Emotional Rick Pitino returns to Kentucky’s Rupp Arena

Rick Pitino came home Friday night. 

Nearly three decades after he led Kentucky to the 1996 national championship, Pitino walked onto the floor at Rupp Arena and was cheered loudly by fans during Kentucky’s Big Blue Madness event.

Pitino, now the coach at St. John’s, wore a Kentucky sweater in his return to campus. He went to Rupp Arena multiple times as an opposing coach with  Louisville, but he never enjoyed the warm reception he received Friday night, an opportunity created when Kentucky hired Mark Pope, the captain of that Pitino-coached 1996 squad, in March.

Surrounded by some of his former players, an emotional Pitino needed a moment to gather himself after he grabbed the microphone.

“I am so happy to be back,” he said. “I said before I pack it in, in coaching, I want to go back to Camelot for one more time. There is no way I could return better. This is one of the best nights I’ve had in a long time because I visited all my players. I visited the fans that made me happy for every single day for eight years.”

Prior to Friday’s reunion, it was a tumultuous journey for Pitino with the Kentucky fan base. In 1997, he received a record 10-year, $70 million deal to coach the Boston Celtics a year after his national title run at Kentucky. But after a turbulent tenure in the NBA, Pitino resigned as Celtics coach and agreed to accept the job at Kentucky’s in-state rival Louisville in 2001, following Denny Crum’s departure.

At his introductory news conference, Pitino said one of his greatest concerns in taking the Louisville job was the backlash he knew he would receive from Kentucky fans. He was right. Once John Calipari arrived as Wildcats coach in 2009, the Kentucky-Louisville rivalry regained its fiery edge.

In 2012, ahead of Louisville’s matchup against Kentucky in the Final Four, Pitino called the rivalry “pure hatred.” Following a loss to the Wildcats at Rupp Arena in 2015, he was accused of using an obscene gesture toward the crowd. Pitino denied those claims despite video that suggested otherwise.

That bitter history made his return Friday night even more surprising. But Pitino has served as a mentor for Pope since he agreed to replace Calipari, who left for Arkansas after a difficult four-year stretch. And his connection to Pope along with Calipari’s lukewarm finish at the school seemed to soften the resentment on both sides.

Pitino told the crowd Friday night that Pope will carry Kentucky — which suffered two first-round exits in the past three NCAA tournaments — to “greatness.”

“And now we get to root for … someone that that name Kentucky is what he’s all about,” Pitino said. “It’s not about Pope. It’s not about Pope. You’ll never hear him say [that]. The most selfless, humble, young man I’ve ever coached in my lifetime. One of the great, great examples of what Kentucky basketball is all about. Mark Pope is going to lead you to greatness in every sense of the word. Thank you all very much.”