John Calipari is leaving UK for Arkansas (of all places) and all...I can think of...is...

Estil

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u-h9nnMKdg

But seriously I have said for the longest time that we in Big Blue Nation don't give a flying Fig Newton how many guys you send to the NBA!! What matters is winning us championships and making true UK legends that will stay with us 3-4 years! I have no clue who will take over for us but hopefully he will be KENTUCKY FIRST. We need players who will stay with us 3-4 years and will give us the valuable and critical NCAA Tournament experience that we have been so lacking in the past several years. Ones that will become true blue UK legends and not just be a one-year-wonder who views us only as a stepping stone or something.

I'm sure Cal can do that getting one year wonders into the NBA just as well at Arkansas...why he is taking what amounts to a DEmotion (which I would've also viewed taking an NBA job other than at one of the legendary teams like LA or Boston) I'll never know.

Basebal21

@Estil said:
I'm sure Cal can do that getting one year wonders into the NBA just as well at Arkansas...why he is taking what amounts to a DEmotion (which I would've also viewed taking an NBA job other than at one of the legendary teams like LA or Boston) I'll never know.

Its not really a demotion for a couple reasons even though its not a blue blood program. His base salary at Arkansas is over 8 million dollars a year. The other thing though is that while some Kentucky fans wanted to keep him a significant number wanted him gone and his NIL money was drying up. He will have a lot more NIL to work with during recruiting with an excited Arkansas fan base

The writing was pretty much on the wall for him at Kentucky. He basically had to make like an elite 8 or better next year or he was getting fired and the AD was probably going to get fired too for keeping him

Its a better spot for him to go somewhere thats excited to have him and make a ton of money at the same time instead of staying in a place where where a lot of donors are trying to get you fired

doubledragon

Love the Roy Clark theme music! 😂😂😂😂

Estil

@doubledragon said:
Love the Roy Clark theme music! 😂😂😂😂

I couldn't resist...I was really confused though when I was little and saw him in those Hunt's ketchup commercials...I thought that was his name! Like he was the founder/owner or something! Of course I wouldn't have thought Loretta Lynn's name was Crisco...what do you guys think I am, stupid?

Estil

@Basebal21 said:

@Estil said:

The writing was pretty much on the wall for him at Kentucky. He basically had to make like an elite 8 or better next year or he was getting fired and the AD was probably going to get fired too for keeping him

Like I've said over and over and over and over again, you MUST have players with EXPERIENCE (and make your free throws in the end game; I call it that because the whole fouling on purpose to stop the clock and forced to shoot free throws does make it feel kinda like a chess game) to be a consistent Final Four contender.

Brick

If you have a team of guys who will stay 3-4 years you don't have the best players. It may be nice to have enough guys to have stability but you need a steady stream of one and done guys to be elite. The best college players are one and done. The best of the best are none and done.

Basebal21

@Estil said:

@Basebal21 said:

@Estil said:

The writing was pretty much on the wall for him at Kentucky. He basically had to make like an elite 8 or better next year or he was getting fired and the AD was probably going to get fired too for keeping him

Like I've said over and over and over and over again, you MUST have players with EXPERIENCE (and make your free throws in the end game; I call it that because the whole fouling on purpose to stop the clock and forced to shoot free throws does make it feel kinda like a chess game) to be a consistent Final Four contender.

It doesnt hurt to have some guys that have been there a couple years, but you must have top talent. You dont need multiple years in college to make free throws. The finals with UCONN and Purdue 4 of the starting 10 are sophomores and 1 is a freshman. NL lets you keep some guys longer but no ones winning a title without NBA talent on the roster.

SanctionII

I can see John Calipari repeating what coach Eddie Sutton did and what Larry Brown did.

After coaching at top D-1 schools, Eddie Sutton moved on to other college coaching jobs as he got older. One of his last, if not the last D 1 coaching job he had was the head coach job at the University Of San Francisco.

By the time that Eddie Sutton took the job at USF, the USF hoops program had decades earlier fallen from the ranks of title contenders/winners (Bill Russell, Bill Cartwright, etc.). USF for decades has played in the middle or lower levels of the WCC (where Gonzaga has long dominated).

Larry Brown did the same thing as Eddie Sutton did (with most of his coaching gigs in the ABA and in the NBA). Larry Brown to my knowledge took the head coach job at UCLA (where he led the team to the NCAA Title game in 1980), Kansas (where he led the team to the 1987 Final Four and to the 1988 NCAA titled), SMU (2012-2016) and Italian Team Auxilium Torino (2018).

Estil

Oh I know you must have some one-year-wonders too but the way Cal was way to obsessed with getting guys in the NBA really rubbed me the wrong way.

Estil

I hope whoever is Cal's successor knows that this is definitely not just any coaching gig. This job is for the finest college basketball team (in terms of overall history) in all the land. Paraphrasing this scene from King Ralph, to be UK's basketball coach is a responsibility like no other in the Commonwealth (yes even greater than being our governor) and like few others outside of it. He must become a symbol of all that is best about our basketball team, UK, and the Commonwealth of Kentucky in general. An embodiment of our history, our culture, our morality, our pride, our ideal of basketball and UK excellence. He must in the harsh light of public 24/7 social media and Internet scrutiny exhibit all of UK basketball's virtues and none of its shortcomings. Indeed there is much much MUCH more to being our coach than just drawing X's and O's and blowing a whistle. And I don't know if "a God's burden to bear" is quite right but it's close enough.

https://youtu.be/33uc0ST-o-o?si=q4c-x1NTCa9593e_&t=93

2dueces

No matter the issue he must have really wanted out of UK to take the Arkansas job

Estil

@2dueces said:
No matter the issue he must have really wanted out of UK to take the Arkansas job

Interestingly Cal's administration lasted the longest of any UK coach besides Rupp. Joe B Hall was a living legend his past few decades but I bet when he stepped down in 1985 it wasn't exactly by choice.

Basebal21

@2dueces said:
No matter the issue he must have really wanted out of UK to take the Arkansas job

He gave UK a chance to counter the offer, they declined. Arkansas is a top basketball job though with tons of booster money from Walmart, Jerry Jones, and Tysons Chicken. Its not a top football job, but it is for baseball and basketball