Legendary basketball coach Rick Pitino is a big fan of Pitbull, and they have since become good friends. Yes, that is a true sentence.
Pitino and Mr. 305 have been connected since 2013. The college basketball coach was at Louisville and the musician had just released his album ‘Global Warming’ with ‘Don’t Stop the Party’ and ‘Feel This Moment,’ among others.
It is an unlikely pairing, but the friendship is very real.
Rick Pitino announced at a 2012 luncheon that he used to get pumped up on the way to work by listening to Pitbull. The song ‘Shake’ with the Ying Yang Twins was among his favorites.
Fast forward a few months. Pitino was out in Los Angeles to visit his son during the offseason. Pitbull was playing a concert at the Hollywood Bowl so they decided to swing by.
One thing led to another, Pitino ended up backstage, and an unexpected new friendship was born.
Not long after being fired at Louisville, the head basketball coach released a memoir. In the book, he thanked Pitbull for connecting him to his lawyer after the college basketball scandal scandal broke.
Mr. Worldwide was one of the first people to congratulate Pitino after the book dropped. The international superstar also offered high praise for his friend.
#RickPitino congrats on the new book. Like most great people, society tries to find ways to knock them down but those who stay strong become legends. Rick, you’re a living legend. God bless, keep up the great work, it’s just the beginning of a new chapter in life, Dale!
— Pitbull on X, formerly known as Twitter
All of this goes to say that, believe it or not, Pitino and Pitbull are like that.
The former is currently head coach at St. John’s in Queens. The latter was in New York City for multiple performances at Madison Square Garden.
It led to a legendary backstage reunion, and an on-stage shoutout.
If you didn’t know that Rick Pitino and Armando Christian Pérez are good friends before, you do now! Who woulda thunk?
Maybe Pitbull will show up at a Red Storm game at some point in the next few years. That would be extremely funny, and so wholesome.