Pitino go back to Rupp, calls it ‘one of finest nights’

• Myron Medcalf, ESPN

  • Personnel WriterOct 11, 2024, 10:22 PM ET Close Covers college basketball
  • Joined ESPN.com in 2011
  • Graduate of Minnesota State University, Mankato

Rick Pitino came home Friday night.Nearly three decades after he led Kentucky to the 1996 championship game, Pitino walked onto the flooring at Rupp Arena and was cheered loudly by fans throughout Kentucky’s Big Blue Insanity event.Pitino, now the coach at St. John’s, used a Kentucky sweatshirt in his go back to campus. He went to Rupp Arena several times as an opposing coach with Louisville, but he never ever took pleasure in the warm reception he got Friday night, a chance produced when Kentucky hired Mark Pope, the captain of that Pitino-coached 1996 team, in March.Editor’s Picks 2 Associated Surrounded by a few of his former players, an emotional Pitino required a moment to gather himself

after he got the microphone.”I am so delighted to be back,”he stated.”I stated before I pack it in, in training, I wish to go back to Camelot for one more time. There is no other way I could return better. This is among the best nights I’ve had in a long period of time due to the fact that I checked out all my players. I went to the fans that made me happy for each single day for 8 years. “Prior to Friday’s reunion, it was a turbulent journey for Pitino with the Kentucky fan base. In 1997, he received a record 10-year,$70 million deal to coach the Boston Celtics a year after his national title run at Kentucky. But after a turbulent period in the NBA, Pitino resigned as Celtics coach and accepted accept the job at Kentucky’s in-state rival Louisville in 2001, following Denny Crum’s departure.At his introductory press conference, Pitino stated among his biggest issues in taking the Louisville task was the reaction he understood he would get from Kentucky fans. He was right. As soon as John Calipari arrived as Wildcats coach in 2009, the Kentucky-Louisville competition regained its fiery edge. Rick Pitino called his go back to Rupp Arena on Friday night”among the very best nights I’ve had in a long period of time.”Jordan Prather-Imagn Images In 2012, ahead of Louisville’s match against Kentucky in the Final Four, Pitino called the competition “pure hatred.”And following a loss to the Wildcats at Rupp Arena in 2015

, he was implicated of using an obscene gesture toward the crowd. Pitino denied those claims regardless of video that suggested otherwise.That bitter history made his return Friday night even more surprising. But Pitino has actually served as a mentor for Pope since he agreed to replace Calipari, who left for Arkansas after a tough four-year stretch.

And his connection to Pope together with Calipari’s lukewarm surface at the school seemed to soften the resentment on both sides.Pitino told the Kentucky crowd Friday night that Pope will bring Kentucky– which suffered two first-round exits in the previous 3 NCAA competitions– to “achievement.””And now we get to root for … someone that name Kentucky is what he’s all about,”Pitino stated.”It’s not about Pope. It’s not about Pope. You’ll never ever hear him state [that] The most generous, simple, boy I have actually ever coached in my life time. Among

the terrific, terrific examples of what Kentucky basketball is all about. Mark Pope is going to lead you to achievement in every sense of the word. Thank you all very much.”