Will Rick Pitino ever be back at Kentucky to be honored for what he did for UK’s program?

Derek Anderson waved to fans during Saturday's celebration. (Vicky Graff Photo)

During the Leach Report/Sunday Morning Sports Talk on WLAP (630 AM) we discussed the 1996-98 Kentucky teams being celebrated during Saturday’s win over Tennessee for their NCAA Tournament dominance those three seasons.

Co-hosts Jack Pilgrim, Anthony White and myself agreed that former coach Rick Pitino — who led UK to the 1996 national title and the 1997 title game — should be welcomed back in the future if there is another ceremony for these teams and his schedule permits.

Not everyone agreed, especially on social media, with our stance.

Tubby Smith was on Pitino’s staff as an assistant and then came back to UK as head coach when UK won the 1998 national championship.

“Obviously, I think he should be celebrated and honored because of his contributions to continuing the great legacy of Kentucky basketball,” Smith said. “Kentucky basketball is bigger than any one of us. Adolph Rupp had a pretty good impact on it, but it’s bigger than any of us, any players, anybody else that may have been a part of the program. That’s what makes it so great.”

Pitino took over at UK after the program went on probation under former coach Eddie Sutton. Pitino had a remarkable 219–50 record in his eight seasons (1989-97) and went to five Elite Eights and three Final Fours.

After losing the 1997 national championship game to Arizona, Pitino left Kentucky to return to the NBA as  head coach of the Boston Celtics. Later he came back to coach rival Louisville and had off-court issues there.

Jared Prickett played for Pitino for five years but was redshirted during the 1996 national championship season. He thinks Pitino should come back to UK to be recognized for reviving the program.

Time heals all wounds or whatever,” Prickett said Saturday before UK beat Tennessee. “He did a lot of great things for the school and brought the program back and helped it out a lot. So I have a lot of respect for coach Pitino.”

Prickett said he still believes he was one of the first people that Pitino told he was leaving UK for Boston.

“He’s like, ‘I got this opportunity to go to the Boston Celtics and get paid all this money. Like three and a half times what I’m making now and my dream was to coach at UK and my dream was to coach the Boston Celtics,’” Prickett said.

“So hindsight is always 20/20. It would have been great if he stayed here, but if he did, you never have Tubby come in and do what he did here. You never have Cal come in.”

Certainly that was a perspective I had not heard from anyone else and he’s right that Pitino should be appreciated for what he did — or at least that is my opinion. Yours can be different and that’s okay.

Former Wildcat Derek Anderson was on the 1996 and 1997 teams (he didn’t play in the 1997 NCAA Tournament because of a knee injury). He was in Rupp Arena Saturday along with Prickett, Myron Anthony, Anthony Epps, Heshimu Evans, Cameron Mills, Nazr Mohammed, Jeff Sheppard, Saul Smith and Wayne Turner. So was former assistant coach Winston Bennett. Five other players — Allen Edwards, Tony Delk, Ryan Hogan, Scott Padgett and Mark Pope — recorded video messages that were shown at Rupp Arena

Anderson called Pitino a “great friend” and said he “loved” him for looking out for his well-being when he didn’t play when he was hurt in 1997.

“I think we should always bring him back and keep him close to the university for what he’s done for all of us, not just the fans or the university, but for the players.,” Anderson said.

“I think we’ve all collectively gotten something from him and we should give it back in return and reward him with a kind gesture or something. So I think it’d be great if we could bring him back.”

John Thompson tweeted this to us Sunday morning: “It’s time to bury the hatchet with Pitino. I’m 46 and those 90’s teams were something to watch. Still get goosebumps watching those teams play.”

Tony Russell was a manager on the 1996 national championship team.

“We all love that man & we always will,” Russell tweeted about Pitino. “He made us spend midnight to 4 AM in the gym having practice on a Saturday night after the team had beaten Georgia by 20 points that afternoon, which wasn’t good enough.  And that’s why we were the best, ever. #BBN should love @RealPitino.”

Many UK fans still dislike Pitino for the obscene gesture he made leaving the Rupp Arena court after a 2015 loss to John Calipari and UK. He gestured to fans but the fan who said he was the one that “Pitino flipped off” even reached out to us.

“I was as passionate as anyone against RP (Rick Pitino) because it made the rivalry better but I am now to the point I’d like to see @RealPitino come back to UK & be honored,” @tgh3316 tweeted to Sunday Morning Sports during our discussion.

So will Pitino ever come back to Kentucky to be honored? Maybe but it likely will not be any time soon.