athletes competed while ineligible.” 

Most of the stories written following Pitino’s dismissal read like coaching eulogies. Despite his Hall of Fame stature, Pitino acknowledged his career — which began with two home wins as the interim head coach at Hawaii in early 1976 — might be over. He ended up coaching in Greece for two seasons before Iona hired him in March.

Pitino said coaching Iona, a small private Catholic school, allowed him to remedy his biggest mistake, which was spending just two seasons at Providence, a small private Catholic school, before leaving following the Friars’ Final Four run in 1987.

Pitino has also said his biggest regret was leaving Kentucky in 1997 for the Boston Celtics. Of course, there's nothing wrong with tailoring the message to the audience, which serves as a reminder Pitino is a throwback to the days of the media-savvy head coaches who came of age when the only way to promote themselves and their programs were via interviews with traditional media outlets.

And in most of the interviews he’s conducted since he was hired, the only man to ever win national titles with two schools — and a man who once signed a 10-year, $50 million contract with the Celtics and was famous for his wanderlust in his 30s — has steadfastly insisted he’s going to finish his career coaching in Iona’s cozy on-campus gym and riding the busses throughout the MAAC.

But Pitino, who turned 68 in September, isn’t Larry Brown — he spent 16 seasons at Louisville and Iona is just his fifth job since arriving at Kentucky prior to the 1989-90 season — so there’s some believability to his claims he wants to try and build Iona into the Gonzaga or Saint Mary’s of the east.

“I was offered a couple jobs before Iona two years ago and it’s just not where I wanted to live,” Pitino said. “I wanted to go back home. Iona’s brought something to me that was really special. I can go back home, close to my family. I wanted a small Catholic school — perfect. I wanted a real charming little campus — perfect. So it has everything that I wanted to finish a career on.”

The homecoming was a touch bittersweet for Pitino. Due to pandemic restrictions, there were no fans in attendance and Iona traveled to and from the game on the same day, so there was no chance to visit with family and friends such as New York Islanders president and general manager Lou Lamoriello, who hired Pitino at Providence in 1985.

“I just bought Islanders season tickets, so I’m excited about that,” Pitino said. “Being back home — I started my career here, I get the opportunity to end my career here, I’m still very young in spirit and very passionate about the game of basketball.”

Regardless of the unfamiliar nature of the setting, the traits that have made Pitino one of the most accomplished coaches in history were on display Saturday, when the Gaels were in control against the defending CAA champions despite returning just four scholarship players from last season and being five days removed from their only game of the season.

Iona was shut down for two weeks last month due to a Tier 1 positive coronavirus case and has lost at least three games to cancelation, including Thursday’s scheduled home opener against Merrimack.

“We’re trying just to schedule games on the fly, which is not an easy thing to do,” Pitino said.

Pitino — eschewing his usual three-piece suit in favor of a sweater pulled over a shirt and checkerboard tie that appeared to match Iona’s school colors — said he started Robert Brown at center because he wanted Brown to absorb the fouls against the Pride’s all-CAA big man, Isaac Kante. Brown drew four fouls in eight minutes while Nelly Junior Joseph, who started Monday’s season opener, had a double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds) off the bench and helped limit Kante, who had 17 rebounds against Rutgers on Nov. 29, to eight rebounds, all defensive.

Iona played with Pitino’s familiar aggressiveness on both ends of the floor. The full-court press provided constant pressure to Hofstra, which is trying out Caleb Burgess, Shawndarius Cowart and Jalen Ray at point guard following the graduation of Desure Buie, who set the program record for games played. 

Hofstra’s zone defense gave fits to most CAA opponents last season — the Pride allowed an average of 55 points in its three CAA Tournament victories — but the Gaels displayed the rapid ball movement synonymous with Pitino’s previous teams, including the Cinderella Providence squad that rode the then-new 3-point shot to the Final Four, and found enough holes in the zone to shoot 10-of-30 from 3-point land.

The 30 attempts from beyond the arc were the most against Hofstra in a loss since Northeastern was 14-of-31 from 3-point land in an 82-74 win in the 2019 CAA championship game. In addition, the 82 points were the most allowed by the Pride since an 88-61 loss to William & Mary on Jan. 2.

Afterward, Pitino sounded as if he couldn’t wait for the Gaels’ next practice, or their next game.

“We’re running 45-minute player development sessions with the players,” Pitino said. “We have a lot of film sessions, and then, obviously, we’re practicing real hard. We’re doing just as many mental things as physical things right now, because when you have 15 new players trying to learn a style — it’s every phase of the game.

“The way you rebound and keep the ball high. The way you run the ball into your hands. The way you play a pick-and-roll on the side as well as the top The way you pass it. I’m trying to get the guys to throw more bounce passes, like Euro League players do. And tonight they did a great job of that. We got two layups off bounce passes.”

The win extended another remarkable streak for Pitino, whose college teams have not been more than one game under .500 since Kentucky was 6-8 following a loss to Louisiana State (and a freshman center named Shaquille O’Neal) on Jan. 13, 1990. That streak may be endangered this season as Pitino — who noted his first Kentucky team finished .500 and his first Louisville team only reached the NIT — molds inexperienced Iona into his image.

But if history is any indication, the Gaels will soon win big and continue to win big for as long as Pitino is there — which, as he suggested while speaking a few miles from his childhood home and charming a local audience one more time, might be a little longer than anyone anticipated.

“After this first win, I’ve already asked my AD, who’s right here, for a two-year extension,” Pitino said with a grin. “He granted (it to) me, but I have to take a 15 percent pay cut in the last two years.”

Jerry Beach has covered Hofstra sports since arriving on campus in the fall of 1993, when Wayne Chrebet was a junior wide receiver wearing No. 3, Butch van Breda Kolff was the men’s basketball coach for the East Coast Conference champions and Jay Wright was a little-known yet surely well-dressed UNLV assistant coach. Check out Jerry’s book about the 2000 World Series here and follow him on Twitter at @JerryBeach73.