If Pitno could have a redo:

[CB3UK]

He never should have left. Pitino ball was the best.

 

[UKfanINcoach]

His ego has been his downfall. College was no longer a challenge so he had to show how great of a coach he was so going to the NBA was going to happen.

It was one of the greatest time to be a UK fan. Planned my whole day around to watch every game. Sad to say our current coach can only win if he has superior talent. That’s why we are approaching 9 years without a ff. Pinto stays humble and we pass UCLA.

 

[SkyPrince1]

His ego has been his downfall. College was no longer a challenge so he had to show how great of a coach he was so going to the NBA was going to happen.

It was one of the greatest time to be a UK fan. Planned my whole day around to watch every game. Sad to say our current coach can only win if he has superior talent. That’s why we are approaching 9 years without a ff. Pinto stays humble and we pass UCLA.

The roster that Pitino won his title with was as loaded as you will ever see in CBB.
He needed talent to win a title himself.
He had several McDonald's AA' s on the 13 UL squad who had possibly the easiest path to a national title ever.
Pitino's legacy had he remained UK coach would have boiled down to how well he recruited.

 

[Bank Cat]

A redo isn’t gonna make him magically start winning more games or championships. Most overrated coach of my lifetime, maybe ever. Got outcoached routinely and still does to this day. Passss….

I couldn’t disagree more. What he did in the first three years alone was maybe the best rebuilding job in CBB history.

 

[WyleECoyote]

Many younger guys don’t realize. I’m 38, which is probably the cutoff to really remember the Pitino run. He was every bit the figure coach K was and maybe more especially at that time. Pitino would have Kentucky with somewhere between 3-5 national titles by now. He was a force that most players wanted to play for and he was excellent X’s and O’s. He could have landed just about most he wanted, but liked to find the diamonds he could built the way he wanted to.

Pitino is probably the best coach ever in his prime for college basketball. But he blew it because he made a lot of bad choices, and I knew he overplayed the power of Louisville’s program, and it hurt his image. Louisville is not a big time national brand it’s just that people around Kentucky don’t realize it in state. He really screwed up going there.

As far as a basketball mind with coaching ability and the power of name recognition, Pitino was the best we might ever see.

Oh Rick was far bigger than K at the time. You didn't see K in movies about basketball, it was Bobby Knight and Rick Pitino. K was just coming up in the early 90s when Pitino was getting UK back to prominence, and K really took over as the face of college basketball when Pitino left for the Celtics. K had his first run with Laetner and Hill and those when Pitino was really getting UK rolling, but K got more notoriety with the 2nd run of Duke greatness after Pitino left while we were suffering through the end of Tubby and Billy G and K was taking over USA Basketball.

 

[247CATS]

I couldn’t disagree more. What he did in the first three years alone was maybe the best rebuilding job in CBB history.

We went from the worst coach in our history to championship contender literally within minutes when Cal was hired, so I couldn’t disagree with you more either. Sometimes we just gotta agree to disagree

 

[Bluesbrother]

People need to let the Pitino hate go

THIS. Couldn't agree more. At some point you just let it go. We all make mistakes but at this point ... it is a mistake to continue with the mindless hate. I think some of you think it's just some type of "virtue signaling"... it's not, so whatever it is, it's not a good look.

 

[Wildcat Sheli]