John Calipari said after yesterday’s win over Utah that he would like to get Rick Pitino back to Lexington to be honored for what he did for the UK program.
Calipari said he thinks UK fans would be great to Pitino if he returned.
“And now, what Rick did, you know, like I said, he deserves to be able to, you know, get
the respect from what he did here, and I think our fans would be great,” Calipari said. “You know, he
may not think that, but I’m convinced that if he came back, that the fans would be great
to him.”
Check out his comments:
Transcript:
Q. Coach Pitino Tweeted that he appreciated you inviting him to come. What was
that conversation, and why didn't he come?
COACH CALIPARI: He was with family and he had things going on. But you know, I just
said, "Look, you need to get up here." They will be respectful here, and you know, what
that program did to change this back, you know, I mean, we should recognize it. They
may be mad he went to coach at Louisville. So what? When he was here and when we
needed this program on a different track, he put it, and that group — and I thanked that
group last night: "You guys got this thing back going, you guys did."
You know, I just, like I said, I'd like him to come back and let him — you know, one of the
happiest things for me is when I see how Coach Hall is treated here. He's treated like
royalty. I love it when he goes out on the court. I love to see him in practice and I love
how our fans treat him.
My guess is, back in the day, they probably weren't as friendly, okay. But now they look
at it and say, you know what, who would have followed Adolph Rupp? Who is stupid
enough to do that? He was. He went to Final Fours, won national titles. Think about it.
And now, what Rick did, you know, like I said, he deserves to be able to, you know, get
the respect from what he did here, and I think our fans would be great. You know, he
may not think that, but I'm convinced that if he came back, that the fans would be great
to him.
