I would be embarrassed if I was a UK fan. How do you booo a coach when he returns back to the place that he got FIRED from. He won 100's of games. He didn't leave....he got fired and you booo him. I hope UK never wins a national championship again.
The University of Kentucky and the fans get everything they deserve...
- Thread starter jalovell23
- Start date
UK fans are the worst. They just are. Every single UK fan in my family and friends are at their worst when it comes to basketball. I will never understand the
allure of that program, especially those who were born and live in Louisville.
He actually didn't get fired, he left for Arkansas. Ky wanted to fire him but he had a $50 million dollar buyout. They should be happy he left on his own and saved the buyout money.
I don't blame them for booing though, to be honest I'd probably boo Pitino if he came back. Booing is just part of sports.
Sooooooooooo glad ky to lost in their building to a bad Arky team, makes our loss sting a little bit less..
The same fans that booed Tubby those last years gave him a standing ovation last night. Its what fans do.
There will be a day that even Petrino comes back and gets cheered u guarantee it. Probably sooner than we all think because the Brohm’s and Bobby are friends.
2026 is 20 years since the 2006 season, I could see a reunion.
2026 is 20 years since the 2006 season, I could see a reunion.
I'd cheer for Bobby before I'd cheer for dicktino..
You are awful forgiving for a guy who snuck out in the middle of the night to take a NFL job in 2006 and then came back to screw around with an athletic department staffer.
I'd love it. There was never a time more fun to be a Louisville football fan than the Bobby 1.0 era. Things didn't end in the 2.0 era the way he or we wanted - for many reasons - but we rarely get the ending we want.
Just that aura of the rise being a reality in all the sports.
The 2005 Final Four, getting to the Big East, throttling Miami, the WVU win and Big East Title, culminating in the Orange Bowl. Being a student in those years, I'd give anything to experience them again.
He was hired to be a good football coach & WIN... and he was/is/did mostly. Did he have issues, yes. But, I'm not throwing stones.
There are plenty of guys with GREAT character, but if they don't WIN enough, they go bye, bye. See Denny Crum & HWSNBN to name 2 here.
Why can't you have both like CDC? Why do you have tolerate personal character for winning? Are these people hired to be examples for our youth, our future? Maybe I'm living in a fantasy world.
After his time here, I don't even think he's a good guy..
I'm so perplexed by this belief and I have friends who feel the same about the two coaches. For me there is no comparison between Coach Pitino and Coach Petrino.
Bobby Petrino only cared about what his stint at UofL was going to do to for his future plans. We all saw that after his first stint and after he failed miserably, he had to start all over again. Once he made his way back to Louisville, we all gave him the benefit of the doubt, only to see him basically quit and take advantage of the University's ignorance.
Coach Pitino on the other hand, was on his way to completing his career at Louisville, always seeking excellence for the program and his players. After the stripper scandal he didn't quit but tried to rise above the scandal and keep the program on track, but as we know, forces were just too determined to destroy the Louisville basketball program.
Now whether fans like or hate his personality is for me separate from his abilities and his accomplishments. Fans that hate him what do they think about former players who admire and laud him? Luke Hancock, Russ Smith and Peyton Siva all are loved by the same Cards fans who hate on Pitino. The players love Coach Pitino and defend him from these attacks. Are the haters going to hate these players? Are they telling them their wrong about their feelings for their coach?
Where are the former football players who do the same with Bobby Petrino?
I know we could argue all day and all night about the scandals that enveloped the program during Pitino's tenure here, and I certainly don't want to do that. I will say being the head coach, he is ultimately accountable and I believe he was willing to accept that. Now it didn't go down the way it should have which has all but ruined his legacy and relationship with the program.
Bobby Petrino in no way cares about his Louisville legacy or the fans. He never did.
This.
Rick did love this school and put his all in this school. Him choosing to come here knowing it would make him hated at his former school down the road took a lot of guts. He could've pushed for another job like Michigan, he chose to be here. He really helped push us into the Big East which ultimately led us into the ACC. His hiring really opened up the donors here and gave a boost to all of our programs.
His ending wasn't what we wanted, but 3 Final Fours and a National Title? Multiple Big East titles. The YUM CENTER!!! He gave it his all.
Bobby, who deserves some love for his time, but he truly tanked the program when he left. He left us with the worst defense in college football. He didn't recruit an offensive line. He literally stopped trying and quit on his team, he was begging to be fired during a time our University needed him and couldn't afford another huge buyout.
Bottom line is, Bobby didn't have title vacated or totally embarrass the program by screwing some ho bag on a table at Porcinis, or allowing stripergate, or pay for play with Brian Bowen. And Ruck didn't ever embrace the city of Louisville. He thought he was bigger than the program or the city.
Bobby also grew our brand a lot during his first tenure. He really got us out there on the National stage. We probably wouldn't be where we are now without him..Basketball, although not at its best when Rick took over, the guy he replaced already had 2 National Championships and 6 Final Fours.
You CAN have both, but it's rare & I'm trying to be a realistic on our main motivation to hire, keep, & fire them is W's.
I just think sometimes we take sports too seriously. Probably Steve Krapthorpe was a good example. We seem to overlook personal digressions like cheating on spouses, alcohol abuse, illegal recruiting etc. as long as coaches won games. But when they don't win games and apparently don't have those personal flaws, we want to drag their names in the dirt as if to remove them from ever being associated with the university.
I mean I don't know, Bobby didn't embarrass himself here, but I think you're ignoring that he kind of did something more embarrassing than Rick at Arkansas. Remember the motorcycle wreck? It didn't happen here, we had to live with it.
And yes basketball was big, but we were Conference USA when Rick arrived. His arrival did give TJ and the brass a lot more support among the city and that's where our revenue growth really got a boost. Rick himself is a big reason the Big East gave us a bid, which gave football the chance to get that springboard.
And Bobby did take us higher, but you forget Howard won us a Fiesta Bowl already and was the driving force that led to Papa Johns Stadium. John L Smith left Bobby a great situation to get rolling too. It's not like Bobby took over the program playing in a minor league baseball stadium.
And Bobby did embarrass the city with that team he left and forced us to pay him $14 million in a buyout?
Narrowly escaping against a WKU team with a losing record
3-27 loss to UVA
31-66 loss to Georgia
-35-56 loss to Wake
-16-77 loss to Clemson
-23-54 loss to Syracuse
Was that not embarrassing? A coach that quit and let our program become one of the worst teams in P5 history?
I mean I'm sorry was that not embarrassing for a coach we were paying that kind of money to? A coach that spurned us in 2006 to go to a NFL job that he didn't even last a full season before going back to college within a year? OR that we hired him after the embarrassing Arkansas scandal he had? After all we did for him, he quit on us.
I'll appreciate what Bobby did for us forever. But to say that Bobby wasn't as bad as Rick isn't true. Rick never tried to leave. Rick wanted to be here. And don't forget, Rick left the roster in great shape for Mack to take over too. It's not like Bobby who left things in bad conditions both times.
Say what ever you want about either one:
As for Rick, he won a NC in 2013, and there is nothing the NCAA will ever be able to do that can erase that from the memories of the UL fans like myself who were in Atlanta when that event took place.
As for Bobby, his UL record of 6-1 against UK brought some of the most memorable moments that I can recall in all of sports.
I prefer to focus on the good, rather than "the not so good, and the bad".
As for Rick, he won a NC in 2013, and there is nothing the NCAA will ever be able to do that can erase that from the memories of the UL fans like myself who were in Atlanta when that event took place.
As for Bobby, his UL record of 6-1 against UK brought some of the most memorable moments that I can recall in all of sports.
I prefer to focus on the good, rather than "the not so good, and the bad".
