BY ROB KAISER
The Cincinnati Enquirer

LEXINGTON - Eight years ago, as construction crews built Rick Pitino's new Kentucky home here in the exclusive McMeekin Place subdivision, Wildcat basketball fans drove past in a steady stream to gawk.

Some even stopped in front of the muddy lot and scooped up clods of dirt for souvenirs.

Mr. Pitino has given the faithful heaven and earth. You might be able to guess how they're reacting now that he's moving out.

Lexington is a beautiful place in the spring; the dogwoods were in full bloom when Mr. Pitino announced he was leaving Tuesday. But the mood was pure January. The Lexington Herald-Leader runs smaller headlines than this when the U.S. Army is on the move in Iraq. in Louisville, home of the arch-rival University of Louisville Cardinals. In a style and size reminiscent of the Courier-Journal's "It's war" headline the day after U.S. planes started bombing Iraq, the front page of the Louisville newspaper on Wednesday blared:

"He's gone."

The "He," of course, referred to Coach P. This is Kentucky. Rick Pitino and God don't need names.

Fans have deified the popular coach, who in only eight years restored the University of Kentucky basketball program to glory. But what happens now that he's decided to leave?

Wildcat fans love the home team dearly, and they dislike anyone who puts it in jeopardy. The vast majority are good-hearted, but some allow their passion for the 'Cats to get the better of them. A few are downright vengeful.

Someone phoned in a bomb threat to the Herald-Leader in 1986 after the newspaper ran a series of articles detailing recruiting and other violations in the UK program. The reporters got threatening calls, too.

Then there's the thing with Rex Chapman. Many UK fans still consider the former Wildcat star a traitor for bailing out on the program when it got in trouble with the NCAA. Mr. Chapman, a Kentucky native, chose to turn pro rather than endure seasons in NCAA-imposed purgatory.

But no one raises the hackles of a 'Cats fan the way Eddie Sutton does. You remember Eddie Sutton? The former coach? If you don't, chances are nobody south of the river will remind you. Mr. Sutton is persona non grata in Kentucky. A non-entity. A wisp. Nobody speaks of him in Lexington.

Fanzines don't mention him. The song they play in Rupp Arena that runs through all the coaches omits Mr. Sutton.

It's as if Mr. Pitino's predecessor never existed. Wildcat fans wish he didn't. Mr. Sutton is the coach who allowed the program to drift into hot water with the NCAA.

We all know what happened then, of course. Here came Ricky P to the rescue. He saved Wildcats basketball, raising it from the scrap heap of probation to heights on par with Adolph Rupp's glory years.

Some Wildcat fans are bound to hate him.

They'll hate him now as they loved him at first, hate him for leaving, hate him when they should be thanking him. They'll hold it against him that the eight years couldn't be nine. Or 10. Or 20.

But most will wish him well and root for the Celtics, because this is what Mr. Pitino gave Kentuckians: He gave them their perspective back. He gave them the ability once again to see basketball as a game. He gave them the ability to have fun, to smile, to cheer rather than fret.

So even though the sky fell Tuesday in Kentucky, it was a fine, crystalline sky, and just the right shade of blue: Pretty pieces of heaven to go with those chunks of earth.

Rob Kaiser is The Enquirer's Kentucky columnist. His column appears regularly on Sundays and Thursdays in The Kentucky Enquirer. He can be reached at 578-5584.
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