Everywhere, there is change. The University of Louisville fans who used to abhor a blue-clad Coach Rick Pitino now wear red T-shirts that ask "Got Pitino?" on the front.

Seventy miles away, in Lexington, where Pitino revived the Kentucky program and enhanced his stature, fans are calling him Traitor Rick for agreeing to coach their archenemy.

"I realize it's not going to be a party," Pitino says of his return to the state.

He also realizes that it's, well, kind of fun. It's the ultimate pressure: He's trying to win in the face of a previous employer and he's replacing a legend in Denny Crum, who coached the Cardinals for 30 years. When was the last time a legend replaced a legend in college basketball?

For the first time in his 25-year coaching career, Pitino is coming into a new job after failure, three-and-a-half years of it. He resigned as coach and president of the Boston Celtics in January, realizing he couldn't turn around the once-proud NBA franchise.

"I'm a wounded tiger," he said shortly after leaving Boston.