by Paul Jordan
As much as the coaches would rather the UK/UL game be about the actual teams today … we all know that is not going to happen. Today, the John Calipari / Rick Pitino officially takes center stage as the biggest coaching rivalry in NCAA basketball and it is a story that actually spans over 30 years.
This story actually goes back to 1977 when John Calipari met Rick Pitino at a 5 star basketball camp in Pittsburgh. Pitino was an assistant coach at Syracuse and Calipari was a teenage camper. The head of the camp, Howard Garfinkel, started calling Calipari “the next Pitino” and for a while at least, a strong friendship was born.
Fast forward a few years to 1988 when Pitino was coaching the New York Knicks. At the time, Pitino was on the search committee at his alma mater, UMass, for a new basketball coach. The committee was considering 29 year old John Calipari, who was an assistant at Pitt. One of the board members was balking at hiring Calipari when Pitino made this comment:
“You can’t change your mind because one coach calls and says these things. That means he’s worried. If he’s worried about this guy, then that’s a good thing.”
Apparently Pitino’s words were enough to sway the board and Calipari was selected with the coach but with just one hitch: They had promised Calipari $63,000 but only had $58,000 in the budget. If Pitino would pay the $5000 difference, Calipari would be hired. Pitino cut the check on the spot and history was made for UMass.
The friendship started to turn sour in 1992 when Pitino’s Wildcats met Calipari’s Minutemen in the 1992 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16. During a tight game, Calipari was called for a technical foul for being outside the coaching box. To this day, Calipari not only believes he was inside the box, but that Pitino goaded the officials into making that call. UK went on to win that game 87-77 and UK had a date with Duke (and infamy).
In 1994, UK and Calipari met again in 1994 in a game at East Rutherford, New Jersey. Pitino and the Cats came off with a 67-64 win. Calipari and his Minutemen pulled out a 92-82 win over Pitino early in the 1996 season, but the stage was set for a bigger matchup that year. Kentucky and UMass met in the Final Four and Pitino won that matchup 81-74 and Calipari left UMass for the Nets. After the next year, Pitino bolted UK for the pros. During their time in the NBA together, Pitino and Calipari split six games.
This rivalry started to simmer once again when Rick Pitino joined Conference USA as head coach of Louisville. Pitino had more success initially and there was obviously no love lost between the two. Tensions came to a head in 2003 after Calipari’s Tigers defeated the #4 Louisville Cardinals 80-73. The Tigers shot 48 free throws in that game and Pitino was upset by what he perceived as Calipari’s attempts to lobby the officials before the game. He called the attempts “amateurish and unprofessional” and had the following quote:
“I don’t pay any attention to John when it comes to begging for officiating. I have heard him since the UMass days talking about the officials. I pay no attention to anything he says. When people start talking about officials, you know they have some psychological problems.”
After this, the relationship seemed beyond saving. When Louisville left Conference USA for the Big East, it could have avoided an exit fee of more than $1 million by continuing its series with Memphis for four years, like Cincinnati did. But Pitino was adamant about not wanting to play the Tigers, something Calipari is still not happy about.
Apparently the hard feelings continued. As Kentucky was looking for a new coach after Billy Gillispie was fired, Pitino seemed to publicly lobby for either Travis Ford or John Pelphery to get the job. Fortunately for UK, the search committee did not heed Pitino’s wishes as John Calipari was hired. But before taking the job, Calipari paid Pitino the respect of a complimentary phone call. While Calipari extended the courtesy of asking if he should take the job, Pitino knew that Calipari had made up his mind.
And a new chapter in the Calipari / Pitino story is born. It’s one that shows Pitino with a slight 11-8 lead in head to head matchups, but for the good of college basketball, many more chapters must be written in this story. And the next chapter starts today.
If you are looking for my preview of the UK/UL game, go here.
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