For some perspective, I would grade
A - Rupp, Pitino, Calipari
B - Hall, Smith
C - Sutton (probation aside)
F - Gillispie
A - Rupp, Pitino, Calipari
B - Hall, Smith
C - Sutton (probation aside)
F - Gillispie
Cal's Grade for the 10 years
- Thread starter dcw62
- Start date
It’s an A. B+ at absolute worst.
Anyone in C,D,F territory is either impossible to please or is younger than 25 and doesn’t remember the title droughts from 58-78; 78-96; 98-12.
Cal averages 30 wins a season and makes the FF 40 percent of the time. Our players are always great kids and usually play very unselfishly considering their high schools accolades.
Cal absolutely kills it in the non-basketball “ambassador” part of the job.
All you dolts trying to run the guy off are likely “grass is greener” dipshits who don’t remember 1979-92 or 1998-2009 at all.
Anyone in C,D,F territory is either impossible to please or is younger than 25 and doesn’t remember the title droughts from 58-78; 78-96; 98-12.
Cal averages 30 wins a season and makes the FF 40 percent of the time. Our players are always great kids and usually play very unselfishly considering their high schools accolades.
Cal absolutely kills it in the non-basketball “ambassador” part of the job.
All you dolts trying to run the guy off are likely “grass is greener” dipshits who don’t remember 1979-92 or 1998-2009 at all.
Yeah - it's just that literally every coach in the country comes up shorter, going by tournament wins.
uh, there was a title in 1998. But you did leave out 1959 to 1977. Or is Rupp sacrosanct?
Perhaps a better way to put this into perspective is to remind them that from 1959 to 1995 - 37 years - there was only one title.
This. Cal is keeping us at the top of the sport. I’ll take 10 more like the last 10. Who knows we might sneak in a few more titles as well.
And this is Kentucky are we supposed to accept what happens at all the other schools, What I want to see after the last two loses in the tournament is for us to beat the teams we should have, Kstate and Auburn were not near as good as Kentucky yet we made them look great.
Which one of those coaches had atleast 4 nba players on every one of their teams though?
C for me solely due Being the biggest underachiever of the decade and blowing 2-3 more titles that were right there for us to take.
I would have said B if not for the last 4 years. The last four years have been Tubby level years and nobody can deny that. It’s not a good sign when your coach is living off the reputation of the first half of his tenure at your school because the most recent half has sucked.
Last edited:
I’m expecting titles in the coming decade. Everything is going to change and Cal should be at the top for sure.
Do you remember us losing to MTSU and UAB in consecutive years in the 80s?
Do you remember us beating overall No. 1 seed OSU in 2011 or undefeated Wichita State in 2014?
**** happens. Best team doesn’t always win.
Yep. I was 11 when we won the title in 1998. I was 24 when I drove from Louisville to Lexington on a Sunday night to greet Josh Harrellson and crew coming back from securing the next Final Four we'd go to. I know that 1998 was the only time since NINETEEN FIFTY ONE that we won two titles less than 7 years apart, and the only time since 1958 we won two titles less than 14 years apart. I know that Cal's run has been only the 3rd time in our history we've made 4 Final Fours in a span of 10 years or less.
What don't you get about the fact that every other coach in the country wins less and has more upsets/embarrassing losses than Cal?
Worst case scenario, he'll drop a game with a 4 seed gap. He wins more than anybody in the tournament and goes further on average, so sure enough, he loses to much better teams on average.
K, Self, and everybody else have repeatedly taken tourney exits considerably worse than Cal's worst tourney upsets at UK.
This isn't a point that can be debated. The facts are against you.
If you want to go down the "he owes us two championships by now" trail, then have at it.
But talking about Cal having too many embarrassing tourney outs is like talking about the world's strongest man not lifting enough weight.
It doesn't make any sense. It's a non-starter. Abandon the point. Try a different angle.
It’s maddening that so many fans don’t know our real history.
I expect to be in contention yearly and eventually we’ll break through. The people who expect a title each year are setting themselves up to be perpetually disappointed and bitter. See it all the time on this board.
So would you rather not get the players? Cal gets the talent and has us in the elite 8 almost every year, you cannot ask for more. What other coach in our history (since Rupp) has given us that opportunity year after year? Quit being so damn hard to please
The last coach at UK to win his 2nd or more championship is Rupp in 1958 when he won his 4th. Some of you (not you specifically) act like Cal not winning more than once in 10 years is uncommon in our history. But, 1 title in 10 years is exactly on pace for what UK has done. Tournament has been around for 80 years, we have 8 titles
Solid A- or B+ , losing the past two years in underwhelming fashion makes it hard for me to give a A . And this offense must change , or we will not get # 9 under his watch .
I think the last two years specifically are why many are not giving him an A. The tournament draws opened up for us both years and we lost to teams we shouldn’t have.
Since the 2015 FF loss in general, things have seemed off. We haven’t even been consistently good enough in the regular season to grab a 1 seed. Before that loss, he would have got an A++, no debate.
I would also say many are disappointed with the past 4 years just because they pale in comparison to his first 6.
Since the 2015 FF loss in general, things have seemed off. We haven’t even been consistently good enough in the regular season to grab a 1 seed. Before that loss, he would have got an A++, no debate.
I would also say many are disappointed with the past 4 years just because they pale in comparison to his first 6.
Last edited:
But the poll was for his entire 10 years.
All coaches have down periods relative to their overall level of performance, if they hang around long enough.
Smith's last two years were well below his first 8.
Hall's entire career was up and down.
Rupp himself had only one title and two FFs in his last 21 years.
And yet you all still complained to fire Tubby. Please! I will take Cal’s run over anyone’s period and to be frank so would you !!!!!
*I* didn't "complain to fire Tubby". I was one of his biggest supporters. I realized that his performance was consistent with Kentucky's long-term level of success, going back to the '40s. I was just pointing out that Smith is much much further ahead of Gillispie than Calipari is beyond Smith. Smith and Gillispie should never be considered even relative equals.
And we're on the same side here. People are nuts to complain about Calipari, if you told them 10 years ago this was the level of success he would bring, every single person complaining now would have jumped on it in a heartbeat.
There is a contingent of fans on here who think the extreme pinnacles of success here, ie 1948-1953, 1994-1998, 2010-2014, should be the common level of performance, seemingly not realizing that those years represent only 15 years out of 80 years of NCAA tournament history. They're destined to be disappointed more often than not.
Sort of a weird argument you're making there.
Like saying you can't compare PJ to Richards because of the insane points PJ scores, apples to watermelons.
To summarize, we have some spoiled fans with a exaggerated sense of entitlement.
Gave him a C
A+ recruiter
D does less with those classes than he should
C underperforms relative to talent on his roster in the tournament even though he wins games, not championships games.
B+ wins lots of games
D 2010, 2015 without a doubt should have been title years and we blew those opportunities.
A+ recruiter
D does less with those classes than he should
C underperforms relative to talent on his roster in the tournament even though he wins games, not championships games.
B+ wins lots of games
D 2010, 2015 without a doubt should have been title years and we blew those opportunities.
I’m a retired teacher. If I gave cal a rubric based on HIS expectations from day one he has fallen mightily short. Winning 1 championship when in reality should be 3 a solid C
I mean if you want to judge him based off those comments I guess. I’m sure we could agree that he knew it wasn’t a guarantee when he said it.
I’m upset with Cal over falling short of an incredible dynasty that I believe he’s capable of with a few changes to philosophy and style, but when you just look to body of work over a decade, it’s the best. The title discrepancy isn’t nearly wide enough to tilt the decade away from the it being best. The best is an A.
Unless of course you’re someone who thinks UCLA is the greatest program of all time, then you really have to say it’s an A and best of the decade.
This should have ended the thread after 3 posts. Anyone who reads this post and then says it's anything but an A should never be taken seriously again.
I mean how many coaches are the people not giving him an A grading higher? K, Jay, Roy? It's got to be a short list. So you'll say the at worst 4th best coach in America gets a B or C? You've got to be kidding, trolling, or have unrealistic expectations.
Exhibit A as to why/how we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world yet rank 27th or whatever it is in performance. Your position is logically incoherent. I feel sorry, honestly, for the kids who had to sit through your classes.
Here’s the thing. There are 351 D1 programs. We’ve had the best results since a Calipari has been here. If he’s not an A+, who is? Let’s say your a miserable person who is never satisfied and applies different standards to other programs than you do UK, and you want to put K and maybe Wright ahead of him. Wright hasn’t gotten out of the opening weekend 8 of those 10 years, but whatever. So that’s 2. Maybe throw in Roy, say you want to give him credit for the two titles he got that are outside the relevant time frame. Maybe you just like baby blue, whatever again. That’s 3. So Cal is in 4th place - out of 350.
How many As do you give, anyway, only one or two out of hundreds?
How many As do you give, anyway, only one or two out of hundreds?
You feel sorry for the kids I placed high expectations on? The kids of mine who went to Ivy League schools and top private schools through out the country? Or do you feel bad for my players who played all collegiate levels of soccer not to mention my kids who play or played for the us national team? You ever had a performance review? Any employer to say great job every year is not an employer getting he most out of their employee. Grades are based on goals accomplished: cal hasn’t accomplished his goals thatbhe laid out. Only college coach to have an A in anything is nick saban everyone else has major room for improvement
A damn solid A from me.
Hope cal retires from here in another 10 plus years!
I look at it like if cal’s next 10 years is exactly the same as this past 10 years, we would probably lead in every major stat (total amount of final fours, elite 8’s etc) with exception of total titles. Cal is greatly adding to “the list”. Definitely doing his part to further the greatness of uk basketball!
Hope cal retires from here in another 10 plus years!
I look at it like if cal’s next 10 years is exactly the same as this past 10 years, we would probably lead in every major stat (total amount of final fours, elite 8’s etc) with exception of total titles. Cal is greatly adding to “the list”. Definitely doing his part to further the greatness of uk basketball!
Latest
-
01
KSR
Blaze Berlowitz beats out five-star prospect Jared Curtis in Vanderbilt QB battle
-
02
KSR
Will Wade's LSU roster is slowly coming together (in controversial fashion)
-
03
KSR
Mark Mitchell did not sign Exhibit 10 contract
-
04
KSR
SEC bans former pros, gives Greg Sankey authority to suspend schools that violate the rule
-
05
KSR
Kentucky football reveals Kroger Field upgrades for 2026