Rick Pitino says he has donated to Kentucky football’s NIL, would do the same for Mark Pope and basketball

For close to two decades, Rick Pitino was a villain to Kentucky basketball fans, a man whose life and career had an almost Shakespearean arc.

After leading the Wildcats from the depths of scandal to championship glory, and after an ill-fated three-year run with the Boston Celtics, Pitino stunned many nationally and angered hundreds of thousands across the commonwealth by returning to the college game to coach archrival Louisville.

Nearly 25 years after being hired at Louisville, Pitino appears eager to mend fences with Big Blue Nation — and offer them up some money, too.

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In an appearance Thursday on Kentucky Sports Radio — which was being hosted that day by the hosts of the popular podcast “Pardon My Take” — the legendary coach, now at St. John’s, said he has donated money to Kentucky football’s NIL initiatives and would happily do the same for Mark Pope and the Wildcats’ basketball program as his former player heads into his first season as Kentucky’s coach.

“Well, I actually cut a check to the football program because I’m a casual friend of Mark (Stoops) and Eddie Gran,” Pitino said. “I cut a check to the football program. I would definitely cut a check if Mark (Pope) needs me for anything no matter what it is — except for my first-born, Michael — he can have it.”

The connections to Kentucky extend beyond the basketball and football programs, as Pitino noted later in the interview that he sent a text message to Wildcats baseball coach Nick Mingione, who guided the program to its first-ever College World Series this year, wishing him good luck.

While his relationship with Stoops — whose Kentucky tenure overlapped with Pitino’s stint at Louisville for four years — wasn’t widely known, Pitino’s connections to Pope have been well-established.

He coached Pope from 1993-96, an accomplished run that included a national championship in…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/rick-pitino-says-donated-kentucky-151358516.html

Author : The Courier Journal

Publish date : 2024-06-28 15:13:58

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