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Those hoping Kentucky coach John Calipari might be running out of energy to continue what he’s doing probably need to pay attention to what he said on “The Dan Patrick Show” Thursday on national radio.
Patrick wondered if Calipari thought of leaving UK after the 9-16 season three years ago and the coach quickly told him no before making it clear he’s still not in any hurry to give up his UK job. Remember he signed a 10-year contract extension in 2019 that pays him almost $9 million annually.
“I’ve got six years on the contract,” Calipari said about his contract. “And I’m saying, ‘All right, let’s make this run. And let’s do some things and get this back where we were.’”
Calipari won a national title in 2012 at UK and took teams to the Final Four in 2011, 2014 and 2015 also. However, he has just one NCAA Tournament win in the last three seasons and no Final Four berths since 2015.
He has the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class joining his program and is still waiting word on what two-time All-American center Oscar Tshiebwe will do. He put his name into the NBA Draft so he could weigh his worth. He has worked out for several teams and has more workouts planned.
“My thing, right now, is to do everything I can to help Oscar get in that league,” Calipari said on the Dan Patrick Show. “Do I want to coach Oscar another year? Yes! What am I, stupid? Stupid? Yes, I want to coach him another year.
But, if I’m doing right by him, I’ve got to give him every opportunity to run this out and see exactly where he is.”
4 Responses
If this is serious rather than his usual nonsense then I will never see UK hang #9
Like I have posted here before. Calipari boasted how he threw the ball slightly behind his teammate on a fast break just so his teammate would have to throw the ball back to Calipari. Calipari is all about Calipari. Nine Million a year for six more years. He wins and we Kentucky fans for more years than Calipari has been at Kentucky have to wait again. One Championship in the years he has been at Kentucky. Now six more? Kentucky fans have been use to more National/championships than 1 every 12 years. He’s just giving us a pass that we can’t do anything else but give the ball back to him. I hope I live long enough to see him leave Kentucky and Maybe I can see some more UK National Championships before I pass away.
I remember when you first posted that Claude
This man considers his legacy is based on the NBA trail, and his comment here about getting Oscar to the league shows that is his priority. One other comment that is revealing is he wants to return the program to where it once was. This statement is a clear adminssion that he knows the program his fallen on his watch, despite all his excuses and denials that the program has not declined over the last 8 years.
Calipari was right that this program measures success by final four and championship banners hung in the rafters at Rupp, but that is not how he measures his own success, and as Claude points out, he is only interested in his own legacy, how many kids can he touch on their way to NBA wealth.
There will be no more banners hung in the rafters so long as he controls our program. Yes, OUR PROGRAM. It will never be HIS PROGRAM!!!!!
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