Featured Columnist IVOctober 12, 2024
Andy Lyons/Getty Photographs
These boos from the Kentucky trustworthy when Rick Pitino returned to varsity basketball to teach archrival Louisville?
A factor of the previous.
Pitino returned to Rupp Enviornment in acquainted Wildcats colours Friday as a part of Huge Blue Insanity forward of the 2024-25 marketing campaign. He addressed the group in what was clearly an emotional second for him and was met with raucous applause.
The previous Kentucky coach led the Wildcats from the 1989-90 season by the 1996-97 one. His 1995-96 staff gained the nationwide title and simply so occurred to characteristic present Kentucky head coach Mark Pope.
Kentucky Males’s Basketball @KentuckyMBB
Welcome again residence, @RealPitino pic.twitter.com/7rli4AZctw
Kentucky Males’s Basketball @KentuckyMBB
Welcome again to @Rupp_Arena, @RealPitino pic.twitter.com/Sa947xcKvo
“I’m so pleased to be again,” Pitino stated Friday (h/t Ben Roberts of the Lexington Herald-Chief). “I stated earlier than I pack it in, in teaching, I wish to return to Camelot for yet another time. And there is no approach I can return higher. This is among the finest nights I’ve had in a very long time, as a result of I go to all my gamers. I go to the followers that made me pleased for each single day for eight years.”
He additionally did not hesitate to reward the Wildcats present coach and his former participant.
“And now we get to root for a gentleman that—there have been loads of nice coaches right here, loads of nice ones—however we get to root for somebody that that title Kentucky is what he is all about,” he stated.
“It is not about Pope. You will by no means hear him say. Essentially the most selfless, humble younger man I’ve ever coached in my lifetime. One of many nice, nice examples of what Kentucky basketball is all about. Mark Pope goes to guide you to greatness, in each sense of the phrase.”
Rick Pitino @RealPitino
Thanks Huge Blue Nation. Some of the emotional nights of my life. So pleased to be with my guys in Camelot.
Pitino is a Kentucky legend due to his eight seasons of teaching that additionally included three Closing 4 appearances, two SEC regular-season crowns and 5 SEC event titles. He finally left to teach the Boston Celtics, but it surely was his return to varsity basketball that did not sit nicely with Kentucky followers for a few years.
In spite of everything, he returned to teach Louisville and was met with boos when his Cardinals groups performed at Rupp Enviornment.
There was no booing Friday, and he’s clearly again within the fanbase’s good graces because the Pope period begins.
