Before Mark Pope won a national championship as a player at Kentucky, John Pelphrey and the “Unforgettables” laid the foundation for other teams to follow during the Rick Pitino era.
“He’s one of those incredible guys that came here and turned the program when it was, was really, really in the in the cellar,” Pope said during his radio show on Monday. “He's also an incredible person, and he's had an incredible coaching run.”
Pelphrey, now in his sixth season at Tennessee Tech, has coached at Arkansas and served as an assistant coach under Billy Donovan at Florida and will return to Rupp Arena on Wednesday night when the Golden Eagles take on the Wildcats.
Pelphrey is looking forward to returning to the place where he competed as a prep standout at Paintsville High School and later Kentucky, where his playing career ended in the Wildcats’ infamous 92-91 loss to Duke in the 1992 NCAA Tournament.
When Pope called Pelphrey to schedule a game with his current squad at Tennessee Tech, Pelphrey balked, before agreeing to schedule the homecoming contest.
"This is not just another place, and certainly the building - I've had a long relationship with it,” he said. “Everybody knows my love up there with my alma mater, so I’ll have to deal with some of that and certainly trying to prepare myself. It’s a lot of emotion there, from being a six-year-old high school kid, played like seven games and obviously spent five years here as a Kentucky basketball player … It's a special place, and I'm very, very appreciative opportunity.”
Pelphrey recalled the team’s 85-71 win over Kansas a year after a 150-95 drubbing in Lawrence in Pitino’s first season at Kentucky. He also recalled victories over Louisville and Indiana during his playing career with the Wildcats.
“You're out there, it is just like, I can't believe this has happened to me, and I love it, and I want more. I just want more,” he said. “I was a little bit of a junkie. … everybody kind of thinks I'm a little bit corny from time to time, but I was literally like a kid at Kings Island. I knew the park was going to end, and I was just racing around trying to get a few more rides, and that's literally the way I spent five years here. I could have done this for a lifetime.”
He also recalled the ride home following the loss to the Jayhawks on Dec. 9, 1989.
“Coach Pitino turned over a water cooler at halftime, and it was full of Gatorade, and it hit the floor and exploded,” Pelphrey recalled. “Billy Donovan's over there trying to count up deflections, and he never moved. The Gatorade just went right over his Gucci shoe and je just never flinched. It was amazing. After the game, we get on the bus and coach Pitino is asked, ‘coach, are we ready to go?’ He says, yeah, I'm ready to go - go find a cliff and drive this bus off.”
Following his playing career, Pelphrey served as an assistant coach at Oklahoma State under the late Eddie Sutton, then followed Donovan to Marshall and Florida before coaching stints at South Alabama and Arkansas. He returned to Florida and served as an assistant at Alabama before taking over at Tennessee Tech in 2019.
When he returns Wednesday, Pelphrey, whose jersey hangs in the rafters of Rupp, wants the spotlight on his team.
“It's not about me, it's about our team,” he said. “It's about us being able to figure out what we can do well and where we need to get better at these games are great evaluations and kind of show you the things that are important.”
GAMETRACKER: Tennessee Tech at Kentucky, 6 p.m.CT, Wednesday. TV/Radio: SECN, UK Radio Network on 94.7 The Mix and WiLLiE 102. Coverage: www.kentuckytoday.com
John Pelphrey is in his sixth season as coach at Tennessee Tech.
