Rick Pitino and John Calipari write a new chapter in their storied rivalry

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Rick Pitino and John Calipari won’t be confused for chums. Pitino doesn’t think the two have ever even broken bread together.

They respect what each other has accomplished in the sport that has defined both of their lives. They’ve shared the court, memorably, many times. But they’ve not been particularly close in decades.

“I don’t know how long he was at Louisville before I (got to) Kentucky, but you’re not going to be friends when you’ve got those two jobs,” Calipari said Friday. “You’re not going to be enemies, but if he’s real good, you’re like, sheesh. And if we were real good, he’s probably saying, ugh. But I respect coaches that can really do this well, and if you can do it over a long, long period of time, I really respect you.

“All that goes on with what we do to sustain excellence — that means you’re really, really good at what you do. You’re great at what you do. Maybe you’re the best to ever do it.”

Pitino, 72, is definitely in that conversation, from a pure coaching standpoint. It doesn’t matter if he has fewer titles than some of college basketball’s greats or that he’s endured a few off-court scandals. He’s taken a record six different programs to the NCAA Tournament, including St. John’s this year. He’s the only coach who has ever won national championships at two different schools (Kentucky and Louisville).

On Saturday, he’ll face Calipari once again. It’ll be their fifth NCAA Tournament meeting, and their first since Pitino took over St. John’s two years ago and Calipari took over Arkansas last offseason. So, it’ll look a little strange and feel more than a bit odd. It’s the second-round matchup that Calipari predicted, conspiratorially believing that the selection committee would be unable to resist such a storyline with a trip to the Sweet 16 at stake.

However we landed here, we’ll take it. There’s not usually a ton of hype for a game between a region’s No. 2 and No. 10 seeds in the Round of 32. But when you’ve got two Hall of Fame coaches on the court who have previously dueled in the Final Four (twice), there’s no way to overstate the magnitude of the matchup.

“He’s on chapter two of his new book, and we’re on chapter one — as a matter of fact, we’re probably on the first few pages of the chapter,” Calipari said. “It’s both of us writing another story and being able to come back here.”

Pitino reminisced on Friday about pushing for UMass to hire Calipari all the way back in 1988, believing Calipari was “the one guy who could resurrect the program.” Which, of course, he did. Those Minutemen made it all the way to the 1996 Final Four, where they met Pitino’s Kentucky Wildcats in the first March Madness meeting between two coaches who would become legends.

They sparred regularly in the 2010s in the Bluegrass State, with Calipari often getting the best of Pitino on the backs of some of his most talented teams ever. Overall, Calipari has a 16-13 head-to-head record vs. Pitino, including games played in the NBA.

The next meeting feels like a treat. We weren’t sure we’d ever get another, not after Pitino was fired from Louisville in 2017. It took a life raft from Iona to get him back to work, and eventually back to the Big East in 2023. Calipari, for his part, stunned the sports world by leaving Kentucky for Arkansas after 15 years at the helm of the Wildcats.

He’s admitted that this, his first season in Fayetteville, has been difficult. Obviously, his roster got hit hard by injuries. But also the weight of expectations. Calipari called it an “albatross” around his neck, his own history at previous stops. He reminded himself to be at peace with where he is in his career and focus on these kids at Arkansas, on this team right now.

“Every one of us, including me, had doubts, and we all had to convince ourselves we’re going to do this,” Calipari, 66, said.

But here the Razorbacks go, trying to extend a season by upsetting a popular Final Four pick with a defense that prides itself on wearing down its opponent in the second half. On Saturday in a city that means so much to both, we’ll see two larger-than-life coaches trying to reinvent themselves once more, writing new chapters to the stories only they know how to tell — even when those tales intersect but don’t really intertwine.

“We’re all going to be judged 50 years from now what we did and how we did it,” Calipari said. “But I hope years from now people will say they both got their teams to play hard at a competitive level. Did we do it different? Yeah, I guess.”

Quipped Pitino: “We’re both Italian. We both love the game. I think that’s where the similarities end.”