Rick Pitino not a candidate for notable Big East job

Iona College men’s basketball head coach Rick Pitino on the sidelines during their game between Iona College and Morgan State at Iona College in New Rochelle, Dec. 8, 2020. Photo Credit: MARK VERGARI/THE JOURNAL NEWS

Rick Pitino has been rumored as a possible candidate for a few high-profile head coach jobs, but we can apparently cross one big program off the list.

Pitino has been linked to the Georgetown head coach vacancy, but ESPN’s Jeff Goodman says the 70-year-old is not under consideration for that job. Penn State’s Micah Shrewsberry is viewed as a leading candidate.

Penn State’s Micah Shrewsberry has emerged as one of the leading candidates for the Georgetown opening, source told @Stadium.

I’m told Rick Pitino is currently not under consideration.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) March 11, 2023

Georgetown on Thursday finally fired Patrick Ewing, under whom the program had completely tanked. The Hoyas went 7-25 this season, a year after going 6-25 (including a 0-19 conference performance).

Georgetown used to be a dominant program in college basketball and needs to regain that form. Pitino is the type of coach who could turn them around, but the Hoyas are not interested at this time.

Pitino has impressed as the head coach of Iona University over the last three seasons. Iona has gone 63-21 (.750) during Pitino’s tenure, including a stellar 26-7 record this season en route to the MAAC regular season championship.

There have been rumors linking Pitino to at least one other top program.