Rick Pitino on Mark Pope’s first UK season: ‘I thought he did a fabulous job’
Though he was busy coaching St. John’s to the Big East regular season and conference tournament titles, Rick Pitino found time to keep an eye on Mark Pope this season.
“I always follow the guys I coached and I followed them religiously this year and rooting for them all the time,” Pitino said Friday during a ceremony in which he was named Associated Press co-coach of the year with Auburn’s Bruce Pearl. “Mark did a fabulous job this year playing a very difficult schedule. I loved the way his guys play. I loved the offenses he runs. I loved the way they moved the ball, they shared the basketball.
“I knew he’d be a great coach. There was no doubt in my mind. But I didn’t know it from BYU. I went to see him at the Utah Valley program and watched him build that and that’s where I knew Mark — you never know when your players are going to be great coaches or not, but I went to see Mark and at that point I knew he’d be a great coach. Kentucky hired the right man. Mark will be brilliant for so many years, such a humble person, such a caring person and such a great offensive mind.”
Kentucky finished 24-12 in its first season under Pope, captain on Pitino’s 1996 national championship team at UK. While No. 2 seed St. John’s lost to John Calipari and Arkansas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Pope and Kentucky lost to Tennessee in the Midwest regional semifinal last week.
This is the first time in the history of the AP Coach of the Year award that there was a tie for first place in the voting.
It is also the first time Pitino has earned the AP honor, despite the fact he has won national titles at Kentucky and at Louisville (2013) and has led six different schools to the NCAA Tournament. He joked that he thought he had won the award before, but was corrected by his wife Joanne. “She told me that was the Wooden Award,” Pitino said.
St. John’s finished 31-5 this past season after going 20-13 in Pitino’s first season at the New York school. The Red Storm finished fifth in the final AP regular season poll.
Pearl is the second Auburn coach to win the award, following Cliff Ellis who won in 1999. Auburn was No. 1 in the AP poll for eight straight weeks and is the No. 1 overall seed in this NCAA Tournament. The Tigers play fellow SEC member in the first Final Four semifinal on Saturday night at the Alamodome. Duke plays Houston in the second game.
Pearl said that he was honored to share the award with Pitino.
“To have earned Coach Pitino’s respect would be one of my greatest achievements as a basketball coach. I mean that with all sincerity,” the Auburn coach said.
This story was originally published April 4, 2025 at 6:47 PM.
