What kind of coach was Rick Pitino?

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) – Some Solid Blue fans are now asking what kind of coach was Pitino? Did he run a clean program while at UK? ABC 36 spoke with a past player, who was part of Coach Pitino’s 1996 championship team.

Playing from 1994 to 1998 under Rick Pitino and Tubby Smith, Cameron Mills says despite what Pitino is accused of doing, it won’t change what he did for him and for UK basketball.

Mills says he wasn’t surprised by the news, saying Pitino was an aggressive coach, with winning his main priority.

“This coach in high school was nice, this coach in college was not and everything I learned up to that point was coaching always sounded personal, it always was personal, coach P’s not.”

He says Pitino would call you every name in the book and mentally and emotionally tear you down to toughen you up.

“He didn’t hang around us a lot, the only time we saw coach P. was a film session, practice, game, that’s it. Off the court when Tubby was here, there was more interaction with him, we went to his house one time for dinner, you see Coach Cal doing a lot of that, Coach P. wouldn’t do that.”

But he says despite his coaching styles, his scandals, and cheating allegations, he still made a huge impact on Kentucky basketball.

“More than anything, my time with him was at Kentucky, I’m sad for what happened in Louisville, I’m not a fan right now that is happy where Louisville is at. I’m always going to be loyal to him on some level because of what he did for me.”

He says when he went to Kentucky he was a bench warmer and he didn’t have any other aspirations beyond that.

“I had the career I had at UK because of him, because he pushed me to have that career and I will always be thankful for that.”

Mills said he recently sent out a long text message to Coach Pitino telling him he is sorry about his situation. He doesn’t expect a reply.