You can ask any member of the Big Blue Nation and they will tell you the exact moment they became a fan and how it happened. I remember that special day because it holds so many memories, as my father introduced me to my first love, Kentucky basketball.
Being six years old, I had never watched a basketball game of any kind. That all changed in November of 1995 when Kentucky was playing Maryland in the Tip-Off Classic. I would sit and watch my father cheer and get upset while the Wildcats were playing. Wanting to be like dad, something that was so important to him had to be important to me.
The coach of the Wildcats at the time was Rick Pitino, the man once adored by Kentucky fans, including my father, for rescuing the program from its lowest point. My father loved Coach Pitino and it was the first name I heard him mention while watching the Cats. That’s right, Tony Delk, Walter McCarty, Antoine Walker, Derek Anderson, and Anthony Epps were not the first thing I linked to Kentucky basketball.
What I remember is the dark haired man pacing the sideline in his suit with a ton of energy. It was fun to watch him coach because his team fed off that energy. Knowing nothing about basketball, I watched as my father’s excitement increased with every basket the Wildcats made.
I was born into the Big Blue Nation watching the best team in program history, which quickly spoiled me as a fan. The team I grew to love on November 24, 1995, had me in tears four days later when the Wildcats fell to the UMass Minutemen, coached by John Calipari. The result left me a crying mess and my father having to explain there were more games to be played.
That group of Wildcats pressed their way to a 34-2 record, capped off by a National Championship, the sixth in program history. The coronation was complete, as the program returned to the pinnacle of college basketball.
Pitino was building an empire and along with Duke, the Wildcats were dominating the 90’s. The 1997 season is when I finally got the opportunity to meet Pitino and watch my beloved Wildcats in person. I was able to share that moment with my father, as we sat in the last row of Thompson Boling Arena in Knoxville.
When the game was out of reach, we made our way down to the UK tunnel. I remember Ron Mercer, Cameron Mills, Anthony Epps, and so many players shaking my hand as they left the floor. However, what I remember most was a moment I shared with Coach Pitino. As he walked by, my father stopped him and told him that I was his biggest fan. He gave me five and said, “Keep cheering on the Cats, son.” Those words I will never forget.
The 1997 season ended in heartbreak, as the Wildcats fell just short of the programs seventh national championship with an overtime loss to Arizona. The game was hard enough, but what followed was even more difficult for young Kentucky fans. Pitino shot down any intentions of leaving Kentucky, but soon after decided to coach the Boston Celtics. Older Kentucky fans had been through coaching changes before, but Pitino was the only coach I knew. I couldn’t wrap my mind around another coach leading my Wildcats.
I had never watched an NBA game, but somehow, I found it in me to cheer for the Boston Celtics. It helped that Antoine Walker and Ron Mercer joined Pitino in Boston. The former UK head coach’s struggles in Boston led to his resignation in 2001. What happened next was the biggest shock of all, as Pitino returned to Kentucky, only this time to lead the bitter rival Louisville Cardinals.
Depending on where you live in the state of Kentucky, some fans dislike Tennessee more than Louisville. That is the case for me growing up in Southeastern Kentucky. My hometown of Middlesboro is roughly two miles from the Tennessee border; so interacting with Tennessee fans is a daily routine. Maybe that is the reason I didn’t react the way most fans did when he chose to coach at Louisville, rather than a school like Michigan.
The first years Pitino was in Louisville, I will admit, I even cheered for the Cardinals when they weren’t playing Kentucky. I gained respect for Pitino when he entered Rupp Arena through the UK tunnel and for a few years he seemed to be operating a clean program.
During the late Tubby Smith years, Louisville was the top program in the state. Kentucky was annually exiting the NCAA tournament early, while Louisville went to a Final Four. When fans eventually pushed Smith out of Lexington, I actually thought to myself that Pitino would return. Maybe that was hopeful wishing because the Wildcats were in the midst of a 10-year Final Four drought and all I could remember was the late 90’s.
The Wildcats eventually hired Billy Gillispie, which turned out to be a disaster. Some twelve years after he departed, I still respected Pitino. He returned to Lexington for the funeral of “Mr. Wildcat” Bill Keightley, where he delivered a great speech inside Rupp Arena. I was still convinced that Pitino was a good person and maybe he was at that point.
Everything changed when John Calipari accepted the keys to Camelot, a land once ruled by Pitino. No longer was he the top man in the state and his ego got in the way. One could argue that Pitino’s transgressions began when he was forced to share the state with Calipari.
Shortly after Calipari’s arrival in the spring of 2009, Pitino’s trouble with Karen Sypher emerged to the forefront. Slowly but surely, I began to lose respect for the head coach that helped me fall in love with Kentucky basketball. On the other hand, people make mistakes and this one was Pitino’s. The incident became a popular punch line for not only Kentucky fans, but also college basketball fans all together.
The moment I lost all respect for Pitino and the University of Louisville was the day “Breaking Cardinal Rules” was released. All I could think of was how fortunate Kentucky was to be on the outside looking in at one of the most embarrassing scandals to ever strike college athletics. But it wasn’t the fact that it happened that made me lose respect. My issue was Pitino denies any responsibility, saying that he trusted the wrong people. Ultimately, whether he knew or not, it was his responsibility to monitor his program and he failed. He failed the fans of Louisville, his current players, former players, and anyone who ever respected him.
Pitino began to sink even lower than I could imagine. He continued to deny and lie his way out of every situation. The University of Louisville failing to fire him allowed Pitino to feel as though his behaviors were acceptable. You got the feeling that he believed himself to be invincible.
Despite the lies, sex scandal, strippers, and now paying money to land recruits, I believe his lowest point was when he flipped off the fan base he once claimed to love. Following a loss to the Wildcats in December of 2015, Pitino stuck his middle finger up as he was walking towards the tunnel.
Most fans rejoice in the suffering taking place in Louisville, but ultimately it’s a bad look for college basketball and a major blow to the UK/UL rivalry. The rivalry was arguably the best it had been with Calipari and Pitino leading the two successful programs. It’s a shame that it all happened this way, but Pitino isn’t the only one responsible for his actions, as the University of Louisville allowed him to continue doing it.
I am grateful for what Pitino did for the University of Kentucky and restoring it as the best program in college basketball. Many fans believe the banner that holds his name should be removed from the rafters of Rupp Arena. I doubt that will happen because no matter how you feel about him, his time at Kentucky was clean until proven otherwise.
No one hopes to live in the past, but Kentucky was the best it ever was for Pitino and now the best it ever will be. I hate that when one thinks about Pitino’s glory days at Kentucky, they will also have to think about the lies and scandals that followed him to Louisville.
Despite everything he has done and the lies he told. I still should thank coach Pitino for the only statement from him that I know to be true, which was his advice he gave to me when I was seven years old.
“Keep cheering on the Cats, son.”
