Rick Pitino came home Friday night.
Nearly three decades after leading Kentucky to the 1996 national championship, Pitino walked onto the court at Rupp Arena and was loudly applauded by fans during Kentucky's Big Blue Madness event.
Pitino, now the coach at St. John's, wore a Kentucky sweater upon his return to campus. He went to Rupp Arena several times as an opposing coach with Louisville, but never enjoyed the warm reception he received Friday night, an opportunity created when Kentucky hired Mark Pope, the captain of that Pitino-coached 1996 team, in March. .
Surrounded by some of his former players, an emotional Pitino needed a moment to collect himself after grabbing the microphone.
“I'm very happy to be back,” he said. “Before I finished, as a coach, I said that I want to return to Camelot one more time. There is no way I could return better. This is one of the best nights I have had in a long time because I visited all my players. I visited the fans who made me happy every day for eight years.
Leading up to Friday's meeting, it was a tumultuous ride for Pitino with the Kentucky fan base. In 1997, he received a record 10-year, $70 million contract to coach the Boston Celtics, a year after his national title at Kentucky. But after a turbulent period in the NBA, Pitino resigned as Celtics coach and agreed to take the job at Kentucky's in-state rival Louisville in 2001, following the departure of Denny Crum.
In his introductory press conference, Pitino said one of his biggest concerns in accepting the job at Louisville was the reaction he knew he would receive from Kentucky fans. He was right. Once John Calipari arrived as coach of the Wildcats in 2009, the rivalry between Kentucky and Louisville regained its intensity.
In 2012, before Louisville's matchup against Kentucky in the Final Four, Pitino called the rivalry “pure hate.” Following a loss to the Wildcats at Rupp Arena in 2015, he was accused of using an obscene gesture toward the crowd. Pitino denied those claims despite a video suggesting otherwise.
That bitter history made his return Friday night even more surprising. But Pitino has served as a mentor to Pope since he agreed to replace Calipari, who left for Arkansas after a difficult four-year stretch. And his connection with Pope along with Calipari's lukewarm ending at the school seemed to soften the resentment on both sides.
Pitino told the crowd Friday night that Pope will lead Kentucky, which suffered two first-round exits in the last three NCAA tournaments, to “greatness.”
“And now we can support … someone whose name is Kentucky,” Pitino said. “It's not about the Pope. It's not about the Pope. You'll never hear him say [that]. The most selfless and humble young man I have ever coached. One of the great examples of what Kentucky basketball is. Mark Pope will lead you to greatness in every sense of the word. Thank you all very much.”
