Happy Big Blue Birthday to Coach Rick Pitino.
Coach Pitino became UK’s Head Basketball Coach in 1989. It didn’t take Coach Pitino long before he quickly helped the Wildcats return to the top of the mountain, when it came to College Basketball, or as Coach Pitino would call it, “the Roman Empire of college basketball.”
During Coach Pitino’s time with the Wildcats, UK were 5x SEC Tournament Champions, 2x SEC Regular Season Champions, and the Cats went to 3 Final Fours, winning the NCAA Title in 1996.
Coach Pitino’s winning percentage at Kentucky was second, only to Coach Rupp. Coach Rupp’s was 82.2%, and Coach Pitino’s was an impressive 81.4%.
Coach Pitino was the very first coach to take three different schools to the Final Four, as well as the first to win NCAA Championships at two different schools.
In 2013, Coach Pitino was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Coach Pitino was honored at Rupp Arena, with his name/jersey hanging from the rafters. Coach had this to say about BBN, and his time at UK … “Kentucky fans treated me like a king, and with great respect. I never had a bad year, never had a bad day,”
Coach Pitino is currently the head basketball coach at St. John’s University.
Coach Pitino said earlier this year, when the University of Kentucky hired Mark Pope, to be their next head coach … “The leader, the captain of “The Untouchables” is coming home to lead the Wildcats. Mark Pope will go on to greatness. You can put it down. I can guarantee you that nobody epitomizes the name on the front of the jersey more than Mark Pope.”
“I absolutely love Mark, and would do anything for his program. The fans are going to fall in love with Mark because the ‘Pope’ didn’t matter, the name on the back never mattered to him. He couldn’t care less about individual glory. If anybody mentioned that he played a great game, it was always about the team and always about Kentucky. Obviously, I’m extremely biased because he was my captain of the national championship team. He was a great captain, a tireless worker. I absolutely love him, and what he did for our program.