Rick Pitino says "all is forgiven" with Louisville: "I'd go back in a New York Minute."

You could not dream of an uglier breakup between Rick Pitino and the University of Louisville. The Cardinals used strippers to recruit teenagers and then test drove NIL before it was legal by throwing six figures at a five-star who never played a second for University-6. Pitino was then fired for cause, leading to both sides suing each other and the Hall of Fame coach continuing his career in Greece.

Distancing himself from the incidents at Louisville with later stops at Iona, and now, St. John’s, he was welcomed back to Lexington with open arms for Mark Pope‘s first Big Blue Madness as head coach. He traded out the red for blue and was met with a standing ovation — an emotional out-of-body experience for fans inside Rupp Arena, going from loving to hating to loving the leader of Kentucky’s 1996 national championship again.

To make matters worse for Cardinal fans, he made it clear a similar reunion down I-64W was highly unlikely.

“I don’t think it’s going to happen,” Pitino said at the time. “It’s sort of like Bob Knight at Indiana. I’ll always treasure my players, I’ll always treasure the fans, but all I wanted was an apology and they never gave me that apology. Just, ‘Sorry for the way we did you in.’ That’s all. I’ve always said, ‘Hey, maybe I deserved to get fired?’ Coaches get fired, but it’s the way they did it that was so bad.”

Fast forward a year, and that door has been cracked ever so slightly. It started with UL coach Pat Kelsey making it clear he would not only welcome Pitino back, but that his predecessor a few eras back deserves to come back on his own terms, however he wants.

He is arguably the greatest coach of all time, after all.

“I don’t have to welcome the great Rick Pitino back — this is his town,” Kelsey told CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein on Inside College Basketball Now. “He can come back any time he wants and we would love to have him back. … He might be the best in the history of college basketball. Sometimes I think about it, like I’m sitting in this office and have the same office as the great Rick Pitino. It’s humbling.

“To get him back here at some point would be one of the coolest things I think in the history of Louisville basketball.”

Pitino joined Rothstein on a follow-up episode of the show to talk about St. John’s, Mark Pope, Kentucky and, yes, Louisville. When asked about a potential return after his warm welcome inside Rupp Arena, the Hall of Famer shared his thoughts on the Cardinals and said he could be willing to leave the past in the past.

For starters, the people who did him wrong are no longer there, so he has no reason to hate the program as it stands today. He can despise everything about his departure and those associated with that ugly breakup, but why not embrace the current staff and fans?

“I had a lot of problems with the University of Louisville and there are certain things I’ll never forgive that they did, but that has nothing to do with the present administration at the University of Louisville. The people I was upset about are no longer on the Board of Trustees,” Pitino told Rothstein. “I really wasn’t upset that they fired me — anybody can be fired, I’m okay with that.”

Part of it has to do with the program wrapping its arms around former AD Tom Jurich again — a stretch of Floyd Street has been named “Tom Jurich Way.” If they can make things right with his former boss, things can probably get fixed with Pitino.

In his mind, that was the start of rebuilding that relationship. If he’s invited back now, he’ll go.

“It was the treatment they gave Tom Jurich. Just recently, they named the street outside of the practice facility Tom Jurich Way,” Pitino said. “All is forgiven, all is forgotten. I no longer think even the slightest bit negatively about the University of Louisville. I’d go back in a New York Minute. Everything is forgiven. Tom Jurich Way is up there, I really don’t care too much about myself.”

Getting fired is water under the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge. He’ll always feel a certain way about it, but he’ll also always be grateful for his good memories with the Cardinals, too.

Now, he hopes Kelsey finds similar success leading his old program, just as he does for Pope at Kentucky.

“My staff did some things that I did not appreciate and I have no problem with them terminating me at all. I’ve got to take responsibility for what happened, but I also take responsibility for 17 unbelievable years — three Final Fours and a national championship,” Pitino said. “Great memories, great place and Pat Kelsey is doing — like Mark Pope — an awesome job. Awesome job. I love his enthusiasm, I love what he’s all about as a teacher.

“They’ve got two great coaches in the state of Kentucky. They are as good as there is in our game.”