Former Louisville head coach Rick Pitino is making his return to basketball as head coach of Panathinaikos of Greece, according to multiple reports. Pitino, 66, was fired a year ago after an FBI probe into a series of scandalous events at Louisville.
ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reports that Pitino will travel to Athens shortly after Christmas to take over "a talented, but underachieving, roster that includes several former NBA players." He is expected to coach his first game on December 27.
Pitino will take over for head coach Xavi Pascual, who was fired after last night's loss, as Panathinaikos has started the season 6-7 in the EuroLeague, which has the team sitting in 10th place. According to ESPN, Panathinaikos' roster includes Nick Calathes, Georgios Papagiannis, Keith Langford, Deshaun Thomas, James Gist and Thanasis Antetokounmpo, the older brother of Milwaukee Bucks All-Star Giannis.
Pitino has won 770 games over his college coaching career, made seven Final Four appearances (five with Louisville) and won two national championships - 1996 with Kentucky and 2013 with Louisville. However, the latter has since been vacated as the result of an investigation into inappropriate recruiting parties from 2010-2014, in which prostitutes were paid to have sex with the players.