Calipari says there is no hatred between himself and Pitino

UK head coach John Calipari insists he doesn’t hate former UK head coach and current Louisville head coach Rick Pitino.

The two have been linked on the Internet to a heated rivalry, but during a Wednesday news conference announcing his hiring at UK, Calipari said Pitino has actually helped him through his career — including helping him get his first head coaching job at the University of Massachusetts.

“(Pitino) and I talked yesterday. This thing about we hate each other, it is so crazy. I mean we’re competitive,” Calipari said. “Let me make a point to you. When I was hired by the University of Massachusetts, without his support, because everybody wanted the job, you had other people promoting other people, his comments and his calls got me the job.”

Pitino recently lobbied for former UK players Travis Ford at Oklahoma State and John Pelphrey at Arkansas to be the Billy Gillispie replacement at UK. He even said they would be better choices than Tom Izzo and himself, because of their love for UK.

However, in a Tuesday news conference Pitino said Calipari would be successful in Lexington.

“He’s done a great job at UMass, he’s done a great job at Memphis, and he’ll do a great job at Kentucky,” Pitino said.

The two saw each other five times while Pitino was at UK and Calipari at UMass, with Pitino winning four of the games — including a Final Four matchup in 1996. The two rivals then moved to Conference USA for the 2002 season.

The two coaches both play a fast-paced game that tends to draw fans attention. Former UK player Scott Padget, who played under Pitino, said the game in the 2009-10 season between the Kentucky schools should be an exciting one to watch.

“Those two play a similar style and are both competitive guys,” Padgett said. “It should be a fun game to watch for many years.”

Padgett could potentially be part of the rivalry as rumors have him as a possible assistant coach under Calipari at UK. Despite having a successful career playing for Pitino, Padgett said his dream would be to come back to UK to coach.

However, Padgett said Calipari has not contacted him yet about the possible job, but if he does he would be more than happy to listen.

“I want to be in coaching and would love to be back at UK,” Padgett said. “When I was in high school my dream was to be a coach, not play in the NBA.”