By Keith Taylor
Special to NKyTribune
Kentucky’s basketball coach John Calipari and Louisville’s Rick Pitino aren’t the best of friends. They aren’t enemies, either.
Although they coach at rival instate schools, the pair have more in common than just an ability to draw up X’s and O’s and desire to win championships. They’re both in the prestigious Hall of Fame and have coached at the same school with a similar track record of success.
Just like any other coach, Calipari and Pitino battle for elite talent to get an edge on each other on the recruiting trail. They each have won national championships at Kentucky. Pitino guided the Wildcats from probation to jubilation, while Calipari has made the Kentucky program relevant again in the collegiate ranks with four Final Four appearances in the past five seasons.
Pitino has enjoyed the same success at Louisville and guided the Cardinals to a national championship one year following Kentucky’s eighth national championship run, giving him two career national titles. He won a national title at Kentucky in 1996 and led them to a runner-up finish one year later before leaving for the Boston Celtics.
During the past two weeks, a scandal involving alleged prostitutes has rocked the Louisville program, with a school and NCAA investigation all but certain following recruiting claims revealed in a book. Calipari hasn’t personally reached out to Pitino since the allegations were made public, but is hopeful, the allegations are just that — unfounded claims instead of half truths.
“I would say, I hope it’s not true,” Calipari said. “If any of it is, it’s not good for college basketball. It’s not the norm.”
The Kentucky coach isn’t rooting for a Cardinal crumble, instead he’s pulling for Pitino and doesn’t want to see him fall from grace. Although coaches don’t always agree on philosophy and the best way to lead a program, they are like brothers when their backs are to the wall. Coaches are like a fraternity and stand up for each other when one is hurting or when one is facing adversity, especially off the court.
In order to make sure his own program is in compliance with NCAA rules, Calipari meets with school administrators on a regular basis. Kentucky runs a tight ship when it comes to making sure all programs are in compliance with NCAA rules to avoid major violation mishaps, such as the one that occurred during the late 1980s, one in which the school narrowly missed the death penalty.
“We have meetings, monthly meetings where we talk about the changes or what’s happened in a program to make sure we know so that we’re on top of it,” he said. “We have our entire staff (in the meetings). So it’s done a lot here.”
If the allegations against the Louisville program are founded, Calipari knows Pitino well enough to think the Louisville coach had no prior knowledge of any possible wrongdoings.
“If any of it is (true), I can’t believe he would know anything about it just knowing him as I do,” he said. “I haven’t reached out, (to him), I just didn’t think it was appropriate.”
Keith Taylor is a columnist and senior sports reporter who covers UK sports for the NKyTribune