Rick Pitino says Mark Pope will “go on to greatness.”  

Miss ya coach!!! This is all I needed to hear. Let’s go Pope.

God I miss you Coach Pitino! You will always be the greatest coach for BBN in my mind. Your endorsement means a lot.

We miss you Pitino!!! Always a Wildcat!!! 💙

Class act Pitino!

Miss you coach some of my favorite moments growing up were watching you and my Kentucky wildcats my Dad loved you brothers did too I wanted you back but I will support Mark Pope thank you for the kind words

Here’s a man who still loves this program. He’s said he wished he’d never left. We wish he’d never left either. He will always be a part of Big Blue Nation even though he did end up at Louisville for 16 years. I can forgive that. Rick, we miss you, but if you say he’s ok, it’s good enough for me.

Coach I’ve loved so many of your teams but the”untouchables” were truly my absolute favorite!! Having Mark Pope back at Kentucky is such treasure!! I have 2 favorite teams!! Which ever team you are coaching !! and now the Kentucky Wildcats!!

Miss ya coach and thank you so much....Wildcat for life.

From BBN we love you Rick Pitino. It was a joy to watch you work your magic at UK. One of the best college basketball coaches of all time. Also……….you know you would have had the most wins of any college coach of all time and hung many more Banners if you would have stayed but who could turn down that kind of money and the Celtics. You’re greatly appreciated.

The LEGEND MR.RICK PITINO

Coach Patino, never forget all of the greatness. hard work ethic and energy you brought to the program! Redefined the meaning of full court press!

Most of us wanted to see you come back and finish your story the way you wanted, but im happy we got your support behind Coach Pope.

We wish you had never left us, but no one could have said it better! Good luck next year at St. John's coach!!

Wasn't feeling this hire but Pitino got me fucking pumped. If a former championship player wins a title here I can't even imagine what Kentucky fans would do.

Miss Coach Pitino .!!! #BBN

Always nothing but love for coach Pitino and I'm so happy to have Mark Pope returning to Kentucky to become the head coach of my Wildcats GO BIG BLUE!!! 🔵⚪️🏀☝️😼

You are the Goat coach!!!

People think cal made kentucky great but it will always be Rick pitino brought it back to life after Eddie Sutton and every kid that played for Rick became great coaches

We miss you coach too bad we didn't see you come back.

Thank you for the Title Coach

I'm all in on Mark Pope coming back coach the Cats! Great hire! Pitino signing off on it is all the reassurance I need. I'm pumped!

Ricky P the 🐐! Easily my favorite college hoops coach of all time

God I hope you are right coach even though I wanted to see you come back home to finish what you started...

I'm so glad to hear this. Mark Pope is impressive to me.

I'm all in on Coach Pope #BBN

I wanted Pitino back but since this endorsement I'm good with Pope. Let's go Cats

Thank you coach ilove you to God bless you ❤

Coach Pitino, when the first news of Cal leaving came out and your name was mentioned as a possible replacement, I thought it would have been a great option! Best of luck to you this coming season and beyond, and thank you for your endorsement of Mark Pope. Can't wait to see what happens this coming season!

Love both these coaches. Watching these two together at Rupp beating Arkansas was my first ever kentucky basketball memory and i was hooked ever since. Give hell coach! #BIGBLUENATION

I've been saying people are sleeping on Mark pope for real.

Same here took words out my mind .. miss and love Pitino and every game watched with Family and Gandfather (r.i.paradise.) Pope was my third pick behind you or your son. ✌🏻

Missed that love and feeling baby!!!!!

Coach Pitino, still my favorite Kentucky coach . But I have to say , I am excited for Mark Pope to be coach because he does love Kentucky and knows what that jersey means .

I love his energy, I hope he brings those kids that are talented but also gritty defenders like you always had and Cal kept the first 6-7 years, other than the Duke team with Zion and them boys I don't remember ever thinking top to bottom we didn't have as much or more talent than whoever we were playing the past 15 years. Coach your teams had the Best style and were so fun to watch. I'll never forget being at that LSU game when your team had em 87-30 at half time. I'm aging myself but those teams were awesome.

Absolutely no doubts in the Pope

Thanks P!

I will now be following St Johns this upcoming season, while watching my Cats surprise the nation.

He sure will! Can’t wait!

Making me cry coach

Let's freaking go

Great job of talking. Summer Champions

UK should’ve hired Rick!!

Pitino for UK's AD position I say!

I’ve lived through Joe B, Sutton, Pitino, Tubby, Billy G 🍺, Calipari, and now Pope. Mark Pope is going to coach for Kentucky with all of his heart and soul, just like he played. I think he has the potential to be great. Ready to see him pull together his first roster. It’s going to be fun to see UK start fresh and begin a new era. Go big blue!

Pitino and bfs with wives came into restaurant on the Ohio River in Summer of 2017 for after dinner drinks on our outdoor patio. As the current UofL head coach, they hung out and enjoyed a summer Louisville night. The tab came out to $19.97. Ironically, that was the last year he was the coach of UK before he left for the Celtics. As an IU graduate, I have lived a full basketball life! I could not make this up if I tried!

Say what you will about Rick Pitino, but you sure can tell he cares about his former players. They aren’t just numbers to him.

💙

Ah f**k it. Hope for Pope. GO BIG BLUE

Imagine you are a university and your head Basketball coach endorses another coach winning a National Championship at another school over your own.

💯

Rick Pitino also wanted and endorsed for Kentucky to hire John Pelphery or Travis Ford after Tubby left AND after we fired BCG. Pope has my full support but Pitino is extremely biased, and doesn’t hide it, in his coaching recommendations

Coach Pitno, are you going to schedule thr Wildcats?

❤❤❤

Anyone with a Cal connection is gone. Just the way it was always gonna be.

❤

Let's gooooo

💙BBN🤍...💪😺🏀🔥🔥🔥hope in pope❤

We forgive you rick😢

I hope pope is the one, Rick Pitino and Adolph Rupp ain’t walking thru that door.. tho rick Pitino in my opinion is the second best coach in history… I wish he was walking thru that door

i love rick too you done Kentucky back on top now i believe what you say about mark pope too wish you was still there with mark rick thank you and God bless you iv been a wild cat the day i came to eath .that been said i was so glad to see coach cal GONE he was there for the MBA NOT FOR KENTUCKY YOU LET A CHICKEN MAN TALK YOU TO LEVE KENTUCKY AND I THANK JOHN TYSON CAL DO GOOD BUT HE Want be great look at the great player he had and olny 1 chship thsts not great he good ill alwY love coach cal tho ❤

Yea...cal was bring them down at the end of cal era he broke the wrong records

You know…. Win or lose…. Mark has something we as life long fans get about Kentucky basketball…. You understand it or you don’t .. We don’t care you struggle.. we get it. But come tournament time.. you better be prepared to roll. We expect to win the SEC every year…. Not hope but expect it. Then we expect to get put in a crap bracket loaded with ringers to play. While Duke, North Carolina, Kansas get cupcakes and pillows. We always expect that the referees screw us all year and even at home because.. they do it all the time. We expect to have some nobody go off and have the game if their life against us every game !! We expect to get everyone’s super bowl game, every game. We can accept a legitimate defeat but we rarely get legitimate ones. See we understand being to best place in the world to play as a college player is Kentucky. It’s the best and worst for players. They live in a fish bowl and are loved but you better bust a gut when on the court. You could score 30 and don’t play team ball.. we will let you know.. we don’t like it. You could score 4 points and foul out doing your best… we will carry you on our backs because you played team ball. At Kentucky you are expected to play like a hell bend warrior with class. Absolutely destroy teams with honor. Sounds silly but it’s true. Don’t act like fools flexing after a good play… get your ass back on defense and stop your opponent!!! Stuff like this is Kentucky ball. A reporter once stated the most beautiful thing he ever watched was Rupp coaching his team in practice. It was nothing but the sounds of movement and very little dribbling then the stinging sound of a ball going through the net. I liked that.

UK fans setting there self up for disappointment. Alot of you all hated pitino 10 years ago and now you all act like he is the word of God and that he has never been wrong in his life 😂😂😂

Rickety Rick should concern himself with his own team. Pitino, should take responsibility for the players he recruited, and stop throwing them under the bus. Stop trying to be an ambassador of the game and coach St. John's.

I wish him well. Kentucky lost coach and players. All the hype so we will see.

I was hoping Rick would've came back for 3 year and ushered Pope into that position. Glad we got Pope but it wouldv been nice to have let Rick retire as a Cat. Tht Louisville job killed it for him