Does Calipari come back to Kentucky???
- Thread starter litespeedhuskerfan_rivals19671
- Start date
And replace him with whom? Scott Drew? Jay Wright? IMO, UK would be fishing for a coach from a pretty shallow pond.
Money of course is no object but that job is not a rebuild so a young, upcoming coach is not part of the equation. Could Brad Stevens be lured away from the Celtics this time?
Money of course is no object but that job is not a rebuild so a young, upcoming coach is not part of the equation. Could Brad Stevens be lured away from the Celtics this time?
Lol. I think I’d take seven Elite 8 appearances in 11 seasons.
Should Duke have fired Coach K after losing to Lehigh? Or should they have waited till Mercer beat them?
Should Duke have fired Coach K after losing to Lehigh? Or should they have waited till Mercer beat them?
I'm not saying he should be fired but Kentucky fans are irrational and he has not done squat in a long time.
That would be a bad decision.. who would they get Pearl from *Auburn.
Grass sometimes isn’t always greener on the other side..
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This is the first offseason that I've thought he may actually go back to the pros. Wouldn't stun me if the Nets fired Nash if they don't win the title (or at least make a deep playoff run) and hired Calipari instead. That's a ready to win team (even with the injuries/Harden trade/Kyrie's part time status) and I feel like that's the only type of team he'd leave UK for.
If we’re looking at the last 10 years Cal is on the 1st tier with Coach K, Few, Self, Wright, Bennett, maybe a couple others. It would be ridiculous to even consider firing him.
Right, but recruiting is the most important thing. Very good chance you go backwards getting rid of cal. Tubby smith was a good coach, but his recruiting was meh for a program like Kentucky and thus only one final four while ca l had been to 4.
Disagree. He’s a great coach, too.
You don’t make deep tourney runs without being a great coach. It’s not easy winning with a ton of talented freshmen. Just ask Coach K. He hasn’t won a ton ever since he’s turned Duke into a one-and-done factory.
Penny Hardaway is an example of great recruiter, not so great coach.
He seems to get penalized for being a great recruiter by fans.
If there were no recruiting rankings and people didn't know that he did a great job getting "high ranked" kids, he would be a coaching legend.
If there were no recruiting rankings and people didn't know that he did a great job getting "high ranked" kids, he would be a coaching legend.
But any halfway decent coach could win with the overwhelming talent advantage he has.
Not when half the lineup are freshmen. The vast majority of championship teams are led by veterans on a team that’s perfected their formula over the course of a few seasons.
He has to reconfigure his system every year to best utilize the new pieces he has. And on top of that, his talented freshmen are going up against physically and mentally stronger men.
You can’t just look at the NBA stars who spent one year there and wonder how he hasn’t won five championships. They were 18 year olds whose only experience up to that point was dominating inferior high schoolers.
UK and the SEC crapped the bed this tourney
Arkansas should give the zags all they can handle, though.
Arkansas should give the zags all they can handle, though.
I always hear this excuse for him and it’s nonsensical. He controls the roster! He decides who they recruit, he doesn’t have to reconfigure his system every year, he can choose to recruit less talented guys he thinks will stay longer. But he’s intoxicated by the talent just like everyone else, he can’t have it both ways. Yeah my team was super talented but they lack experience so we failed. Whose fault is that? His brand is high draft picks and nba success, he could alter his recruiting strategy to try and maximize continuity but he chooses not to, any leadership deficiencies or over reliance on freshman is 100% his fault. You can’t recruit a kid by telling him how many freshmen you’ve turned into lottery picks then be surprised when he goes pro after one year.
I have a couple things to say about that.
First, I think his strategy works just as well, if not better than anyone else’s. I’m not going to research it, but since he was hired at UK does any other coach have seven Elite 8 appearances? Four Final Fours? Two national championship appearances? An undefeated season leading up to the Final Four? So his system works great.
The only problem is that fans who don’t know what they’re talking about expect him to win the championship every year because of his recruiting classes, and when he doesn’t they say he must be a horrible coach. But what they’re missing is that it’s hard to win with youth. That doesn’t mean he’d be better off changing his strategy. Again, it’s obviously working… the fans are just too enamored with the star power and expect too much out of them.
Second, I truly believe he cares more about the kids than winning. He obviously wants to win, but I think his number one mission is to help these kids become the best they can be and make millions in the NBA. I’ve listened to him speak enough and have heard his former players talk about him enough to believe this. From the periphery he seems like a sleezy used car salesman who just wants to swindle you so people like to root against him, but that’s not who he is at all.
I think with Cal as a 'coach' and not as a recruiter, you look at his teams when he did NOT have 5 star talent AT EVERY POSITION....he did very well. I used to not be able to stand him. I think he turns a blind eye toward some irregularities. But he's a very fine coach.
Yep. They had a great season this year without their typical lottery freshman roster. Of course it ended with that fluky loss. It happens.
With regard to recruiting, I’m not privy to his UMass days but as far as I’m aware the only potential issue was helping Derrick Rose get qualified at Memphis. I don’t give a crap about that. What’s better for Rose’s life: getting into college to make the NBA or staying stuck in Chicago’s south side? Props to Cal if he broke some silly rules to save a kid’s life.
Marcus Camby...but again, it was more not being aware of influences around Marcus.
A moment I will treasure...in 1994 , a regional played in Wichita and it was LOADED.....UMass with Cal(#1 in country, IMSC), Michigan sans Webber and Rose, Maryland, a couple others...hard to fathom now but they played in the pretty new but amenity free Kansas Colosseum ...BUT they all practiced in our gym at Wichita Collegiate.....as the girls hoops coach at the time, I was able to sit in on all practices. What a treat.
A moment I will treasure...in 1994 , a regional played in Wichita and it was LOADED.....UMass with Cal(#1 in country, IMSC), Michigan sans Webber and Rose, Maryland, a couple others...hard to fathom now but they played in the pretty new but amenity free Kansas Colosseum ...BUT they all practiced in our gym at Wichita Collegiate.....as the girls hoops coach at the time, I was able to sit in on all practices. What a treat.
I was at that regional. That was back when you could score a first-and-second round, all-session ticket for around $60. Ten bucks per game for two days of great hoops.
It was unreal!!! Thanks to a really good connection, I had seats three rows up behind the bench...way beyond my status in life
We had great seats too - midcourt about 10 rows up. I remember the arena having windswept dirt parking lots and the whole complex smelling like horse manure, but I couldn't have cared less. I was there for the great basketball.
Those were also the days when all 8 teams at the site were on the same side of the same bracket. So fans tended to fill every seat, because they wanted to see who their team would be playing if they advanced. When the NCAA went to the current pod system, this went away.
I have no problem with Cal or the strategy, I can’t imagine a coach turning down the most talented kids to maintain more continuity and of course he’s had tremendous success. I just think the particular excuse that he and others have made that they lack experience or cohesiveness and that’s why they lost is a self fulfilling result of his strategy. You can’t recruit the top talent you know will leave early then use that excuse for why you lose and act like it’s some unexpected consequence.
This new world of hiring and firing coaches is beyond absurd.
Calipari is arguably the best coach in Kentucky basketball history. Yes, that is saying a lot, but numbers back it up.
Adolph Rupp is their 'gold' standard, but he was coach for 43 seasons. Yes, you read that right. 43 seasons. From 1930 to 1972. He only won 4 nattys and went to just 6 Final Fours.
In just 13 seasons Calipari has been to 4 Final Fours, won a natty, and has just 4 seasons where his teams didn't at least reach the Sweet Sixteen. He has also put way more kids into the NBA than any coach at UK before him.
Firing Calipari in 2022 would be akin to firing Tom Osborne after our 1996 season.
Calipari is arguably the best coach in Kentucky basketball history. Yes, that is saying a lot, but numbers back it up.
Adolph Rupp is their 'gold' standard, but he was coach for 43 seasons. Yes, you read that right. 43 seasons. From 1930 to 1972. He only won 4 nattys and went to just 6 Final Fours.
In just 13 seasons Calipari has been to 4 Final Fours, won a natty, and has just 4 seasons where his teams didn't at least reach the Sweet Sixteen. He has also put way more kids into the NBA than any coach at UK before him.
Firing Calipari in 2022 would be akin to firing Tom Osborne after our 1996 season.
I don’t see it as an excuse, more as a rebuttal to the goofballs who complain that he doesn’t have 5 championships yet. If someone asks him how he’s doesn’t win more, what’s he supposed to say? He’s just giving the honest answer, and not in a complaining manner.
Laughable that you think Calipari is their best coach. 4 out of 13 years in the final 4 with the best talent in the country every single year. Talent that they have been paying for the entire time he has been there. He takes highly rated high school kids that would have ended up in the NBA no matter what school they went to and yet he gets credit for it when they make it. The guy took UMass and Memphis to one final 4 each and NCAA investigations stripped him of both. He didn’t win anything in the NBA. He has a pattern of cheating and a pattern of underachieving. That’s what he’s known for. The one title he has - after he…err World Wide Wes paid Anthony Davis 200k to go there probably wouldn’t have happened either if not for UNC’s point guard getting his wrist broken by some goon in the tournament.
It was thought to be somewhat of a modern marvel for Wichita at the time but it was BARE BONES!!!!!!
It WAS SO GREAT having all those teams....
Ha...no ****!
"He should recruit less talented players" Ummmmm
Should he have done better this year in the dance sure. But sometimes that **** happens.