Report: Rick Pitino negotiating with Louisville, Kentucky, Michigan, Iona for future matchups

Rick Pitino has coached at several big-name programs for over a decade and a half at the collegiate level. Now, coming out of his second season at St. John’s, he’s looking at putting a few of them on the schedule for the Red Storm.

While in San Antonio on Friday — where he co-received, along with Auburn’s Bruce Pearl, the award for AP National Coach of the Year — Pitino discussed non-conference games and exhibitions with the likes of Louisville, Kentucky, Michigan, and Iona. Some of those would be in Madison Square Garden but would include returns for him to the bluegrass for games at the KFC Yum! Center as well as Rupp Arena.

“Rick Pitino says he’s negotiating with Louisville for a non-conference game at MSG that he would return at Louisville,” Adam Zagoria tweeted on Friday. “Also says St. John’s is talking to Kentucky for an (exhibition) at Rupp and to Michigan for an exhibition at MSG. Also said they’re talking to Iona.”

The bit involving Kentucky isn’t necessarily new. Since the hire of Mark Pope, one of his former players, at UK, Pitino has spoken highly of the program with multiple reports and comments from both sides that the Wildcats and Red Storm would want to schedule some game against one another in the future.

However, Louisville and Iona, his two prior jobs to his current one, are new parts of the conversation. Of the two, though, a return to play the Cardinals would be quite the sight for Pitino versus Pat Kelsey.

Pitino is 885-311 (.740) with two national titles won, one official and one vacated, in his career as a collegiate head coach since 1975. His four last schools make up most of that resumé with Kentucky (219-50), Louisville (416-143), Iona (64-22), and now St. John’s (51-18). All the programs mentioned here as options are also all in great places currently with the Wildcats (24-12), Cardinals (27-8), and Wolverines (27-10) in their debut seasons respectively under Pope, Kelsey, and Dusty May, with Kentucky and Michigan coming off appearances in the Sweet 16, while the Gaels now have a new coach too in Dan Geriot.

These would all lead to great, early-season matchups, whether exhibitions or actual games, between big basketball brands. There’d then be a little something extra in it if Pitino were to face either of his former schools in the commonwealth with Kentucky or Louisville.