Rick Pitino enjoys sports, including the New York Yankees, but he will be at the UK-Vandy football game and UK basketball practice this weekend. (X Photo)
First we found out that former Kentucky men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino was a NIL contributor for Kentucky football and coach Mark Stoops.
That was a bit unexpected since Pitino eventually coached at Louisville after leaving UK for the NBA and is not exactly beloved by a lot of UK fans even though that number dropped after he totally embraced Kentucky hiring Mark Pope to succeed John Calipari. Pope transferred to UK to play for Pitino and was a valuable player on the 1996 national championship team.
Now Pitino is coaching at St. John’s but he’s coming back to the Bluegrass. He posted on social media Tuesday he would be flying to Lexington for the UK-Vanderbilt football game Saturday night.
“I’ll be on the sidelines helping coach (Mark) Stoops,” Pitino posted on X.
However, he’s also planning to attend a Kentucky basketball practice according to Pope.
“’I’m excited. Coach hit (messaged) me a week ago. And he kind of asked me but he really told me that he was coming to practice,” Pope said at UK’s Media Day Tuesday. So, believe it or not, I said that to the staff. I said, ‘Guys, you’ll have to carry the day because this is my guy coming in here, Coach P.
“I’m really — listen, anytime I get to spend time with Coach is time incredibly well spent for me. I love him.”
Pope admitted even though he played at Kentucky, he’s still trying to “learn the job” as coach at Kentucky.
“The one thing I know for sure is that it’s the greatest job in all of basketball. There’s no place I’d rather be. So I know those things for a fact,” Pope said.
“And I think it is going to be certainly the most challenging thing I’ve done in my career as a player or a coach, even more challenging than surviving coach Pitino, which is saying something, really.
“But I’ve definitely learned that that’s true. I expected that to be the case when I got here.”
14 Responses
You were taught by the best Coach… Now is your time to shine.. Go Big Blue
Good for coach Pitino. Good for Ky. fans. After all the accomplishments Pitino led during his tenure…..the ending left a lot of hard feelings among many Ky. fans. Time is a great healer! The healing has begun, and his recent sharing of his love for his Ky experience
has helped to speed this healing. The relationship and respect between Pope and Pitino
sends a reminder of what a good coach Rick was and is. Hopefully UK fans get to cheer Rick at the Vandy game, but regardless Rick is making a lot of this history a more positive
recollection. Welcome back and allowing UK fans to do some healing as well. It makes the memory of all the accomplishments during his time at UK more what the should be…..great
memories!
The only hard feelings I have toward Pitino is him leaving for the NBA. I don’t care that he coached at Louisville. He was looking, they had an opening, and he took the job; big deal. He had no loyalty to UK or the fans, so why not.
I still think he is one of, if not the best college coach in the country. As for him personally, I don’t think there is any way UK could have "safely" hired him to replace Cal. Pitino has a lot of baggage and there are things in his past where you would question some things he might be doing, so I am glad we don’t have to worry about that.
As a coach, I would take Pitino any day over Cal, but I am not going to judge either one’s personal life because I don’t know enough of the facts, and frankly, I don’t want to know.
I still appreciate all that Pitino did for UK at a very difficult time for the basketball program. He was one of very few that could do what he did for UK.
One more thing, my being upset that Pitino left UK for the NBA is just the fact that he was building some of the best teams we have ever seen. One right after the other. It was great and it felt good as a fan. I just hate that he didn’t stay and I often think of what he would have accomplished if he had stayed at UK.
Water under the bridge!!!
IMO it would have been much worse if he had left us and gone straight to Louisville.
He admitted later that he regretted leaving Kentucky. He said he was happy here and he shouldn’t have "messed with happiness."
If Pitino I would have stayed at Kentucky we would have passed UCLA for championships. I think from then until now if he never left he would have at least 8 championships. That’s a championship game every 3 years. He would have went to 3 championships in a row and we would have never experienced double digit losses. Pitino + Kentucky= championships. He would be considered the greatest coach of all time. I think he’s still considered in the Top 10 all time. He could have been college basketball if he would have just stayed. I know he wishes he would have but people make mistakes and that’s what he made. He really hated Cal being at Kentucky because Cal wanted the fans to think he wad the greatest coach of all time. Cal will always be the best recruiter but he will never be the best coach. In fact if he was even half way decent as a coach we would have had at least 3 championships in his time.
Welcome back Rick, thanks for what you did for UK basketball. You brought it out of ash and I been following since the late 60’s I thought the 90’s was the best decade that UK BASKETBALL WAS AT IT BEST. Go Cats!!
Pitino was, without a doubt, the best basketball coach we have ever had…until now. We treated him like a god and he began to think he was a basketball god. If he had let Derek Anderson play in the 97 title game, we would already have No. 9 and would be shooting for No. 10. I thought his time in Boston had taught him a lesson about being prideful. I hated when he went to Louisville, but he was an even better coach there. Again, he let success get the better of him and he wound up in basketball purgatory for a while. It’s good to see him at St. Johns now, but he will never see another title there. Hopefully Pope will retain the good things Pitino taught him and learn from the mistakes that Rick made. I honestly think that Mark Pope will become the greatest college basketball coach EVER. I am glad he came back to Kentucky. Go Mark and go CATS!!!
I could never blame him Barry for not risking injury to Derek
I get that Larry, but most kids never get a chance to play for a national title. Every time a kid takes the floor there is always a chance of an injury, but the risk is relatively small in a one game situation. Derek wanted to play and Rick should have played him at least in a reserve role. Miles Simon went off in that game and Derek could have kept him in check. That game went to overtime so all it would have taken was for Simon to miss one shot or Derek make one. Rick thought he could make up for the loss of Derek with some super coaching and that was not enough. Lute Olson and Miles Simon were elated that Derek didn’t suit up; they knew what he brought to the court. That decision to play or not play should have been Derek’s. Derek knew he could be a difference maker in that championship game and never got the chance to realize it. For a coach who was all about leaving it all on the court, he kept Derek from having the opportunity do so and deprived him of being the hero of that game and bringing a title back to Lexington. I was not surprised to see Rick leave for Boston. His ego had an enormous appetite. He soon learned that he was a much better college coach and when he went to Louisville, that was confirmed. That success ultimately led to his downfall and he will be the first to admit that. I am glad that he is getting one last run at St. John’s. I believe if he had stayed at Kentucky, we would have already caught and passed UCLA in titles won. Now that job falls to Mark Pope and I think he will get that job done.
Rick Pitino elevated UK from the ashes and in his 2nd season led UK to #1 in the SEC, even though still on probation.
Then he led UK Unforgettables and the next season led Mashburn & Ford & co to the FF.
2 seasons in a row ended in OT, with UK leading each time, until Mashburn was given a 5th foul. Even after Timberlake was stomped on without the crooked refs doing their job.
Then UK players recruited, developed & molded into TEAM players made 3 CONSECUTIVE trips to the Finals, winning 2 and losing 1 in OT because Andersen was not out in the game.
UK in the Finals 3-in-a-row!!!
I will always be a Rick Pitino fan.
He went to UL? Then why didn’t the AD tell TLT to take a hike (or let him be a high paid clueless “assistant”) and HIRE PITINO instead of leaving him available for UL to get, just proving the UL AD was much smarter than the UK AD who never was really a sue-hard UK fan, even with his history at UK.
BLAME that
LAME AD
for letting Pitino be available for UL to hire!
Pitino created some fun years
It’s going to be a Pitino love fest this weekend.
it sure could be