Why does Kentucky want Cal?

[NotAnAlum]

I'm operating under the assumption that Kentucky can basically get any coach they want.  BIG money.  You could make a case that it is THE most prestigious job in college basketball (apologies to ULCA and NC).  Billy has put in a decent base of players and recruits.
Cal's reputation is as a recruiter but some of that is because he can get any one who can spell cat into Memphis.  He had some recruiting "issues" at UMASS.  He has won a ton of games recently but due to his seed he hasn't had to play anybody till the sweet 16.  He didn't exactly dominate C-USA back when we, Louisville and Cincy were in the league.
Considering that they had to buy out a $6M contract to get rid of Billy G it seems like they could do better.

[Mayor McCheese]

People don't think that far back.

2008: A free-throw away from Nat'l Title
2009: Sweet Sixteen

2009-2010: Top Recruiting Class

Not to mention he has a name which makes recruiting easier.

Oh yeah, Kentucky wants him... lets face it, if he came to MU we would be jumping for joy with the opportunity... however would be extremely scared at the negatives (0% grad rate, other very questionable actions taken by him)... but in Kentucky, all they care about is win win win... and thats what he will do.

Gillespie doesn't cut it, flat out.

[dwaderoy2004]

I just don't know who you would consider "better" that would take the job.  Howland, Pitino, William, Coack K, Calhoun...all going nowhere.  Donovan turned them down again, although 2 missed NCAA's in a row, so would Kentucky want him?  If I were Kentucky, I may wait till the Final Four is over and make a run at Jay Wright and/or Tom Izzo.  Other than that, Calipari is probably their best shot at a really great coach.  And Calipari is a great coach if you're wondering.

[NavinRJohnson]

Just look at Memphis' rosters the last few years..that should answer the question.

Beyond that, to say he didn't do that well in the old CUSA is a bit silly. One season, they finished in 6th place, aside from that, Memphis has finished in first place 7 times,and second once (his first year). They have an NCAA record most schools would kill for...Runners-up, 2 Elite 8's, a Sweet 16, one second round, and one first round loss. In the 3 seasons they did not make the NCAA (2 in his first two seasons), they have an NIT Championship, a semi-final loss, and a third place finish). His results at UMAss were similar.

Why would they not want Cal? He is an ideal fit for that job and will be to UK what Pitino has been to UL.

[VegasWarrior77]

Recruiting is 90% of the job and he is one of the best in the business!  He is also a great communicator and will be outstanding with the influential alumni!

[bma725]

Beyond that, to say he didn't do that well in the old CUSA is a bit silly. One season, they finished in 6th place, aside from that, Memphis has finished in first place 7 times,and second once (his first year).

Actually to say he didn't do well is exactly correct.  You're reading the history wrong and giving him credit for a conference title when what he won was the weaker National Division title.  In actuality, when the Big East schools were still there, Calipari only won the conference one time and that was in 2003-04 when there was a 5 way split for the title. 

Conference Champ
2001:  Cincinatti and Southern Miss
2002:  Cincinatti
2003:  Marquette
2004:  DePaul, Cincinatti, UAB, Memphis, Charlotte
2005:  Louisville

Tournament Champ
2001: Charlotte
2002: Cincinatti
2003: Louisville
2004: Cincinatti
2005: Louisville

[Marquette65]

Kentucky doesn't want Cal they want his players.  no one in their right mind--then again it is Kentucky--would want Cal as a person.  Just win baby

[NotAnAlum]

Thanks BMA.  Sure they won an extremely weak National Div but they weren't much of a force.
The truth is Cal not a premier coach.  He recruits well because its pretty clear to recruits that they are playing in the NBA developmental league.  You don't have to go to class.  And Memphis has the classes that those types of kids can audit and stay eligible.
I don't see that flying at Kentucky

[NavinRJohnson]

Actually to say he didn't do well is exactly correct.  You're reading the history wrong and giving him credit for a conference title when what he won was the weaker National Division title.  In actuality, when the Big East schools were still there, Calipari only won the conference one time and that was in 2003-04 when there was a 5 way split for the title. 

Fine, take the divisions out of it...from an overall standpoint Memphis finished...

01 - Tie 2nd
02- 3rd
03- 2nd
04- Tie 1st
05 - 6th

They played in a weaker division to be sure. They also more or less dominated it.

Didn't do well? Come on.

Anyway who cares? If you think the Memphis program of the last few years has not seen a significant upgrade in talent and performance, you haven't been paying attention. Show me a current Big East/former CUSA team that has had the NCAA tournament success Memphis has since the split, and the "he did nothing in the old CUSA" argument might have some meaning. Maybe Louisville.

[VegasWarrior77]

Interesting article from ESPN's Pat Forde.  Calapari's link to World Wide Wes is mentioned: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=4032093&sportCat=ncb

Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Will the joke end up being on Barnhart?
By Pat Forde
ESPN.com

And on April Fool's Day, Mitch Barnhart will introduce John Calipari as the basketball coach at Kentucky.

This is the show-stopping conclusion to a two-year running prank Barnhart has been playing on the populace, showing what a wacky jokester the publicly bland athletic director really is.

Seriously, see if this isn't short-sheet-the-bed hilarious: In two years, Kentucky has gone from paying national championship-winning coach Tubby Smith $2.1 million a year to reportedly forking over $31.65 million plus incentives over eight years for a coach with less bling on his finger and more bones in his closet.

With a Billy Gillispie train wreck in between.

Mitch, you're killing us! Enough with the tomfoolery!

But seriously, Mitch, given the embarrassing failure of the Gillispie era, let's hope this one goes better. At least you got what you most needed: a big name who actually said yes, and quickly.

Of course, the quick part didn't really play to your favor last time, did it? Hopefully, the exhaustive "fit" check on Calipari in the vast expanse of time between Friday afternoon (when Gillispie was fired) and Sunday morning (when word first got out of your impending meeting with Calipari) came back to your liking.

I know in your research you came across many people who love Cal -- they love the success, the coaching acumen, the energy, the charisma, the community generosity, the battler's spirit, the dreamer's ambition. I've heard those things myself from many people I respect in college basketball.

But I've heard a lot of other things, too. So before you two ride off to restore the glory of Big Blue Nation, a few questions for the AD:

Why didn't you hire Calipari two years ago, or even entertain him as a serious candidate? Surely it wasn't because Gillispie had a better coaching record -- he didn't. Surely it wasn't because Gillispie is a better people person -- few can match Calipari's outgoing personality and zeal to sell his program on every platform.

So if Calipari was interested -- and plenty of basketball insiders said he was at the time -- what was the problem? Was there something else that made you leery?

Would the apparent change in your perception of Calipari as a UK coaching candidate have anything to do with the fact that your own six-figure job is very much on the line after the Gillispie fiasco? And maybe now it's time to play ball with the boosters who see Cal's excellent record in Memphis and want to win big again? No matter what baggage he brings to Lexington?

Look, we all know Calipari brings plenty of wins with him. Over the past four seasons, he racked up 136 of them --- the most wins of any four-year stretch in college basketball history. That included four Sweet 16s, three Elite Eights and a national title game appearance. Compare that to Kentucky, which in the same four-year span won only 84 games, didn't win an SEC title, didn't make a Sweet 16 appearance and failed to make the NCAA tournament this season for the first time in 18 years.

But let's also examine some of the carry-on luggage Cal brought with him on that private plane to the Bluegrass State on Tuesday night.

When you introduce Calipari on Wednesday in Lexington, will you make mention of his taking two teams to Final Fours? Or just one? Because the first one, with Massachusetts in 1996, was officially vacated from the NCAA record books after an agent hooked up star center Marcus Camby with cash and prostitutes. Calipari said he knew nothing about it and the NCAA did not charge the school with major infractions, but it happened on his watch.

That puts him in select company: one of two active coaches with vacated Final Fours on their résumés. (The other is Steve Fisher.) Will that be noted in the bio?

That leads me to another historical footnote: You're aware that Kentucky has gone through the NCAA judicial system six times for major infractions cases, right, Mitch? The NCAA set up shop in the 1950s, and UK has had a major infractions case in every decade but the '90s -- with two in the '80s for good measure.

Calipari has no major NCAA violations on his record -- not at Memphis, not at UMass. So I'm not suggesting he's going to come to Lexington and land the Wildcats on probation, Mitch. But I am saying that you, as the custodian of a historically checkered athletic program, have hired a guy who lives in the gray area, works every angle, pushes every corner of the envelope.

That's all fine, as long as the envelope never busts the way that Emery Air Freight one did, spilling $1,000 from the Kentucky basketball office to recruit Chris Mills and sparking a scandal that leveled the program 20 years ago.

But why linger in the past, Mitch? Let's talk about the future.

How do you feel about sharing office space? Because you might walk in one day and find Worldwide Wes sitting in your chair with his feet on your desk.

You know about Wes, right? Of course you do. Everyone in basketball knows William Wesley, aka Wes, even if nobody knows exactly what the loosely defined but tightly connected power broker does. But the important thing isn't his job description -- it's his results. Wes helped hook up Memphis with some of its best players under Calipari: Dajuan Wagner, Derrick Rose, Chris Douglas-Roberts and Tyreke Evans.

With those guys under his wing, Wes went wherever Wes pleased in Memphis -- locker room, practice facility, good seats at the FedEx Forum, too. Heck, I even ate with him once at the Tigers' training table. He's a charming guy, has a lot of charisma -- just don't ask him too much about his business.

With Wes, your job is to accommodate. Not interrogate.

What's your outlook on package deals, Mitch? You cool with them? If not, I suggest a change of attitude. When Calipari goes after big fish, the net tends to bring in some sucker fish, too.

When he signed Juanny Wagner, he also got his dad as a staff member (Milt Wagner, even without a college degree) and his best friend (Arthur Barclay, despite limited ability). A positive side effect: Milt stayed several years after Juanny left and got his degree.

When he signed Evans, he got his personal strength coach, Lamont Peterson, too. But really, what high school kid doesn't come with his own strength coach these days?

And there even have been some prepackaging efforts. C.J. Henry, who hadn't played basketball in years after trying his hand at professional baseball, enrolled at Memphis this past August to play hoops. Surprisingly enough, his brother, Xavier -- considered by many the No. 1 high-school senior in America -- signed with the Tigers in November.

What about an occasional scrape with the law, Mitch? Guys such as Sean Banks, Jeremy Hunt, Andre Allen and Kareem Cooper got multiple chances to stay on the Memphis team and still couldn't do it.

Any opinion on prep schools, Mitch? Some of them have gotten a lot of negative publicity as academically sketchy diploma mills in recent years from the likes of The New York Times and Washington Post, but be prepared to deal with them. Calipari has relocated many an academic reclamation project to prep school. Among them: Joey Dorsey, Shawne Williams, Antonio Anderson, Robert Dozier and the aforementioned Cooper.

Hey, you and I both know Memphis is hardly the only place that works package deals. Or has players who get into trouble. Or goes the prep school route. These days, that's accepted as the price of doing business in the big leagues, isn't it?

Well, Calipari manages to stuff that stat sheet on all those fronts.

But with him, you also get 30-plus victories a season for the past four seasons. You get the big-time recruits your new head coach will inevitably bring in. You get renewed dreams of winning an eighth national championship.

That's why you're hiring John Calipari, Mitch. We all get it.

Happy April Fool's Day.

Hopefully, the joke won't end up on you.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

question:  are the kentucky fans lamenting the "process" and the "speed" that brought Cal to UK?

[NavinRJohnson]

question:  are the kentucky fans lamenting the "process" and the "speed" that brought Cal to UK?

Probably...it took 2 years too long!