St. John's men's basketball coach Rick Pitino expressed his willingness to let go of his old grudge against the University of Louisville in an interview with CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein on Monday. Pitino coached the Cardinals for 16 years and was fired in 2017 following an alleged "pay for play" scandal.Pitino explained why he held a grudge against Louisville following his exit from the team."Well, I think I had a lot of problems with the University of Louisville and there are certain things I'll never forgive that they did," Pitino said when asked if he considered returing to the KFC Yum Center.However, Pitino went on to reveal why he decided to let go of the past, and it had to do with the former Cardinals athletic director, Tom Jurich, after he was fired in 2017."But that had nothing to do with the present administration of the University of Louisville because the people that I was upset about are no longer board of trustees," Pitino continued. "And I wasn't really upset that they fired me. Anybody can be fired, I'm okay with that. It was the treatment they gave Tom Jurich."But just recently they named the street outside of the practice facility Tom Jurich way. So all is forgiven, all is forgotten. I no longer even think the slightly bit negatively about the University of Louisville. I will go back in a New York minute."Pitino led Louisville to the program's third national championship in 2013. He became the first NCAA Division I men's basketball coach in history to win a championship with two different schools. However, the Cardinals had to vacate the title in 2017 following an investigation involving recruits at the program.Rick Pitino compares facing Mark Pope's Kentucky to coaching against his sonRick Pitino's St. John's will face Mark Pope's Kentucky in the CBS Sports Classic on December 20. Pitino will be coaching against his former team Kentucky for the first time since 2016, when he was at Louisville. The Hall of Famer compared battling his former player Pope to coaching college games against his son, Richard Pitino, who had a 3-1 record."Oh, I think it’s no different than coaching against your son," Pitino told Jon Rothstein per On3. "Obviously, it stirs different emotions. I think anytime you play Kentucky, what I’ve always called the Roman Empire of college basketball, you know you’re going to go against great talent.“Certainly, Mark Pope is one of the bright young coaches in the game, and really has a great offensive mind, but it’ll be great to play against the University of Kentucky. I’m really looking forward to the game.”Pope played for Pitino at Kentucky before getting his first head coaching job at Utah Valley in 2015.