Former UK coach Rick Pitino says Mark Pope is a great young coach. (Vicky Graff Photo)
I still remember the first one-on-one interview I did with Rick Pitino after he became the Kentucky men’s basketball coach. Kentucky was in disarray and facing two years of probation when Pitino took over but he told me the first year UK was off probation that the Cats would win the NCAA championship.
He was not far off. That was the season UK lost that historic heartbreaker to Duke in the Elite Eight on Christian Laettner’s last-second shot. Of course, Duke went on to win the 1992 national title.
Pitino went from beloved at UK to hated by Kentucky fans when he became the head coach at Louisville. However, he’s back in the good graces of many UK fans now because of his relationship with UK coach Mark Pope, a player on Pitino’s 1996 national championship team at Kentucky.
Kentucky will play Pitino and St. John’s Dec. 20 in the CBS Sports Classic in a game UK fans are already talking about. Pitino has not coached against Kentucky since 2016 during his final year at Louisville before he was fired.
Pitino told CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein on his podcast that facing Pope will be similar to when he had to coach against his son, Richard — something he has done four times. Pitino did coach against Pope in 2015 when Pope was at Utah Valley and Pitino was at Louisville. Pitino won that game.
“I think it’s no different than coaching against your son,” Pitino told Rothstein about the UK game against Pope. “Obviously, it stirs different emotions. I think anytime you play Kentucky, what I’ve always called the Roman Empire of college basketball, you know you’re going to go against great talent.
“Certainly Mark Pope is one of the bright young coaches in the game and really has a great offensive mind. But it’ll be great to play against the University of Kentucky. I’m really looking forward to the game.”
Remember Pitino quickly endorsed Pope when Kentucky hired his former player and Pope brought him and his 1995-96 team to Big Blue Madness. Pitino, like the former players, got a huge ovation from Big Blue fans.
“I went back there a year ago for Big Blue Madness, and that was fun to experience again,” Pitino said. “It’ll be a great game. I think two teams that will be highly ranked.
“Two teams that have a lot of talent, different types of talent now, we’re different than them, but it’ll be exciting to see who comes out on top.”
St. John’s is expected to be a top five preseason team and Kentucky could be, too, or no worse than top 10. And remember that Pitino added Bryce Hopkins, a former UK player under John Calipari, in his transfer portal class. Pitino told Rothstein the only team he’s had with more talent is his 1996 national title team at UK that had 10 future NBA players.
“If you take the talent on this year’s team and you match it with last year’s team, it’s pretty similar, except we’re a little better offensively. If we can be as good defensively as last year’s team when we were 1 or 1A with Houston, then we’ve got something special,” Pitino said on the podcast. “They can match up with any team I’ve coached, with the exception of the ’96 team.”
Pitino must like his team because St. John’s will host Alabama Nov. 8, play Baylor in Las Vegas and host Ole Miss Dec. 6. St. John’s was upset in the 2025 NCAA Tournament by Arkansas.
“We have good length. We don’t have great size, but we have good length, good athleticism, and I want to see how we stack up against Alabama because of two similar styles of play,” Pitino said.
6 Responses
Rick Pitino gave us the best decade that UK basketball endure back in the 90's. Only the 1975 and the 1978 team gave us such a decade.
The 1950s were nothing to sneeze at, and the 1948-1952 run was legendary.
yes and yes Professor. Good to hear from you
True, but I was just using my lifetime.
Absolutely!
And ‘58 append off thaf decade with an incredible win over Elgin Baylor, one of the all-time greats.
Rupp hammered a nail into the Alumni Gym floor where Vern Hatton made a half court shot to win a game.
Issel, Pratt & Casey would have brought home a Title if not for Casey breaking his leg. Even without him, UK would have beaten Jacksonville if Issel was not called for a phantom foul with UK leading in OT. I was in the 6th row (maybe 4th) in St John’s Arena when Issel was called for a foul and did not even touch anyone near the FF line on a fast break – right in front of me!
That cost UK a trip to the FF!
The 70’s also had 1975 (runner up) and 1978 Champs
Pitino ranks up there with Joe B Hall and the 4-time Champ Rupp,
I wish Pitino would quit while he is ahead. He has made St. Johns relevant again and has nothing left to prove. He doesn't handle success very well. When things are really going good for him, that is when he will do something that F's it all up. He should have never left Kentucky. He would have surpassed Wooden if he had stayed here, but like I said…he doesn't handle success very well.