As with many other recent moments in his career, Rick Pitino's return to Louisville was marked by conflict.
The former University of Louisville basketball coach was torn between what he said was his desire for "closure" and the lingering bitterness from being fired in October amid a recruiting scandal.
Eventually, he said, the former won out.
“I’m not going to let a few people who have nothing to do with the University of Louisville spoil all my great memories of this place and the fans," he said.
Pitino was back in town Friday for a book signing and talk hosted by the Courier Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network.
Pitino had previously said he would not set foot in Louisville again until John Schnatter and David Grissom resigned from the board of trustees. Schnatter resigned in July after he used a racial slur on a conference call; Grissom remains as chairman of the board.
“Now that half is gone, I’ll stay a short period of time until the other one leaves," Pitino said. “I have so many friends in the Louisville area. Anytime you spend 16 years somewhere, not even David Grissom can spoil that.”
A line of about 400 people snaked around the second floor of the Omni Hotel in downtown Louisville on Friday, fans clad in red and blue intertwined like strands of DNA.
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