A UK Fan's Perspective on the Pitino/Sypher Scandal

As a Kentucky fan, I am in the minority. I don't vilify Rick Pitino for leaving Kentucky and making a business decision to got the Boston Celtics. At the time, pro sports were the only place to get John Calipari/Pete Carrol type of money for coaching. If anything, I'm thankful C.M. Newton found the right guy at the right time to bring Kentucky out of the depths of probation. I will go as far to say that if Pitino doesn't perform CPR to perfection on the probated Kentucky program, the success of the 1996 team, the success of Tubby Smith, the recruiting class brought in by John Calipari probably never happens. On a Mount Rushmore of Kentucky Basketball legends, Pitino sits alone with Adolph Rupp and two other legends that we could argue about for years. He is modern Kentucky basketball. On that note, I am severely disappointed with the former Wildcat coach and current head coach of the Louisville Cardinals. While the majority of the Commonwealth laughs at Pitino's pitfalls, I am disappointed that such a shining light of a figure in the lore of Wildcat basketball now has such a tarnished mark on his reputation. To me, he is a Wildcat first, Cardinal second. He still regrets leaving Kentucky; in a packed Freedom Hall on ESPN College Gameday in front of Louisville fans he called his 1996 Kentucky team his greatest and favorite. He's still a Wildcat, always a Wildcat, and one of our own just done enough damage to his reputation that his days as a viable coach and recruiter could soon be done.