Rick Loves John

Rick Pitino went on quite the rant when asked about the UK coaching vacancy over the weekend. You can read the whole thing at the Slophouse, but for example, he said:

“The reason Pelphrey and Travis, and I don’t say this because I love both guys dearly as ex-players, I think they’re brilliant young coaches…If you said to me right now in three years who will be one of the bright young stars in our game, I would say, without reservation at all, that John Pelphrey or Travis Ford would both be young stars in the game.”

Contrary to what we were all thinking about three months ago, I don’t think there’s much chance that Pelphrey is anywhere close to being in the running for the Kentucky job (he picked a bad year to go 2-15 in the SEC). But, it’s nice to see him getting some praise from his former coach (who no doubt counts that 1995 Super Bowl Sunday loss to the Hogs in Bud Walton as the most painful of his career).

Meanwhile, the UK is in the midst of some classic, full-on, SEC-style coaching drama. Always makes for a fun read if it’s not happening to your team…check out the coverage over at A Sea of Blue (for example, posts like this one, this one or this one).