He alone took down our program and ruined the career of Tom Jurich. Like I said before, he and Ky fans deserve each other. No slick Rick talk can ever make him welcome here ever again. He can choke on a King Kong Dong…
Let's place the blame where it truly belongs. Andre McGee took down the program, for something that is child's play compared to what programs like UK, Kansas and North Caroline routinely do.
I'm very conflicted tonight. I do support Rick Pitino but definitely hard seeing him in UK blue.
I'm 39 and I know this board trends older with mostly those in their 50s and 60s. Whether some of you all like it or not, no one in the fan base 45 and under remembers the glory days of Denny Crum. Being 39 I wasn't even born for the 1980 title or the 1983 team (that would've won the title if not for Houston most likely) and I was way too young to remember the 1986 title.
Whether some of you like it or not, the reality is no one 30 and under even remembers seeing Denny Crum coach UofL and no one 45 and under remember any type of glory years for Denny Crum. All we remember about Denny Crum was losing and being irrelevant. When I went to games late in the Denny Crum years as a kid, there were a few good memories, but it was mostly losing and sometimes getting run out of our own building. We were not relevant nationally.
What the older UofL fans needs to remember is that Rick Pitino was our Denny Crum. Under Denny Crum we were no longer an elite program. Rick Pitino made UofL relevant nationally. Rick Pitino didn't have to come to UofL, and let's be honest, in 2001 UofL needed Rick Pitino FAR FAR FAR more than Rick Pitino needed UofL.
Rick Pitino won UofL a National Championship. Screw the NCAA. I was there that night and nothing the NCAA says can take that away. Andre McGee was the one that screwed it up.
The way UofL (the university obviously, not the fans) treated Pitino and acted like his time here never happened, it was an insult to Pitino. And it was an insult to the younger fans who only remember Pitino. Honestly, while I hated what happened tonight, it was almost inevitable. If I was Pitino, I would basically disown UofL and do anything I could to trash the program. Pitino has taken more of a high road than I would've taken.
It hurts me to see Pitino back in UK Blue, for multiple reasons. Yes it feels like a betrayal. And yes it means most likely Pitino never steps foot in the KFC Yum Center again wearing UofL gear. It most likely destroys any chance of there being reconciliation between Pitino and UofL. But at the end of the day, it was going to happen.
Rick Pitino is in the rafters at UK. Is he at UofL? Enough said.
The actions by the UofL administration and board back in 2017 are the reasons tonight happened. When UofL fired him, ignored all the success he had brought to the program and all but disowned him (for actions not done by him), it was inevitable he would go back to UK. While the UK fans might have hated him (and I'm sure he hasn't forgotten it), UK itself never disowned him like UofL did.
