John Calipari recorded his 800th career coaching victory on Tuesday, Jan. 25.
Rick Pitino recorded his 800th career coaching victory on Sunday, Jan. 30.
Coincidence?
I think not.
After all, few coaching careers have been as thoroughly entwined as these two Hall of Famers. No wonder they reached the same milestone less than a week apart. UK's 82-74 overtime victory over Mississippi State gave Calipari his 800th on-court win. Iona's 85-77 victory over Saint Peter's gave Pitino his 800th on-court win.
The NCAA is responsible for the "on-court" disclaimer. Thanks to a controversy or two, the governing body has vacated victories by each coach from the official record book. Let's push that aside for now, however, and concentrate on the coaching.
Pitino is 69 years old. Calipari turns 63 next week. Both were products of the late Howard Garfinkel Five-Star Basketball Camps on the East Coast, where as teachers and counselors they impressed the higher-ups enough to open doors.
Just last week, as Kentucky prepared to play Kansas, Calipari talked about his first job as a low-level assistant there under Ted Owens and then Larry Brown. Calipari reminisced about how he and his roommate couldn't afford both ESPN and furniture, so he slept on the floor. Or he did until ABC shot the television-movie "The Day After" about nuclear war in Lawrence and used Allen Fieldhouse for its triage scenes. Cal procured a cot, one that required a piece of plywood placed underneath because it was so soft it "would wrap around you."
From there, Calipari became an assistant back home at Pittsburgh under Paul Evans before becoming the head coach at UMass. The rest is history. Cal's job at UMass remains one of the more remarkable in college basketball annals, forging a No. 1 ranking and Final Four run out of thin air. After a wrong turn to the NBA, Calipari revived his career and the program at Memphis. That led to Kentucky, where in 2012 he won an NCAA title.
Pitino has won two of those, one at UK and one at U of L. His move up the ladder was quicker and more high-profile — head coach at Boston University, New York Knicks assistant, Providence head coach, New York Knicks head coach. Pitino revived probation-saddled Kentucky to a 1996 national title, securing his reputation as an innovator and motivator. After his own NBA wrong turn with the Boston Celtics, Pitino landed in Louisville, where he capture the 2013 NCAA crown.
The two men have a well-documented relationship history, of course. As a UMass alumnus, Pitino either did or did not recommend Calipari for the head coaching job there. By 1996, they coached the two best teams in the country, splitting a pair of games, with UK winning in the Final Four. With Pitino at Louisville and Calipari at Memphis, they butted heads in Conference USA, then again when Calipari came to Kentucky.
As has been said so many times in so many ways, they are too much alike to like each other too much.
Yet, even if it's just for show, the two appear to have mellowed with respect to the other. Pitino appeared on Calipari's short-lived podcast. It was a fun listen, full of old stories. When UK celebrated the 25th anniversary of its 1993 Final Four team, Calipari tried unsuccessfully to talk Pitino into attending the ceremony.
"Thx Cal for reaching out," Pitino tweeted. "Much appreciated."
Just last week it was Calipari who pointed out to the media that Pitino was approaching his own 800th win. "I wish him well," said the UK coach.
May bygones be bygones? Maybe. Maybe not. After all, the two men are no longer competing for the same space. And Pitino seems quite happy at Iona. He told the Courier-Journal this week, "Great place, I'm really happy. I hope I can get 1,000 here. God willing, I hope I can live long enough to see that."
Bottom line: From a pure basketball sense, friends or foes, colleagues or enemies, John Calipari and Rick Pitino are two of the best to ever coach the game. They'll always share that.
