Calipari to Kentucky Rumors Swirling

Once Kentucky finally showed Billy Gillispie the door last week, rumors immediately turned to Florida coach Billy Donovan as his successor, for obvious reasons. It took Donovan mere hours to say he wasn't interested in leaving Florida, and ever since then the hot name in the rumor mill has been John Calipari. A Memphis TV station even put up a streaming video feed outside Calipari's office.

Depending on where you get your information, Calipari is either ready to be offered the job, or he hasn't yet met with officials from Kentucky. We do know that, Monday, the Wildcats' brass received permission from Memphis to talk to Calipari.

There are myriad storylines tied to this job search. First of all, Kentucky -- while some think it's a horrible job -- is one of the elite college basketball programs. You have North Carolina, Duke, Kansas, UCLA, Indiana and Kentucky. Those are the destination jobs in college basketball. This alone should make it quite easy for the UK administration to woo a big name from somewhere. Should Calipari decide to take the job, Michigan State fans would surely breathe a sigh of relief, not to mention Oklahoma State fans as well -- both MSU's Tom Izzo and the Cowboys' Travis Ford are other possible targets if the Calipari situation does not accelerate forward.

I don't know John Calipari personally, but I can't imagine this job wouldn't be attractive to him. It's a destination job. No offense to fans/alumni of Memphis, but it's simply not a destination job. Plus, he's mired in the maligned Conference USA. Even though he's recruiting tons of talent and playing a solid non-conference schedule, it will be hard for his team to be battle-tested come tourney time. All things considered, the run to the championship game in 2008 was probably the ceiling for Calipari's program in Memphis. In Kentucky, he could make that trip a routine one.

It's worth mentioning that several of the players reportedly believe he's already made up his mind that he's leaving to take the job.

For the Wildcats, grabbing someone with the recruiting acumen of Calipari would be a relative coup. This seems like a good match on the surface, so we'll see how things progress this week.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

3-30-2009 @ 5:34PM

mdkin01 said...

The dude that wrote this article is a complete idiot. First of all, 2008's run in the NCAA tournament is NOT the ceiling for the University of Memphis. Last time I checked they have been to the Elite 8, 3 straight years and went to the Sweet 16 this year, and right now (without John Wall) have the No. 1 recruiting class coming in for next season. Kentucky cant even make the tournament right now. Anything that Kentucky offers Cal, Memphis will match it to keep him, so the only way he goes to Kentucky is if he wants the opportunity to coach in a "Power Conference", which he doesnt get at Memphis. I personally dont think this is enough to get him to "START OVER" at Kentucky but anything could happen. A more accurate scenerio is that he is "using" Kentucky to get a big raise at Memphis. Case closed.

3-30-2009 @ 5:37PM

Matt Snyder said...

Last I checked, the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 aren't as deep into the tournament as the championship game.

Just because you are about to lose your coach doesn't mean you should take out bitterness on me.

3-30-2009 @ 5:42PM

Sully said...

There is only one perfect fit for Kentucky! Bobby Knight! End of story!

3-30-2009 @ 5:45PM

tom said...

I wouldn't be surprised if that recruiting class disappeared once Calipari does. Have fun watching your team wither into irrelevancy, mdkin.

3-30-2009 @ 5:53PM

OrangeChuckE said...

Matt,
How does it feel to be refered to as,"the dude that wrote this article is a complete idiot" knowing the person with the blinders on was the one who made the comment? Matt reported on a story and if you can't handle that, go back to your ribs and enjoy the view of waving at Coach C on his way out because trust me, the people at Kentucky can and will offer enough that Memphis can't match.

3-30-2009 @ 6:10PM

Haha, OC ... it's cool. All part of the job.

3-31-2009 @ 8:58AM

jcsgroove said...

I'm not taking anything out on you bro but didn't Memphis make it to the championship game last year? Just asking...I'm a die-hard Memphis fan and even though they do happen to play in a poor league,they were headed to becoming a top program in spite of.

This year was supposed to be a rebuilding year and they still made it to the Sweet 16.If Cal stays,which he probably won't,they're a definite top 5 team with the new class,provided that Evans and Taggart stays along with team chemistry.

I know it's the popular thing to write about the more storied programs but their resume speaks for itself as far as how competitive they were outside of C-USA.

Have a good one.

3-30-2009 @ 6:31PM

vinny said...

Just wanted to point out that despite the national media praise of the Gillispie hiring at UK, Kentucky fans were never on the bandwagon. Any excitement over his hire was on a minute scale and was primarily superficial. I don't know what UK fans saw or didn't see that made them feel this way, but they had Billy Gillispie sniffed out. Oh, and there was no, "Thank God. We've got a white coach again!" As for John Calipari, there is a huge amount of enthusiasm in the UK fanbase for his hiring. If he comes to UK, imagine the recruiting and on-court wars between him and Pitino. Awesome!

3-30-2009 @ 6:38PM

The idea of being battle tested is overrated!!! If you have elite talent,you can still do damage in the tournament! Last year's team was no fluke,they would've competed and definitely could've won any of the "power conference" titles.

People seem to forget that Louisville was once in the C-USA and that UNLV was in a weak league and won the NCAA Championship and made it back to the Finals the following year!

If you got the horses,you can win!!

Of course as a die-hard Memphis fan and alum,I hate to see Cal go.I think most elite coaches are just big egos that need to be fed and being at Kentucky would do that for him.It a shame but that's just how it is.Memphis is not a "destination" program but it's definitely one of the best of years past regardless of how anyone tries to put them down.Everybody knows that Memphis outplayed Kansas for 37 minutes of that game and it took a helluva jumpshot to take that game away!

In spite of everything,GO TIGERS!!! We will recover!

3-30-2009 @ 11:57PM

dafandmsf said...

I really like coach cal. he may stay put, but let's face it, it is still going to be memphis.

ps: you memphis honks need a reality check

3-31-2009 @ 6:32AM

ctnance said...

John Calipari, the modern-day Moses, will lead the chosen people of Kentucky from the college basketball wilderness to the Final Four promised land.

3-31-2009 @ 9:04AM

kushner6 said...

There are a few "elite" programs in the country with storied pasts, but UK is by far the one with the biggest fan base - it is the Notre Dame of college basketball. The last time UK played in the "Great Alaskan Shootout" the announcers described it as a home game for UK - most of the fans in the stands were UK supporters. I know of no other school where its fans will spend an "unlimited" amount of money to go to some far off location to watch a 2-hour basketball game. Even schools like North Carolina and Kansas can't compete with UK for "fans in the stands."