“It doesn’t have the bells and whistles I had at Louisville and Kentucky, but none of that bothers me,” said Pitino, 69, adding that as long as a supportive administration remains in place, he will be content at Iona. He enjoys the bus rides to games — he’ll take his first flight to a conference game this weekend against Canisius and Niagara — and cherishes working with players and developing a team ethic.
“It’s an easy lifestyle — to coach kids that really care,” Pitino said. “We’re not worried about ‘Let’s get a N.I.L. [name, image and likeness] for $150,000.’ Nobody worries about that; you just worry about playing ball, getting better.”
That has always been a core tenet of Pitino’s teams.
They have rarely been populated by rafts of future N.B.A. stars — the Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell was among the few exceptions at Louisville, with a few more at Kentucky. Rather, Pitino looks for high-upside prospects who have the desire to work at their craft.
This is what drew three transfers who are starters — the graduate guards Tyson Jolly (Southern Methodist) and Elijah Joiner (Tulsa) and junior forward Quinn Slazinski (Louisville) — to Iona after last season.
“I’d say it’s been a process,” Jolly, who started his college career at Baylor and is now at his fourth school, said with a smile. Pitino would get on him for picking up his dribble and making a pass after beating his man off the dribble. He was worried about dribbling into trouble, but Pitino wanted him to put further stress on the defense.