HONOLULU — As Iona players filed off the court, disappointed after an 85-81 loss to Southern Methodist in the opening round of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic, the Gaels’ frustrated coach, Rick Pitino, exited through a tunnel in the opposite direction.
He could perhaps be forgiven for going the wrong way. The last time he was at the University of Hawaii in an official capacity, the Stan Sheriff Center did not exist.
Pitino, whose Hall of Fame college basketball career began in controversial fashion at UH in the mid-1970s, spoke to his team at length once he found his way to the correct locker room. At one point, the two-time national champion paused to open the door and shoo away personnel and media within range of the elevated decibel levels emanating from within.
By the time he emerged to speak to the media, Pitino was collected. He warmly greeted Artie Wilson, the Spectrum Sports commentator who, at the time of Pitino’s arrival in the islands as an assistant coach for Bruce O’Neil in the mid-1970s, had just finished his Rainbow Warrior playing career.
After Pitino lamented a potential season-ending injury to forward Berrick JeanLouis, his team’s porous halfcourt defense and a squandered 12-point second-half lead, he was asked by Spectrum News to reflect on his time at UH.
“You know, I loved my two years here,” said Pitino, 70, who wore a palm frond-print collared shirt. “It’s 48 years ago, so it’s changed quite a bit.”
Wilson’s was the first familiar face he’d seen around campus, he said.
A six-game stint as interim coach to close the 1975-76 season gave him his first of more than 1,100 career games (and the first two of 814 wins). Barely out of college at age 22, Pitino, a New Yorker already known as a capable East Coast recruiter, stepped in when O’Neil was fired by the school amid an NCAA investigation.
Pitino, who was eventually implicated in some of the violations for improper player benefits that got UH put on probation for two years, has rarely touched upon his time in the islands. Within two years after leaving Manoa, he’d moved on to Boston University and later took Providence, Kentucky and Louisville to Final Fours, with NBA stints with the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics in between. His Louisville tenure ended in scandal and the Cardinals' 2013 national championship was vacated.
He got another chance at Iona, a small Roman Catholic school in New Rochelle, N.Y., that took a chance on the onetime icon of the sport. Now in his third year, he led the Gaels to 25 wins and a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title last season, and an NCAA Tournament appearance the year before. As Thursday’s game showed, his teams can shoot — the Gaels were 13-for-22 on 3s — press on defense, and press some more.
Since launching his career in the islands, Pitino has rarely looked back. He’d been to two Maui Invitationals, and other than a stopover on Oahu one of those years, said he had not returned until this week’s tournament.
This week, it took a little while for Pitino to get his bearings at a transformed Manoa Lower Campus. To boot, UH played in the Blaisdell Arena in the 1970s.
“It doesn’t look the same,” Pitino said with a smile. “We were like in these little sheds that were our offices back then, so it’s totally different.”
On the court, he was classic Pitino. In front of a gallery of about 100 people, most of whom were classes of local keiki, he patrolled the Sheriff sideline with fervor and animatedly worked to get his players’ attention.
“You have to keep your hands up or we’re going to get destroyed!”
“Bounce pass! Bounce pass! Bounce pass!”
“Get back! Get back!”
Pitino was that feisty the first time Wilson met Pitino, Wilson recalled. The ex-UH guard was shooting around in Klum Gym in 1975 preparing for a chance at a pro career when the first-year assistant Pitino, not knowing Wilson was a former player, tried to usher him out of the building. O’Neil later got the situation straightened out and Wilson ended up taking a role on staff the following year.
“At the end of the day, it’s good to see him now,” Wilson said. “I knew back then because of his New York connections, the people he knew and how connected he was in the city, that he would probably turn into having a great career as far as coaching. He got every opportunity possible.”
Wilson recalled Pitino’s freewheeling style that at times clashed with the islands’ laid-back culture.
“At the time Rick was here, I think he was a young guy who was probably a little more assertive and aggressive than what Hawaii was ready for,” he said. “So, his experience was probably a mixture of positive and negative. People didn’t understand quite the New York way of doing things and he didn’t understand the Hawaii way of doing things. But I think there was an understanding that came about. I knew he would be successful going forward; I just didn’t think it was going to be here in Hawaii.”
Pitino has two more games at the Stan Sheriff. For UH to have a chance at facing its 14th all-time coach on Christmas Day, it would have to lose to Pepperdine in Thursday’s 6:30 p.m. quarterfinal. UH coach Eran Ganot said leading up to the tournament that he’d never crossed paths with Pitino; Tuesday’s Coaches vs. Cancer fundraiser was their first opportunity.
Iona will face Seattle University in Friday’s 11:30 a.m. consolation semifinal.
“We’re a little fatigued and we’ve gotta snap out of it because this is a good tournament,” Pitino said.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.