By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
With the FIBA U20 EuroBasket 2025 underway in Heraklion, Rick Pitino is following the action.
His return to Greece combined with his position as player development coach across national teams of Greece, focusing mainly on youngsters, and St. John’s player Lefteris Liotopoulos suiting up for the Greek U20 team in the international tournament.
Pitino, 74, reunited with the Hellenic Basketball Federation in 2024, following a stint as the head coach of the senior national team of Greece in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2021 in Victoria.
Additional experience in Greece for the experienced tactician went into the club level and Panathinaikos, serving as the head coach from 2018 to 2020 in the EuroLeague and domestic competitions. He captured two Greek League championships.
Taking over in 2023, he is the current play-caller of St. John’s with a 20-13 record in the 2023-24 journey was followed up with a 31-5 tally, sending the Red Storm into the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2019. The postseason run in San Francisco ended in the Round of 32 with a loss against Arkansas.
A member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Pitino previously worked for Boston University, Providence, Kentucky, Louisville, and Iona. Success went into leading Kentucky to an NCAA championship in 1996 and winning a second national championship with Louisville in 2013, which was later vacated. Besides college basketball, he was also named head coach of the New York Knicks and the Boston Celtics in the NBA.