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Are you ready to accept Pitino back to celebrate the 1996 title?

Which would you be okay with?

  • The team including Coach Pitino

    Votes: 128 61.5%

  • The team without Coach Pitino

    Votes: 73 35.1%

  • They are loyal to Coach Pitino so forget them all

    Votes: 7 3.4%
  • Total voters
    208
I’d celebrate 25. I’ve known Pitino was a douchebag since 2009 or so but I knew he was at least half a douchebag even when he was here and I still liked him.

We’re all human and grudges kill you. If he can man up to the point of apologizing for the worst of it come on.
 
Why should the fans have to make that decision? We have no say in t ever happening. Myself? I could care less if he set foot on campus again. And don’t compare anything that went on here to what happened north of us with that mid major program and how they dealt with a lifetime of bullying. Pitino may never be able to earn his way back here. Remember, he mocked a lot of what went on here at Kentucky. I think the way he handled himself after he left here and especially once he returned to coach Louisville, said a lot about him. It showed me that he never really liked being the coach here, that he preferred to hang around folks like Tom Jurich, and other “Louisville” people. I prefer we celebrate the teams but let’s leave him out of it. And the banner should have come down the day he took the Louisville job.
 
Creed Bratton said:
Myron Medcalf has an article on ESPN about College Basketball grudges and of course UK/Pitino is the first one he talks about. He mentions when asked why Pitino and the 96 team met in Miami to celebrate the 20 year anniversary of the championship Pitino said it was because the fans didn't like him here anymore. So my question is, since he no longer coaches at U of L, would you be okay with Pitino and the 96 team being honored at Rupp?
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There is a special kind of hatred o foster for Tiner. Not bc he left I didn’t ever begrudge him that. Not bc he went to UL either that was just typical egomaniac Rick.

It was how he acted when he went to UL. Would say these gracious things about UK then coach his team to act completely different on the court. He was so compelled to beat UK he totally psyched his own teams out in the Cal tenure at least.

When he flipped off the UK fans after another beat down, we all got a glimpse of the real Rick Pitino. Then, when he sued his former school after literally leaving them in the dust he solidified his standing as one of the biggest POS on the planet. Even tho I relished ULs downfall that was a complete horse shite move and only after he took so much flack and realized he may never get another ncaa job again did he drop the suit.

He can keep his Rupp comeback ImO. Let all of the players back I have no ill will tower them and I get why they are supportive of him. But he gets no sympathy from me.
 
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He would have to seriously apologize to the UK fan base for flipping the bird as he walked off the floor after another loss while coaching at UofL <===[laughing]. Seriously, that was a LOW CLASS moment and he needs to own up to it and apologize before he ever sets foot in Rupp Arena again. With that said, he did bring UK up out of the ashes...but he needs to make that apology to make things right again.
 
Pitino's era was the greatest in my lifetime. Fun, great talent etc.

Perfect scenario for me would be to highlight the 96 team on 25 year anniversary, call out every player, run onto floor. Then you would say members of 78 are there to congratulate, then Tubby and 98 team is there to congratulate etc, holdovers of both 96-98 like Nazr and Sheppard, Wayne Turner, then members of 2012 team congratulate. One big family. All is good, Joe B, Ricky, Tubby, Cal. They all come out and hug and we all are good. RP's players love UK again, Joe B's guys are recognized. 98 team and Tubby will be hung in rafters. Cal keeps recruiting and UK is good. RP comes to games, Tubby comes to games etc.
 
It sounds morbid, but if he gets seriously sick or when he is really old I think he should be welcome. Eddie Sutton did nothing for the program and really has no reason to be celebrated at UK. However, seeing the condition that he is in now it kind of puts things into perspective. While at UK Pitino did a lot for the program and was a good ambassador.
 
First of all I don't like Pitino, but we celebrate Championships at UK. Bring him and the team back for a night, the 96 team was great and I'm sure the tickets will be cheap...hehe.
 
I don't think some people understood the question. I wasn't asking if Pitino should be honored by himself. I was asking if the 96 team were to be honored would you want Pitino there? That is a huge difference to me for 1 reason. If UK contacted the players and said "we want to honor your team but Coach Pitino isn't welcome here" I doubt most of them would show up. Those guys played for him and no matter how much some fans hate him he is their coach. So then it becomes are you willing to alienate the team that most of us who remember them say was the best college basketball team of all time because of your hate for Pitino?
 
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I'm cool with inviting him back.

Let's remember/honor the guy who led the team, one of our finest of our lifetimes and not the scumbag that he is today.

I don't want a microphone anywhere near him while he's in Rupp.

It'll be good for a day.

After that...Fvxk Him!!!
 
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Pitino is garbage and should never be invited back to Rupp. I can't understand why any Kentucky fan would want him back after all he's done since he left the Kentucky program.
 
JohnBlue_ said:
Well, first off when is the last time that fans were in control of scheduling events for UK? What a lame ass excuse, seriously.

As usual Rick can't help but make it all about him and concoct some crazy lie to cover his feelings. I would be willing to bet that UK extended a offer to all involved to celebrate and Rick stopped it from happening. I know for sure Cal doesn't have any problem with former players, even the one's that played for Rick. Hosting Walter McCarty's team this year more than proves that.[/QUOT
Dell was on staff
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He didn't flip off the entire fan base. He flipped off a fan that was being an asshole. One fan!! If that happened to me I would probably do the same. He is only human. Yes he was the coach, but coaches are human and do make mistakes. I know that is hard for some of you to understand. What he did for UK while he was here was amazing. I don't care about his personal life, just like I don't care for any of your personal lives, unless it affects me directly and personally! And his doesn't. By the way, when he was here, he LOVED coaching and living in Lexington. It was his WIFE who couldn't stand it in Lexington. The whole time she was here, she wanted to go back to Boston. Can you imagine the pressure that was for him...him loving being and coaching here but every day having that witch in his ear telling him she wanted to leave? If anything I can't stand her not him!! And that was before his affair was known to anyone. She never wanted him to take the UK job in the first place because she said this was backwoods country. She wanted to live in the big city of Boston. And yes, this is DIRECT information. My cousin lived in Lexington at the time and spent a lot of time with them. He heard her say it himself on more than one occasion.
 
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susan2361 said:
He didn't flip off the entire fan base. He flipped off a fan that was being an asshole. One fan!! If that happened to me I would probably do the same. He is only human. Yes he was the coach, but coaches are human and do make mistakes. I know that is hard for some of you to understand. What he did for UK while he was here was amazing. I don't care about his personal life, just like I don't care for any of your personal lives, unless it affects me directly and personally! And his doesn't. By the way, when he was here, he LOVED coaching and living in Lexington. It was his WIFE who couldn't stand it in Lexington. The whole time she was here, she wanted to go back to Boston. Can you imagine the pressure that was for him...him loving being and coaching here but every day having that witch in his ear telling him she wanted to leave? If anything I can't stand her not him!! And that was before his affair was known to anyone. She never wanted him to take the UK job in the first place because she said this was backwoods country. She wanted to live in the big city of Boston. And yes, this is DIRECT information. My cousin lived in Lexington at the time and spent a lot of time with them. He heard her say it himself on more than one occasion.
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/ thread
 
Pitino left UK for the NBA and its 70 million dollars. Anyone would do the same. When he came back to college, if UK had an opening, I’m sure he would have rather had chance to return. He made statement that the reason he took the UL job was because he liked the state. As far as giving the finger when he exited, UK fans gave it to him when he entered. They asked for it.
 
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Creed Bratton said:
Myron Medcalf has an article on ESPN about College Basketball grudges and of course UK/Pitino is the first one he talks about. He mentions when asked why Pitino and the 96 team met in Miami to celebrate the 20 year anniversary of the championship Pitino said it was because the fans didn't like him here anymore. So my question is, since he no longer coaches at U of L, would you be okay with Pitino and the 96 team being honored at Rupp?
Click to expand...
Never in a million years. When he gave the middle finger to the UK fans while walking off the court at Rupp that showed his true color. Pitino is an egotistical maniac only interested in himself.
 
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he'd have to do alot worse to UK in order for it to override what he did when he was here.

I think you could make the argument that without Pitino, the UK mens basketball program wouldn't be where it is today - no slight on Cal. Its not an apt comparison but its like Bledsoe at New England before Brady. He fixed what was broken so a guy like Cal could come in and kill it. And those mid 90's UK teams moved the needle of college basketball.

Pitino wants to come back or is invited back I'd want to buy tickets and cheer for him for what was accomplished in the 90's here at UK. What he did after he left had zero negative bearing on the UK program.

If you weren't old enough to appreciate or weren't even born, its hard to explain what it was like here in '88 and '89 and just how much joy there was in UK basketball for the following 6 ..heck 8 years. I graduated in '89 and my last college years at UK were just misery with Sutton.
 
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Hope y’all don’t mind TOO MUCH me saying but....

The guy gave many of you the time of your lives. Real talk, I been a Duke fan a long time (86). But them 90’s UK teams with Pitino, was some of the most enjoyable times in basketball history for me. That was FUN to watch. Best era of UK b-ball IMO.




I didn’t vote FYI
 
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NO NO A THOUSAND TIMES NO [sick] as Yul Brenner said in “The Ten Commandments” Let the name of Pitino be stricken from every obilesk and post Let his name never be uttered again in the Kingdom Cut the tongue out of anyone speaking the name of Pitino “:chairshot:
 
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If the man would have played Derek Anderson against Zona we have another title. Just for that. I hate Pitino.

In all seriousness. Yes I would be fine with honoring Pitino and the 95-96 team. But it might be slightly awkward bring Walter McCarty back.
 
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Would be interesting to see what kind of reception Pitino would receive at Rupp. He worked miracles in the early years but coaching your hated rival is simply unforgivable and it gives a huge middle finger to all UK fans.
 
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I thought it was funny when he flipped the bird. He looked dumb doing it. Why do our fans act like he broke into their home and did it in person? It was Probably at some asshole fan yelling crap.

That said..probably not a great idea for him to show up
 
2021 is 25 years. It would be nice to honor the tram but I don’t think some of them would come without Pitino. It would also make national headlines about us leaving him out and make us look petty.

I think we could prob push it to ‘26. Honor the 30th anniversary. Give a little more separation time from his UL shenanigans.
 
Yes. Time to move on.
I don’t understand this hate for him . He rebuilt our program and destroyed our main rival’s . That’s the bottom line .
People that don’t agree should simply stay home or attend but not cheer . No Boos please our program is too classy for that .
 
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I separate Kentucky Pitino and Louisville Pitino. I’m glad he’s gone so the connection between the programs is over, his time at UL is tarnished, and it’s back to just being about UK.

let it happen. Move on. He’s one of our most important historical figures, during one of our best times, with some of our best players.
 
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