Rick Pitino has asked a favor of Big Blue Nation with John Calipari — the former Kentucky coach now at Arkansas — returning to Rupp Arena this weekend. His request: don’t boo the coach who once led the Wildcats to glory.
“I want you all to show the great class that you have,” Pitino said in a video posted to his X (formerly Twitter) account. “Twenty-three thousand-plus people giving him a huge standing ovation. Show him what respect and admiration is all about. I know you have the class, I’ve always believed in you.”
Pitino’s plea came with an admission that his return to Rupp Arena in 2001 after leaving Kentucky for Louisville “tore me apart.”
“Toughest day of my coaching career at Louisville was when I had to walk into Rupp Arena,” Pitino said. “I tried not to show it, but when I went home, the reception tore me apart because I love that place so much.”
Pitino’s reception was far from warm when he returned to Rupp as the Cardinals coach, understandably, but in the case of Calipari, it could perhaps be different. The fanbase had grown tired of Calipari in his final years in Lexington, and a change of scenery seemed to make sense for all parties.
“As you all know, I’m not best friends with John Calipari. I respect him, certainly. But it was a mutual thing,” Pitino said. “Fans wanted a change. John read the tea leaves, he needed a change. He didn’t really want to leave. But what’d he do for you? He brought the best talent in the history of the game of any university in America to Lexington. He also won a national championship. His style of play was also extremely entertaining.”
Whether UK fans will take heed to Pitino’s words is another story. Pitino returned to Rupp last year and received a warm welcome, but that was of course two decades removed from his stint with the Wildcats. With Calipari’s departure still raw, Kentucky fans aren’t likely to take it easy on him even if the split was mutual.
“My guess is I’m gonna get booed,” Calipari said this week.
“But that’s all part of it,” he continued. “Shoot, you get booed. I’ve done this so long, I’ve got bazooka holes in my body. So when you shoot arrows, it doesn’t even hit skin. It just goes through one of those bazooka holes. But it’ll be interesting.”
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