Orlando Antigua (Illinois Athletics Photo)
Orlando Antigua believes his time as a head coach at South Florida and assistant coach at Illinois made him a “more seasoned” coach than he was before and that’s why he thinks he’s a better coach now than when he was on the Kentucky coaching staff before. However, the new UK assistant coach likes that UK has not changed despite last season’s 9-16 record.
“Kentucky is the same. We were recruiting some kid (at Illinois) that wound up choosing Kentucky and you understand. Cal is Cal. He’s a Hall of Fame coach, he’s had tremendous success here,” Antigua said.
“Last year was a year not many people were happy about but it was a freak year. Happy to be back here now and ready to get going for next year.”
Antigua knows John Calipari feels the same way.
“There’s not going to be a whole lot of talking. It’s going to be a whole lot of working,” Antigua said.
Antigua was the young guy on the UK coaching staff when he was here before. Now he’ll get to mentor assistant Jai Lucas as well as assistant Chin Coleman, who was with Antigua at Illinois. He says John Robic and Bruiser Flint may not be on the road recruiting and doing some things but they will also have a big part in helping Lucas and Coleman.
“Jai and Chin may be new in terms of working with Cal, but those are guys that have always been around and had a relationship with Cal prior to,” Antigua said. “I know how hard they work, know the type of people they are.
“This is a great staff and we’re going to get after it. Not to say the guys that were here weren’t. They were. We’re looking to do great things again.”
