Rick Pitino has accepted the head coaching job with the St. John's basketball program, but he immediately took to Twitter to bid farewell and thank everyone from his time with the Iona basketball program. He started with a heartfelt message to the school president and athletic director.

“Thank you from the bottom of my heart to @SeamusCarey13, President of Iona,” Rick Pitino wrote on Twitter. “Thank you to @mglovs23, the AD and to all those people who touched our lives.”

He tweeted a follow-up to the message as well.

“Follow up, I'm not sad it ended. I'm so grateful it happened,” Pitino said on Twitter.

Pitino then tweeted a message to the players he had over his three years with the Iona basketball program.

“To my players, the last three years. All I can say is you know how much I love you,” Pitino said on Twitter.

Pitino is coming off of a 27-8 season with Iona. The Gaels went 17-3 in conference play, winning the regulars-season title in the MAAC, and won the MAAC tournament as well. Iona's season came to an end in the first round of the NCAA Tournament with a loss to the UConn Huskies by the score of 87-63.

Now, the UConn Huskies will be on of Pitino's conference foes in the Big East conference. The hope is that Pitino can bring St. John's back to prominence.

It has been a big day for the Big East conference, as Pitino has take the St. John's job, and Ed Cooley left Providence to take the job at Georgetown. The hires could change the landscape of the conference in the near future.