Pitino says he gets treated “great” in Lexington
During his pre-NCAA Tournament press conference this afternoon, Rick Pitino dropped this interesting quote about playing in Lexington, the town he used to call home before leaving for Boston and later, Louisville:
“Out of all the places I’ve traveled, I get the best support in Lexington. I get treated great in Lexington.”
Slick Rick spinning the truth again?
H/t to Mike Rutherford
70 Comments for Pitino says he gets treated “great” in Lexington
He used to get treated well.
I hope they treat him to an early exit.
Awaiting moderation? 4-realz?
Get that white suit pressed or just lose it.
Wearing that suit is like a promiscuous woman wearing white at her wedding. big lie.
I would hope that he would say that, instead of saying that a bunch of ignorant “fans” cursed at him and were otherwise rude to him. We should be above that kind of behavior, no matter how you feel about him – we are BBN.
KSR commenters and contributors aren’t representative of Lexington as a whole. God, at least I hope not. Geez.
Not that there is anything wrong with promiscuous women.
He did help UK win a championship (1.5 if you count most of his players on Tubby’s 98 team). I don’t think the hate for Pitino runs as deep as everyone on this site thinks. Kentuckians are pretty quick to forgive and have good memories about what he did for the program.
Sounds like an attempt at saying something nice. Just take the compliment. sheesh.
Especially at Porcini’s!
Rick should be treated well in Lexington. He has confessed several times he made a mistake in leaving plus he left the program a hell of a lot better off than when he found it.
@8 I agree most Kentuckians have forgiven Pitino. So he took the Louisville job, who cares he wanted to come back to the state of Kentucky and he had the chance and took it. Its well documented that he is sorry he left for the NBA, with the money Boston threw at him why not leave and give the NBA a chance? We dont say anything when our “one and dones” leave and take the NBA money.
Never dined at Porcini’s but if I did,
I would laugh HARD if they asked if I
would like to look at the dessert menu.
I don’t like it as much as everyone else,that he went to Louisville.We were very close to the death penalty at that time. No one could have turned this program around as fast as Rick Pitino did. Sucks that he went to Louisville.
Rick, did a great job at Kentucky. I don’t blame him for returning Home, and Coaching his dream Job, the Boston Celtics. He eventually got fired, and took another very good job, Louisville.
I don’t get it… Grow up people
Rick is gone… We have Cal
No need to hate like this…
Rick almost took us to the 3 peat!
Coach Cal might do the same If we show
Some patience and support!
#6 – Exactly. I don’t get the hatred that ksr has for the man. If it wasn’t for him we wouldn’t be where we are right now. Plain & Simple. I guess when you try to be funny though you’ll take all the 15 second cheap shots you can.
looks like sarcasm is hard for a lot of people.
He should be treated with respect. He was a wonderful coach for us and brought us a National Championship (and 1/2 of the other one). We retired his “jersey.” We don’t have to cheer for him, but we should always show him respect. He earned in at Kentucky.
Serious Question: Does Louisville get to use our practice facility or do they have to use Memorial?
That picture makes him look like a Bond villain.
21 – that or he looketh to start a fight with He-Man/
Prick Pitino, is a LIAR, and a TURNCOAT!
Other than that, he’s a good guy!
I have great admiration for Rick and what he did for our program. I dont care that he is the coach at Louisville; I actually like it, it makes the rivalry better.
He saved this program.
I think what Pitino did while at Kentucky was amazing. I think it’s childish for all of these fans to treat him the way they do. Being a Kentucky fan that is out of state, I always pull for Louisville when they aren’t playing us. The better they are, the more intense the rivalry. I am surrounded by nothing but Duke and North Carolina fans (in the state of SC, hah). So for me, it’s more along the lines of having a little more pride for my state. I grew up in Lexington, and I understand how much more heated the rivalry is up there. Fortunately I do not have to listen to all the trash talking Louisville fans because none of them exist here. At the same time, without Pitino, there is no telling where the program would be today.
18, I tried to download a font labeled “sarcasm font” but it seems to be gone.
We’re like Cleveland fans who can’t understand why LeBron James would play anywhere else. It’s s job. Louisville was the best available when he was on the market and that’s why he went there.
You all make me sick with this Pitino love. Besides the fact that he left us, came back to coach our rival, is a gigantic liar, a creep, and all around bad person, I don’t even like how he treats his current teams. It doesn’t make any sense that you would still like him just because you used to. I think he’s done plenty enough to receive ire from UK fans, despite what he did for us in the past.
I never realized just how many LOSERVILLE wannabes
posted on here! WOW eye opening! 27 LeBron didn’t
LIE to Cleveland fans! BIG difference!
IIRC, Rick said he wanted to come back to Kentucky when he took the UL job.
Unfortunately, he didn’t have a clue what he was talking about.
I “Thank” him for what he did at UK but in these eyes he IS a “carpetbagger” and chased the money.
I agree with 19… EXCEPT, I still give Rick more than half credit for 1998.
expanding on my comment: rick wanted to come back to the “State of Kentucky.” I get the idea that he thought being at UL was like being at UK.
HEY RICK….EAT A BAG OF HERPES!!!!
What did Cal say when Memphis offered him more money than UK offered him?
With the exception of Porcini’s, of course.
#30 – So you’re telling me that if someone offered you oodles of millions to leave your current job and come work for them, you would declare “I’m not a carpetbagger and I won’t take your money!” Bull$&@+!
18, of course we don’t say anything when teen year olds take the bucks.
Rick, Already HAD the bucks and deserves his own episode on american greed.
36, Rick ever mention about leaving “Camelot” and how it was a Wise decision?
There is no such thing as “too much money”.
Yeah, it was a bad decision. But, he was offered a better paying job. It doesn’t always work out, but you never know until you try. Give up the hate. You would have done the same thing, so don’t say you wouldn’t.
Pitino is such a BS’er that his wife sat in the row in front of him at the FIU-Western game to go to the NCAA. He literately was sitting by himself.
40, You are wrong about me.
I gave up what for me was big bucks to do what I wanted to do.
Money wise, was that a bad decision, YES.
In making my life acceptable to me: NO, it was the RIGHT Move.
I am happy and posting on some silly post on KSR.
can you loan me some money?
Pitino got our guys to play harder than any I’ve seen.play with passion for themselves and the state. I am not a Louisville fan and have never been one. If the opportunity arose that pitino had the chance to come back, I think he would do back flips (sorry coach cal). He is a good coach and hope him the best of luck.
LIAR LIAR LIAR! He is despised (and rightly so) by ‘true” Big Blue fans. And NO, if one is happy in what they do and still have tons of money (as he did at UK) and have integrity (foreign concept to that low-life adulterous baby-killing beast) then there is no reason to leave. Money cannot buy true happiness. And he alleges that leaving UK was the biggest mistake of his life – another LIE! Lip service from the biggest pompous a-double there is!
anyone who doesnt respect Rick for what he did for UK is probably not old enough to remember. We were absolutely on life support, remember the sports illustrated with Kentucky shame on it. I honestly believe our program may not have made it back if it wasnt for him, or at least it would have taken a long long time. I think his affairs and sleezing around are sick, but we have zero chance in the 90s without him.
I DON’T Hate Rick. Just not going to admire him as much as I once did.
Didn’t Joanne say that he didn’t like Lexington at all and looked her nose down at UK fans. I respect Rick for what he did at UK, however, I cannot root for UL or Rick in the tournament. Rick says things that will make him look good – he is all about himself.
If he coached at any other school he would get a standing ovation every time he comes to lexington.If you dont understand why he doesnt then your just not as big a fan as some .
I might be one of the few people that will NEVER boo Pitino. I loved what he did for our program. I even like the move to Louisville because it brought some new life to the rivalry. Welcome home coach!
Kentucky did way more for Petino than Petino did for UK. Folks forget how quickly Coach Cal turned things around – and I would argue things were in worse shape when he got here (certainly with regard to returning talent) than when Petino arrived.
One of the primary reasons I believe Petino left Lexington was because he couldn’t compete with UNC and Duke for the top high school players. About the only team that he could beat for recruits was UT (Mercer and Delk). That certainly hasn’t been an issue over the past three years.
Not one of the Long Time UK fans I know would walk across the street to spit on Petino if he was on fire.
I’m thankful for his cleaning up Sutton’s mess and putting UK back on top. I understood his leaving-that was a LOT of money! I’ll never understand his taking the Louisville job, he’s a turd for that.
But I root for Louisville against other teams as I do other Kentucky schools it just don’t bother me when they lose.
Once again, if Rick mouth is moving, you know he is lying. Yea Pitino is treated so great he wouldn’t even show up to Keeneland when he had a horse running in the Bluegrass Stakes.
I think we should always treat a former coach that brought us so many great seasons the respect he deserves. After Boston he could have gone anywhere and chose to come back to the Commonwealth. I think that says a lot about the state of Kentucky.
I have never understood the hatred for Rick Pitino. He brought this program back from the dead. He had a National Championship (responsible in part for a 2nd), 3 Final Fours, and a runner up in six years of eligibility. He’s a northeast guy who left to coach the Boston Celtics. Believe it or not BBN, for a guy from the north that is a better job than Kentucky. Why do we hate him? Coach Cal is going to leave one day also. Or we going to hate him too? Grow up and thank Pitino for saving our basketball ass and quit hating him for doubling his salary and coaching the Celtics.
BBN doesn’t hate him too much doesn’t he own several businesses in Lexington including a Toyota Dealership?
J.Randle coming to UK!
For what he had to work with, that mortician did a pretty decent job.
If Cal left next year and Pitino wanted to come back you all would take him back with OPEN ARMS…………
He is a great man
58. No. Not a chance.
#6/ Agree. KSR has a lot of good information. Saying that, I cringe knowing that they are a huge representation of our fan base. Completely classless. Lifelong UK fan, but I can understand why people around the country hate the UK fanbase. If KSR was indicative, I would hate UK too.
54/ Agree.
#27 (Chicago Chris) and #45 (Big Blue 66), I agree. I don’t hate Rick, I appreciate what he did for this program. I don’t hate UL (their fans can be real jackasses though), and am happy for them when they win, when they are not playing UK. If they win it all this year, great, but I won’t cry if they don’t.
Whether it be a basketball court or federal court would you want to deal with this guy? His wife doesn’t even live with him.
I love the guy and would take him back in a second (if Cal ever left). NEVER FORGET what he did for this program. It was amazing.
He should. He revived the basketball program from ashes and led us to a Championship. Arguably two. Would have been 3 if Anderson doesn’t get hurt. He did phenomenal things for UK and will always have my respect.
@65 Agree 100%. Most of the kids on here weren’t around when he was doing those things so they have no idea.
54, it isn’t that he left and went for the big Boston paycheck. C’mon you cannot think that is it!!! If Cal leaves and goes to U of L, yes he will be held in the same regard as Rick. That said, I hope that U of L does well in the tourney, although I will not be too enthusiastic in my support.
Keep your friends close,but your enemies closer!
I see Petino still has folks monitoring the message boards and posting in his defense. Or, it could be that Jurich has folks posting so he can tell Petino that there are some folks in Lexington who want him back.
Remember, it was rumored that he applied for just about every job in the country the year before the trial and no one would hire him. He would love to go to one of the Catholic schools in the Big East but that door is forever closed to him. He would love to go to CBS and be a color guy. That door too is closed.
I and both my kids graduated from UK. I’ve been a Cat fan since I can remember. I would burn all my blue if Petino were ever given an opportunity to be associated with or a representative of UK.