I understood Pitino to Boston.

[TNCatfanforever]

I never understood him taking the U of L job. He knew first hand that only the Duke - UNC rivalry equaled the UK-UK rivalry. He could have easily taken the Michigan job and all would have been well. I think him being at U of L had some bearing on the demise of Coach Smith. We all were bitter and had reasons to be. Pitino self destructed when Cal came to UK. I am thankful Pope brought him back to mend fences. We need to honor Pitino, Tubby Smith, and Cal when he returns in January. All three brought us our only titles in the last 45 years. Time to show some class and move on. Coach Pope is pushing all the right buttons and hopefully this translates into on court success.

 

[bbncal02]

I never understood him taking the U of L job. He knew first hand that only the Duke - UNC rivalry equaled the UK-UK rivalry. He could have easily taken the Michigan job and all would have been well. I think him being at U of L had some bearing on the demise of Coach Smith. We all were bitter and had reasons to be. Pitino self destructed when Cal came to UK. I am thankful Pope brought him back to mend fences. We need to honor Pitino, Tubby Smith, and Cal when he returns in January. All three brought us our only titles in the last 45 years. Time to show some class and move on. Coach Pope is pushing all the right buttons and hopefully this translates into on court success.

Cal is too soon. He’s still an active coach, in the same conference and at a somewhat rival school basketball wise. Not happening.

 

[Orville Boggs]

If the Celtics got Tim Duncan in the NBA draft things would have been different!

 

[UKWildcats1987]

I only care about what they did here. All 3 won a title and as you mentioned, we have only won 3 in 45 years. To be fair, if you go 46 it's 4 with Joe Bs.

Pitino embarrassed UL. He had a title vacated. He was the best mole in the history of moles.

 

[LmdCat]

I never understood him taking the U of L job. He knew first hand that only the Duke - UNC rivalry equaled the UK-UK rivalry. He could have easily taken the Michigan job and all would have been well. I think him being at U of L had some bearing on the demise of Coach Smith. We all were bitter and had reasons to be. Pitino self destructed when Cal came to UK. I am thankful Pope brought him back to mend fences. We need to honor Pitino, Tubby Smith, and Cal when he returns in January. All three brought us our only titles in the last 45 years. Time to show some class and move on. Coach Pope is pushing all the right buttons and hopefully this translates into on court success.

I have no interest in honoring Cal. Cal situation is considerably different from Pitino. Pitino didn't run off to another SEC school while taking as many of UK's players with him with the sole purpose of causing harm. Cal always saw himself bigger than anything considered Kentucky. He didn't like the state, fans, homegrown talent, or its tradition. He only came to Kentucky because he was in need of a program large enough to fit his oversized ego. He is gone and should stay gone. He will never be welcomed back like RP. Unlike Cal, RP harmed himself and his legacy as opposed to the University of Kentucky.

 

[drcats2013]

He took the best college job available. End of discussion.

 

[CELTICAT]

There was a period between December 2000 through early January 2001 where the Sixers were very interested in hiring Tubby and Rick was going to return to UK. I think UL was his sort of consolation prize to all of that falling through.

 

[bbncal02]

There was a period between December 2000 through early January 2001 where the Sixers were very interested in hiring Tubby and Rick was going to return to UK. I think UL was his sort of consolation prize to all of that falling through.

I guess. It’s not like Michigan was a bad program though. They’ve got good history, but you would always be second fiddle up there. Always. And we know that isnt Rick.

Logically it made sense to take that UofL job. And I guess in away that got us Cal for a good few years.

 

[CELTICAT]

I guess. It’s not like Michigan was a bad program though. They’ve got good history, but you would always be second fiddle up there. Always. And we know that isnt Rick.

Logically it made sense to take that UofL job. And I guess in away that got us Cal for a good few years.

As I recall, UNLV was the third option in that group. UL was the best basketball program of the three, as I don’t think Rick was interested in being second fiddle to the football program at Michigan.

 

[bbncal02]

As I recall, UNLV was the third option in that group. UL was the best basketball program of the three, as I don’t think Rick was interested in being second fiddle to the football program at Michigan.

Of course. Like I said it was the logical choice but man that was like “screw you rick”.

Social Media wasn’t as big then either so it was hard to know the circumstances going on so to a lot of us it looked lit he took that job out of pure spite.

I’m glad Cal was able to smack him around though. Can you imagine the crap talk if he wasn’t able to handle Rick most years?

 

[truebluewildcat]

UL job made perfect sense. It was a basketball school, in a basketball state. He was looking for work, they were offering.

There was never any malice in the decision. We didn't fire him, he left. He wasn't looking to get at us in anyway. In fact, I think he liked the state, people, their passion for the game. It wasn't a "I'm gonna get UK..." type of deal like people make it out to me. It was more of a "This is a great place to coach basketball..." type of decision.

They're our rival, but nowhere near what some of the other big college sports rivalries are. Hell, the series went dormant for big chunk of history, and we didn't even play. Not in the same conference. Didn't and don't really compete for the same recruits, or types of recruits too often.

They weren't and aren't close to us in resume. He didn't go on some historical run there. He did great for them and put them back on the map.

 

[Louis_Skunt]

I have no interest in honoring Cal. Cal situation is considerably different from Pitino. Pitino didn't run off to another SEC school while taking as many of UK's players with him with the sole purpose of causing harm. Cal always saw himself bigger than anything considered Kentucky. He didn't like the state, fans, homegrown talent, or its tradition. He only came to Kentucky because he was in need of a program large enough to fit his oversized ego. He is gone and should stay gone. He will never be welcomed back like RP. Unlike Cal, RP harmed himself and his legacy as opposed to the University of Kentucky.

Funny. We all said the same EXACT thing about Pitino. Theyre very similar, and as much disdain as we have for Cal (at this moment) we had more for Pitino....and he was welcomed back. Cal will be welcomed back just like Pitino, guaranteed. Also to note, Cal did more for this state than all the coaches put together. The fund raising, helping the needy, helping towns with disasters...zero comparison.

 

[ganner918]

Funny. We all said the same EXACT thing about Pitino. Theyre very similar, and as much disdain as we have for Cal (at this moment) we had more for Pitino....and he was welcomed back. Cal will be welcomed back just like Pitino, guaranteed. Also to note, Cal did more for this state than all the coaches put together. The fund raising, helping the needy, helping towns with disasters...zero comparison.

Some time after Cal has left Arkansas, after enough time has passed, he'll be back. He'd sucked for too long and needed to be gone but he DID bring us a championship and 4 FFs, he'll be back to celebrate those achievements. Just like I always knew Pitino would have his day here, some time after he was gone from Louisville.

 

[cat tat2]

Personally, I won’t welcome JVC back, possibly ever. Pitino left on a high note and went to the Celtics. Then took the UL job and flipped the bird to loudmouth fan. JVC left on a low note, went to an in conference rival. Flipped the bird to ALL UK fans countless times, with smart comments and lies. F him forevermore, IMO.

 

[CatFanInIlliniLand]

Way too soon to honor Cal.

I am not sure how I’ll react to him being here in Feb. He’s my UK public enemy #1 right now.
In time, I’ll feel the same way about him, as I do about Pitino and Tubby. All won one title and didn’t let us become Indiana. Right now, Cal doesn’t deserve the ovation Coach Pitino received. The amount of talent through here in 15 years and only winning 1 title stings almost as bad as Pitino to UofL.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

If the Celtics got Tim Duncan in the NBA draft things would have been different!

Imo it would've only been different for duncan. Pitino had enough talent to do far better than he did, he just mismanaged them.

In terms of taking the cards job, that's really always stuck with me. Literally any other job and we all would've always been a fan. I never saw any way to justify it.

Imo it wasnt uk he loved, but the adoration of an entire state and he thought he could pull that to ul. So the camelot of his speeches wasnt a place, it was a spotlight. A spotlight he could never regain until last night.

I feel the same way about cal but to a lesser extent. At least he didn't go to ul, but going in conference is an insult just a notch below.

 

[jwphelps]

I never understood him taking the U of L job. He knew first hand that only the Duke - UNC rivalry equaled the UK-UK rivalry. He could have easily taken the Michigan job and all would have been well. I think him being at U of L had some bearing on the demise of Coach Smith. We all were bitter and had reasons to be. Pitino self destructed when Cal came to UK. I am thankful Pope brought him back to mend fences. We need to honor Pitino, Tubby Smith, and Cal when he returns in January. All three brought us our only titles in the last 45 years. Time to show some class and move on. Coach Pope is pushing all the right buttons and hopefully this translates into on court success.

I could see it, Pitino realized he was not a pro coach and wanted to get back into the college game, UofL was looking to replace a legend in Deny Crum and to be honest UofL historically was a top 7 program so why not. I never faulted him for going there.

 

[The_Catfather]

He's said on many occasions his biggest regret was leaving Kentucky. Now that he despises U of L and they hate him, we've come full circle. He's a Wildcat again. I hope we can bring him back into some type of ambassador/NIL role when he retires from St. John's. I think he'd love to retire in Lexington and be near the horse farms.