CRAWFORD | Rick Pitino's big, fat, Greek comeback: Why not?

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Rick Pitino is getting back into coaching in the Euroleague, reportedly with a storied program in Greece.

His agent, Drew Rosenhaus, told The New York Times that he has agreed to a deal to coach six-time Euroleague champion Panathinaikos. The Athens-based franchise is perhaps the most tradition-rich in Greece, but has fallen on some recent hard times.

In other words, it’s right in Pitino’s wheelhouse. That’s his whole resume. In any language.

Yes, this team has a, shall we say, colorful billionaire owner, Dimitris Giannakopoulos, who recently burst into the officials’ locker room and threatened to kill them and their families. After a win. Dude sounds like he would fit right in here. At the very least, it's proof that Kentucky isn't the only place where people lose their heads over officiating.

All right, so it’s not perfect. But it is a start.

That’s what one of his former assistants, Bellarmine coach Scott Davenport, told me Thursday night. It’s a start. And that’s all Pitino needs. And if he needs to go nearly 6,000 miles to get that chance, that new start, so be it.

It’s also a chance for Pitino to get away. Away from Louisville. From Kentucky. From the Southern District of New York. Away from everything and back to what he wants to do.

In all the adversity Pitino has faced in life, he has fought back by doing what he does best – winning basketball games. Coaching basketball players. Breathing life into teams that others had left for dead, or close to it.

The problem this time is that Pitino couldn’t fight back because basketball in the U.S., in the NBA, in the NCAA, had confiscated his gloves.

In Europe, he gets them back. And he gets to see the world, starting with one of the oldest (and richest) cities in the world. Panathinaikos plays host to CSKA Moscow on Dec. 28 at the Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens, then they get Greek rival Olympiacos. On Jan. 9 they play host to Bayern Munich – and former Bellarmine and New Albany standout Brayden Hobbs. Two days later, they’re playing in Barcelona.

Have to tell you, I’ve heard of worse ways to make a living.

And if you love coaching, and need to be back in the game – and Pitino clearly does – then why not?

The older I get, the more I start to think that if somebody gives you a chance to do something new, and it dovetails with what you love, then it’s a gift. No, this isn’t coaching the Knicks. But it’s basketball. It’s outside of all the things that have been eating at you from the inside for the past two years.

I know, people are going to say this is desperate. They’re going to shake their heads. It’s not going to matter. Pitino is going to be in Greece, pending family approval this weekend. Or Barcelona, or Tel Aviv, or Istanbul, or wherever Panathinaikos happens to be that week.

It beats sitting around podcasting and waiting for the phone to ring. It beats sitting around and watching other coaches directly linked to college basketball’s most recent scandals – including some who worked for him – continuing to coach while he’s on the sideline.

This way, Pitino won’t hear the noise.

He’ll be away. And maybe, on his way back.