What Mark Pope is saying about Rick Pitino’s possible return to Rupp Arena next year

Nothing is official yet, but it sure sounds like Rick Pitino will indeed be back in Rupp Arena for the first time in a decade during season two of the Mark Pope era of Kentucky basketball.

Pope planted the seeds for UK vs. St. John’s — where Pitino is entering his second season as head coach — during his introductory press conference as the Wildcats’ new leader back on April 14.

“Anybody here down for a game versus St. John’s?” Pope said, to cheers from the Rupp crowd, when asked about how he will schedule games moving forward. He went on to talk about how his college coach at UK had “changed” him as a player and a person.

“He allowed me to be someone who feels I can walk into any room and take on any impossible task,” Pope said. “And I will love him forever. And so I say St. John’s, because I have so much admiration for him. He’s probably the best that ever did it.”

Pitino caught wind of that fairly quickly, posting on social media the following morning that he was accepting that invitation on behalf of St. John’s. “This year at UK, next year at the Mecca!” Pitino posted on X. “Looking forward to saying goodbye to (Kentucky basketball).”

Pitino got a little carried away with that booking, apparently. St. John’s will not be on the UK schedule for the 2024-25 season. The Hall of Fame coach told NJ Advance Media’s Adam Zagoria a month later that his plan was being pushed back a year, with St. John’s visiting Rupp for the 2025-26 season and the Wildcats playing the Johnnies in Madison Square Garden in 2026-27.

That’s not set in stone yet, either, but it certainly appears to be headed in that direction.

Pope met with Kentucky basketball fans at a Club Blue NIL event in Lexington over the weekend. During that appearance, he took part in a Q&A session with UK announcer Tom Leach — answering several other questions shouted from the crowd — and Leach asked which coaches have had the biggest influence on Pope since he joined the profession.

“Clearly, Coach Pitino has had a massive impact on me, and I love him so much,” Pope said.

He then confirmed the plans for getting St. John’s to Lexington next year.

“Guys, we’re working so hard,” Pope said. “Next year — not this season, but next season — will be the 30th anniversary of Coach’s first national championship, which he won at the University of Kentucky. We have to play this game. And we’re trying so hard.”

Pope, who left medical school to pursue coaching in 2009, mentioned coaches that had made an impact on him going back to high school. The list included Pitino, Larry Bird and George Karl, as well as Billy Donovan, who Pope said had a “huge impact” on him as an assistant at UK before helping him work his way through the coaching profession in more recent years.

Whenever this topic comes up, however, Pitino is the first name Pope mentions.

Pope was a player at Kentucky for three years under Pitino — the first as a redshirt transfer before two seasons on the court — and was a captain on the 1995-96 UK squad, arguably the best team in program history.

The quick transition — among some in the UK basketball fan base — from angst over Pope’s unexpected hire to excitement for the program’s future under his direction can partly be attributed to the immediate show of support he received from his former UK teammates, and especially the kind words Pitino offered as soon as it was clear Pope would get the job.

Pitino posted a video on X the day Pope was hired, praising his former captain and predicting great things for Kentucky basketball on his watch. He also spoke to the Herald-Leader that day, touting Pope even more to the UK fan base.

On Saturday, the new Wildcats coach previewed UK’s summer practice sessions — those began Monday — and talked about how Kentucky’s playing style and team identity would be similar to the beloved squads coached by Pitino in the 1990s.

Pitino, who turns 72 years old in September, left UK in 1997 to become head coach of the Boston Celtics and later returned to college to coach rival Louisville from 2001 to 2017. He led the Cats to three Final Fours, and he hasn’t been on the Rupp Arena sidelines since Dec. 26, 2015, when UK defeated his Cardinals 75-73. Pitino was 6-12 against the Cats as U of L’s coach.

The 2025-26 season would mark the 30th anniversary of Kentucky’s national championship run, when the Wildcats finished with a 34-2 record and a winning margin of 22.0 points per game.

Pope reiterated later Saturday that he “really wants” Pitino back in Rupp for one more game.

“We’re working hard on that,” he said.

In a move that might delay an official agreement between UK and St. John’s, the latter school parted ways with its athletics director, Mike Cragg, on Monday. Both head basketball coaches are clearly eager to make the game a reality, however, and there’s obviously still plenty of time for that to happen.

Kentucky’s future basketball schedule

The 2024-25 UK basketball schedule is still coming together, but season two of the Pope era is already looking like it’s going to be loaded. And there will be some marquee games in Rupp Arena.

If the St. John’s matchup happens, it would join an already set date against Indiana (Dec. 20, 2025) on the home schedule. That will be the first meeting of a new four-game agreement to rekindle the longstanding rivalry that fizzled out under former coach John Calipari.

UK would also be likely to play a home game against a big-name ACC opponent as part of the third installment of the ACC/SEC Challenge. Organizers have told the Herald-Leader that the hope is for teams to alternate home and away games in the series each year. Since the Cats are traveling in this season’s event (at Clemson on Dec. 3), logic says an ACC team will be in Rupp in 2025.

That would be three major-conference home games for the non-SEC slate, and it’s worth noting that both Duke and North Carolina should be available as possible opponents that season. Both blue-blood teams are hosting games in the series this year, and neither is in the rotation to play Kentucky elsewhere on the 2025-26 schedule.

UK is also already set for four additional major matchups during that season.

In addition to Pope’s first game in the Yum Center against Louisville, current contracts obtained by the Herald-Leader for the 2025-26 season have the Cats playing neutral-site games against Michigan State (Champions Classic), UCLA (CBS Sports Classic) and Gonzaga (in Nashville).

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