Report: Rick Pitino expected to attend Kentucky vs. Vanderbilt football game day after Big Blue Madness

Rick Pitino will be back in the bluegrass this weekend.

Kentucky Sports Radio’s Matt Jones tweeted on Tuesday that Pitino will be there at kickoff for Kentucky when they host Vanderbilt on Saturday. Pitino has since confirmed that himself in his own tweet while joking that he’ll try to be a help down on the field.

“Yes, I will be flying in for the UK/Vandy game on Sat. I’ll be on the sidelines helping Coach Stoops,” wrote Pitino with a wink emoji.

This comes a few months after Pitino revealed that he has previously donated to the Wildcats’ football program.

It’s also of note that Big Blue Madness will tip off the basketball season the night before on Friday. Mark Pope, their new head coach, played for Pitino and won a national title with the school in the 1990s. Since his hiring, he has been incredibly complimentary of his former player getting his former job in Lexington. That could possibly now make him quite the guest of honor at both athletic events this weekend. However, his words at least noted that he isn’t flying in until Saturday.

This offseason has been a surprising one in regards to Pitino and Kentucky. Their relationship with one another had gone bad after leaving the team to coach the Boston Celtics in the NBA. It then got much worse when he returned to college basketball and became the head coach at Louisville. He’d coach the Cardinals for 16 seasons while going 416-143 (.744) and winning another title 0 although some of those wins and that championship were later vacated.

However, Pope’s hiring, Pitino’s contributions to football, and his overall comments about the school over the last few months have led to a kind of reconnection between the two. His perception to some in Big Blue Nation is now moving closer to who went 219-50 (.814) while at Kentucky.

Pitino is currently the head coach at St. John’s. He was 20-13 (.606) in his first season last year in Queens. They’re also supposedly planning to have the Wildcats and Red Storm play at some point for a coaching matchup between him and Pope.

This will be Pitino’s first big, notable trip back there in quite some time. It’ll also likely be a far more welcome one than it previously would have been based on how he and their fans have reunited over this offseason.