ATLANTIC CITY, NJ (Mar. 8, 2023) – Iona University head coach Rick Pitino claimed his second straight Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Men’s Basketball Coach of the Year award in 2022-23, as voted on by the league’s 11 head coaches.
In his third season at the helm of the Gaels, the Hall of Fame coach led his Iona squad to its second-consecutive Regular Season title, finishing the MAAC stanza with a league-best mark of 17-3 and overall best record of 24-7. It is also the second straight season that the Gaels have secured the No. 1 overall seed in the MAAC Championship field, clinching a MAAC-leading 13th Regular Season crown along the way.
Under Pitino’s guidance this season, Iona was a force both offensively and defensively, ending the regular season as MAAC leaders in 13 different statistical categories, including winning percentage. On the offensive end of the court, the Gaels paced the MAAC in scoring offense, scoring margin, assists, assists to turnover ratio, effective field goal percentage, fast break points, and field goal percentage. Defensively, Iona was the conference leader in blocks, blocks per game, field goal percentage defense, turnover margin, forced turnovers and turnovers per game. In addition to leading the MAAC, the Gaels rank second nationally in blocks and 17th in assists to turnover ratio.
Along with Pitino, two of his players earned MAAC hardware today, with sophomore guard Walter Clayton Jr. and senior guard Berrick JeanLouis being named as MAAC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, respectively. He also coached a quartet of all-league players in 2022-23, with Clayton and Nelly Junior Joseph garnering First Team honors, Daniss Jenkins being named to the Second Team, and Cruz Davis making the All-Rookie Team.
Pitino’s Coach of the Year award is the eighth overall in program history. He becomes just the third coach in league history to win back-to-back Coach of the Year accolades, the first since Monmouth’s King Rice in 2015-16 and 2016-17.
The 2022-23 campaign culminates with the 2023 Hercules Tires MAAC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships from March 7-11 at Atlantic City's Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall for the fourth consecutive year. For all information regarding the 2023 Hercules Tires MAAC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships, please visit
MAACSports.com/basketball and by following @MAACHoops and #MAACHoops on Twitter. For tickets to the 2023 Hercules Tires MAAC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships, please visit
ticketmaster.com.
About the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference:
With 11 institutions strongly bound by the sound principles of quality and integrity in academics and excellence in athletics, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) is in its 42nd year of competition during the 2022-23 academic year. Current conference members include: Canisius College, Fairfield University, Iona University, Manhattan College, Marist College, Mount St. Mary’s University, Niagara University, Quinnipiac University, Rider University, Saint Peter’s University, and Siena College.
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