Mark Pope still trying to schedule home-and-home with Rick Pitino, St. John's

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Mark Pope embraces Rick Pitino as he addresses the crowd at Rupp Arena for his first Big Blue Madness as Kentucky's head coach - Dr. Michael Huang, Kentucky Sports Radio

Mark Pope is doing everything he can to make sure Rick Pitino coaches inside Rupp Arena one more time.

Basically since the day he was hired at Kentucky, Pope has been adamant about wanting to schedule a home-and-home series with Pitino, the current St. John’s coach and former Kentucky coach, who has reciprocated that interest. The two sides have continued to go back and forth the last few months over whether or not this series will happen, but Pope remains optimistic.

Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports reported on Monday that Pope “desperately” wants to make a Kentucky-St. John’s game happen.

“We desperately want to get Coach Pitino back to Rupp Arena because he’s so revered,” Pope told Rothstein. “If we get something done, it will be at the 11th hour.”

Mark Pope tells me that Kentucky and St. John's are still going back and forth on a home-and-home series that would start in 2025.

Pope: "We desperately want to get Coach Pitino back to Rupp Arena because he's so revered. If we get something done, it will be at the 11th hour."
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) December 16, 2024

Pope is hoping to get this series rolling sooner rather than later, likely for a couple of reasons. One, next season will be the 30th anniversary season of Kentucky’s 1996 national championship run, a team that Pitino coached. And second, Pitino isn’t getting any younger at 72 years old. The window to make this series happen before he retires will shrink every season.

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Due to Kentucky’s previously agreed-upon arrangements, getting this series on the schedule has proved difficult. But the goal is to have Pitino and St. John’s come to Rupp Arena in 2025-26 with Kentucky traveling to play the Red Storm somewhere in New York during the 2026-27 season.

“If there is anything right in the basketball world, Coach P should be in this gym next year to celebrate 30,” Pope said in an interview with Just The Cats last month. “He just should be. We’re working on it.”

Pitino was welcomed back to Big Blue Madness with welcome arms and cheers from the Big Blue Nation. How would the fanbase feel if he’s back at Rupp on the opposing team’s bench for the first time since he was coaching at Louisville? Like Pope said, if there is anything right in the basketball world, we’ll find out next season.