Mark Stoops said he had to respond to what John Calipari said to defend his players. (UK Athletics Photo)
Anyone who thought Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops might walk back his social media posts after UK basketball coach John Calipari said Thursday that UK was a “basketball school” had to be dreaming.
Stoops fired back on social media that UK played football in the SEC, the best conference in the nation, and had won four straight postseason games — an obvious shot at UK basketball which did not win a postseason game the last two years.
Saturday Stoops had a regularly scheduled press conference after his team’s scrimmage but didn’t take back anything he posted.
“When you start talking about my program and others that we compete against — me, I don’t do that,” Stoops said in reference to Calipari calling SEC rivals Alabama and Georgia both football schools. “I stay in my lane. So that’s in defense of my players, in defense of the work that we’ve done. And believe me, we want to continue to push.”
“But don’t demean or distract from the hard work and the dedication and the commitment that people have done to get to this point. I don’t need to apologize for that, and I won’t.”
He shouldn’t have to. If Stoops had not responded to what Calipari said, how could he have maintained the respect of his players or UK football fans. If he went along with Calipari’s “hope” that UK might win 10 games, then there would go any hope of ever winning a SEC championship.
“We all know this program wasn’t born on third base,” Stoops said. “Some may, but I can promise you this football team didn’t wake up on third base.”
Boom! Sure Calipari took over a downtrodden program that Billy Gillispie nearly ruined, but he took over a program Calipari himself calls the “gold standard” of college basketball. Stoops did not have that luxury when he took over from Joker Phillips and anyone who thinks a football roster can be built quickly in the SEC just does not know football.
“Did a lot of work. We did a lot of work. The commitment from the Joe Crafts and so many different people, Mitch (Barnhart) and Dr. (Eli) Capilouto, so many people have done so much that you have to have the respect and appreciation for it,” Stoops said.
He wasn’t done.
“We understand history,” he said. “That’s great. I embrace it and love it, the history of our basketball. I’m proud of it. I love it. I didn’t have that history. We’re creating it.”
He has two 10-win seasons in the last four years and four straight bowl wins — not bad for a team that had not won more than eight games in a season since 1984. No, that’s not a national championship like Calipari won in 2012 but UK has sold almost 44,000 football season tickets and football revenue exceeds basketball revenue every year at Kentucky.
Calipari tweeted after Stoops’ press conference that he tried to call the football coach Thursday. Stoops didn’t elaborate other than to say he had not spoken to Calipari. Not sure if he just ignored the call or didn’t get it or what.
“I’m done. I’ve addressed it. I will defend my players,” Stoops said when asked about not talking to Calipari yet.
“I was told about comments Mark Stoops made in his press conference,” Calipari tweeted. “I reached out to Mark Thursday & will try again. Comparing our athletic dept. to others was my bad. I have supported Mark & the football team through good and bad. I will continue to support them & cheer them on.”
Maybe that will appease Stoops and his staff, but don’t count on it. Stoops may forgive Calipari’s comments but he won’t forget what message that was sent nationally about UK football and how Calipari’s comments about the football program has been read, heard or seen nationally for 48 hours.
But Stoops is back to business for his team’s opener on Sept. 3 against Miami (Ohio).
“We’re not concerned,” he said. “I’m not concerned with anybody outside of our building. At all. And I say that with no disrespect at all. I work hard — we work hard — to make our fans proud.”
4 Responses
Stand your ground Coach!
Great Job!!
UK! The everything school!
Stoopstroops! #BBN
A good article. It is time to move past this! Cal should not have publically vented any of his frustrations towards Mitch, which is the real story, not BB vs FB! Unfortunately Stoops to his surprise was pulled into this, and without question he responded really well! Cal then made it clear that he should not have compared UK sports departments, and it was "his bad". Without question Cal and Stoops have performed at a high level and historically supported each other, and they will do so going forward! Stoops will continue to grind away at building a serious FB power in the toughest football conference, and Cal is obviously fired up and will proceed to compete at a high national level and eventually retire on top! Now Cal and Mitch, that battle has existed I would suspect since before Cal was hired. IMO, Cal wanted the job, was the clear best hire, yet Mitch hired Billy G. Mitch horribly blew that hire and internal pressures I would bet forced him to hire Cal. Whether it goes back that far or not, there has been friction there for years, it will now move back behind closed doors.
Guess Calipari never heard of Bear Bryant.
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