Rick Pitino says he has 'no idea' what coaching future holds

ALBANY, N.Y. — After his final game of his third season at Iona, Rick Pitino didn't know whether he'd be back for a fourth — or if he'd be coaching somewhere else.

The 70-year-old Pitino, who reached the NCAA Tournament with Iona for the second time after a long, storied Hall of Fame career at Boston University, Providence, Kentucky, Louisville and the NBA, remains St. John's No. 1 target, sources told ESPN's Jeff Borzello.

The two sides have had discussions, but no deal has been finalized at this point, sources said, but the search has remained focused on Pitino and no other serious candidates have emerged.

But will he stay at Iona or will he go?

«I really don't have an answer to it, to be honest with ya,» Pitino said. «I have no idea if it is or isn't because I've focused everything on this game.»

For a half, it looked like Pitino might have gotten his first-ever win as a double-digit seed as a head coach. Iona led Connecticut at halftime, 39-37 — a half he called the best half his team has played all year.

But that would not last. Connecticut more-than-doubled up Iona in the second half, coasting to an 87-63 win sending Pitino into the coaching questions he fielded as often the day before the Gaels' first round NCAA game as he did afterward.

Before he arrived at the podium for his postgame press conference, Pitino walked through the hallways of MVP Arena in Albany. He wished luck to a Drake basketball player — Drake and Miami were playing the following game — and then stopped to talk for a brief moment with P.J. Carlesimo, the former Seton Hall head coach and now-ESPN and radio analyst. Flanked by an armed police officer, Pitino walked by the Iona band before he ran into Connecticut coach Dan Hurley.

He and Hurley