John Calipari understands the economics of coaching at Kentucky. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Early in the second half when a 7-0 Yale scoring run put the Ivy League team on top in Rupp Arena, some might have wondered about paying a guarantee of close to $100,000 for playing this game.
Kentucky got things in hand thanks to the incredible 22-point, second-half performance by Oscar Tshiebwe and won 69-59.
“I played a bye game, Billy Tubbs was coaching. I was at UMass. I had to go down there two years in a row. The first year they won at the buzzer. He says, ‘You know what’s great, you got to come back here again next year.’ That’s what he shook my hand and said,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said after the game.
“The next year, we won at the buzzer in Oklahoma. You know what I said? ‘Where’s the check? Who do I get it from?’”
That was Calipari’s way of explaining that every team plays games like this and they do not always go exactly the way the home team hoped.
“This is all part of what you do. You understand, again, this basketball program makes money for all the other sports. So if you go on the road, you might spend $150,000. You play at home, we pay them $90,000, we make over a million. What would you do? You pay the 90 or go on the road and play?” Calipari asked.
“That’s what it is. I’m not even talking about anything outside of what this thing does. But it’s important.”
How important? Let Calipari keep explaining.
“I told you guys(in the press conference), I don’t take it lightly, that we play in the Champions (Classic), we play in the CBS (Sports Classic). Well, they pay us a lot of money to play in those events,” the UK coach said. “It’s like we’re playing at home versus going and playing three or four games and it costs this and you end up losing $3.5 million by playing those games.
“That’s part of it. You also need some of these tough games to see where your team is. This was a good game.”
And well worth a $90,000 investment to get a win and hopefully make his team better.
6 Responses
At the end of the day, it is a business. It should have been a game that does help the team develop.
Yale played a solid game. They would not go away. The only one who did not underestimate Yale was Oscar. Thank the basketball gods that this bunch of trigger happy guards got the ball to him.
You ought to get more than 60 possessions then.
That is $1,500 per possession. Perhaps we should pay these opponents on a per-possession basis, then we might get even more learning accomplished in 2 hours.
Maybe we should pay our head coach on a per-possession basis too. We might get more out of him too. We might actually get a team that scores 80+ points per game rather than having to listen to his worthless promises of that each fall.
Even with the win, I am wondering how we will fare against UCLA this Saturday? In this pre- conference period where the top teams are jockeying for position, we have lost both of our test games. It appears that Alabama, Tennessee, and Arkansas are leading the SEC charge this season in terms of playing the better teams and winning. I have a very uneasy feeling about this talented team that we have. In a season where many in BBN, including me, thought we would have a legitimate shot at No. 9, it looks like we won’t even win the SEC. How much longer do we have to suffer with Mitch Barnhardt and John Calipari?
Oh, a point of clarification. John Calipari and Mitch Barnhardt are joined at the hip. Calipari is not going anywhere until Barnhardt gets the axe first.
The word i get its not Barnhart that’s holding Cal, it’s the Alumni.
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