BREAKING NEWS: John Calipari Takes Kentucky Job
It’s official, Coach Cal‘s going to Lexington. As we wrote earlier, he could end up having a flat-out ridiculous squad when March Madness rolls around if everything works out. One more time, here’s Calipari’s ideal situation:
* Kentucky’s two recruits, Rivals’ No. 22 overall C Daniel Orton and No. 32 overall SG/SF Jon Hood don’t ditch the program now that Billy Gillispie‘s gone.
* Rivals’ No. 3 Xavier Henry and No. 2 DeMarcus Cousins de-commit from Memphis and follow Cal to Kentucky.
* This one’s far less likely, but still part of the “ideal” situation. Rivals’ No. 1 prospect John Wall decides that he was leaning towards Memphis because of Calipari, and is willing to go to Kentucky because Cal is there.
* Calipari convinces Jodie Meeks to stay in Lexington for his senior season to improve his draft stock. While he’s at it, maybe he could convince Patrick Patterson to hang around for another year too.
That would give Kentucky Rivals’ No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 22, No. 32 recruits in the nation. Could that mean eight years, $35 million and a national championship in year one?
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March 31st, 2009 at 6:57 pm
S-SiN says:
sure as hell it could
March 31st, 2009 at 6:57 pm
Big Island says:
I had heard that UK had too many scholarships already, so Cal’s hands may be tied.
March 31st, 2009 at 7:03 pm
Drink the Haterade (KB24 Chip 09) says:
Damn, that’s a lot of dough
March 31st, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Dave says:
The anticipation on what Calipari can do at UK is way too high. NO way he’ll be able to live up to expectations. They’ll do well, but no national championships for the next few years. Good luck to him with all of the boosters and delusional fans.
March 31st, 2009 at 7:44 pm
D.Head says:
Me personally I think it is a bad move yeah, we hear all the Kentucky is the Notre Dame of basketball but he had a great thing at Memphis he was being scheduled against who he wanted in the non-conference and then running through conference USA and was guranteed to get an NCAA bid almost every year and not only that was getting all the top recruits to come to Memphis. So why jump ship to be thrown a potential life raft and the next boat may sink cause Kentucky is going to expect a chip immediatly and the fans will critcize if that doesnt happen.
March 31st, 2009 at 7:53 pm
Confused says:
I don’t understand all of these articles, does anybody do their due dilligence? From what I understand, UK doesn’t have enough scholarship spots to give to their existing recruits, not to mention any Memphis recruits, not to mention any recruits that haven’t yet committed anywhere (Wall, Cousins).
Can someone please explain to me the scenario in which the author’s scenario is possible?
March 31st, 2009 at 9:06 pm
S-SiN says:
@5
Why jump ship? he’s got about 35 million reasons to jump ship dog!
March 31st, 2009 at 9:14 pm
St.Rays Baby says:
Leaving Memphis is a big mistake; he had a little pro factory over there and he is throwing it all away this job is trap the SEC and the pressure isnt worth it.
March 31st, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Celts Fan says:
You leave Memphis because they shit away his best chance at a chip last year. Ya, you get a great seed by tearing through CUSA but you don’t play tough games. Ask ‘nova how playing in the big east worked out. In a big conference, almost every game’s like a playoff game and you get battle tested in all kinds of situations which gets you really ready for March. You can tell teams thatve been through that and those that haven’t and Memphis doesn’t get that in the regular season, which makes the 1 and done tournament atmosphere that much harder for them to handle.
That and like someone else said, Cal had 35 million reasons to leave…
March 31st, 2009 at 10:54 pm
Buck says:
he’s a man, he can do whatever the fuck he wants.
March 31st, 2009 at 11:03 pm
that's whats up says:
I can no longer defend the Spurs.
They just lost to the Oklahomo CrapThunder.
they are done
March 31st, 2009 at 11:05 pm
that's whats up says:
@ post 6
You don’t have to have a scholarship for someone to pay your college tuition.
It’s been happening for decades
April 1st, 2009 at 2:17 am
Flip says:
How hood is it to be named John Hood?
April 1st, 2009 at 7:19 am
Kudabeen says:
Guess we know what Tyreke’s decision is…
April 1st, 2009 at 11:24 am
Rare Air says:
Its a good move for Cal.
He has to really prove his strength at this point though. KU fans will not except the crap that Billy gave them the last few years. It will be a real pressure cooker, hard to leave a sweetheart of a gig like the one he had at Memphis. $35 Mil will help to ease that a little, I’m confident Cal can hack it.
April 1st, 2009 at 11:38 am
Kudabeen says:
Colin Cowherd actually gives the most poignant reasons for why this move make sense for Calipari:
It is just a fresh start and it allows for him to gain without resentment from those use to seeing him operate at a new level.
New job titles usually come with larger status and salary increases. If they didn’t those you work with will still think you are both on the same level…
http://sports.espn.go.com/stations/player?context=podcast&id=4030845
April 1st, 2009 at 1:12 pm
flipisatrip says:
There will be player deflections from KY’s current roster.
I am guessing they will lose about 3 players that were not seniors.
April 1st, 2009 at 6:46 pm
doc says:
He gonna kick them bum ass dudes off the team for his recruits.And hell yeah they can win with that AB.I can see them fullcourt pressing teams into submission already.
April 1st, 2009 at 7:02 pm
flipisatrip says:
Im a huge UK fan and live in the state. I don’t know if you guys can understand how excited everyone is at this point.
April 9th, 2009 at 3:26 am
tdogg24 says:
Everyone of you sound like a bunch of idiots!
1st reason is:
He left Memphis because when he get’s everything in place at UK weather or not it’s in 1 year or 5 years down the road, he will have coached a hard enough schedule that when his team gets to the Championship he can actually WIN IT!!
2nd reason is:
How gratifying do you think it is to WIN conference USA?
Most coaches like to be in the spotlight especially when they Win the NCAA title at a big name school like UK!
**One last note: Do you really think that if he can get Wall, Henry, Cousins & still keep Orton and Hood that he won’t tell some scholarship players to hit the road because your not going to be able to play in my system?
Michael Porter has already quit the team by the way and Meeks just entered the NBA draft potentially.
So all you freaking idiots need to stop always hating on UK and open up your eyes and be realistic what could take place and how it can be done!!!!!!!!!