Love him or hate him John Calipari is a National Champion. Calipari and his Kentucky Wildcats did what the Derrick Rose led 2007-08 Memphis Tigers couldn’t and that’s dispose of Bill Self and a defensive oriented Kansas team in the NCAA title game. Led by superstar Freshman C Anthony Davis Coach Calipari was able to produce his best season yet in what has been a pretty damn good career. The Wildcats went 38-2 overall, won the SEC regular season championship, were ranked in the top 5 all year long, were named the #1 overall seed for the big dance, and ran through the tournament securing the schools 8th ever national title.
Due to his penchant for having NCAA sanctions brought down upon the programs he leaves behind John Calipari has become quite the polarizing figure in the sports world. Another reason many college basketball lovers consider him the devil is his willingness to recruit ‘one-and-done’ players without trying to deter them from entering the NBA after a single productive, sometimes unproductive, season in the collegiate game. College basketball purists like to make Coach Calipari the poster boy for the games two biggest problems: players getting ‘illegal’ benefits and players using college basketball as a one year stop gap between high school and the NBA. Personally, I have no problems with the guy and think that he’s been one of the best 3 or 4 coaches in the country the past 5 or 6 years. Over that time span he’s been rubbing elbows with some elite company in Coach K, Roy Williams, Bill Self, and Jim Boeheim.
Calipari has solidified himself in my mind as the ultimate players coach who gets the best out of his team day in and day out. He’s also one of the top attractors of elite talent in the country year in and year out. A look at Calipari’s coaching resume proves how good he is at turning programs around and taking them directly to the top. Coach Cal has 8 30-win (8!) seasons and 3 National Coach of the Year awards. Before leading prodigal son Kentucky to back-to-back Final Four appearances Calipari had taken relative lightweights UMass, alma mater shout out, and Memphis, formerly Memphis State, to Final Four appearances. Calipari is one of only two coaches to take 3 different universities to the Final Four and he stands alone as the only coach to ever lead three different schools to #1 seeds in the NCAA tournament. Yes the NCAA has officially vacated UMass’ 1996 Final Four appearance, the banner still hangs proudly in the Mullins Center though, and Memphis’ 2008 title game run there’s no denying the talent Calipari assembled on those teams and how effective he was at getting that talent to perform night in and night out. Personally Calipari has never been linked to a NCAA violation though that doesn’t stop the court of public opinion from deeming him a cheater. As the figurehead of a division 1 program however I do think he shares some of the blame for all that has happened and the sanctions that have been levied against the institutions he's left behind, Memphis and UMass. If you're going to be the face of a program it is imperative that you be aware of EVERY LITTLE DETAIL going on around you. On the court however the man is a winner and master recruiter.
At UMass Calipari pulled the basketball team from the drudges of the A-10 and placed them back in the national eye. He was able to lead the Minutemen to 5 consecutive A-10 titles and NCAA tournament appearances while also watching them garner number one overall rankings for extended periods of time. Calipari made UMass respectable again over an 8-year period amassing a 193-71 record and being named A-10 coach of the year 3 times and National Coach of the Year in 1996 when the Minutemen were the number one overall seed in the NCAA tournament and advanced to the Final Four. The man showed up on the scene in a big way.
Another knock against Calipari is his brief stint in the NBA running the New Jersey Nets. In his 2 ½ years as head coach of the Nets, Calipari actually wasn’t that horrible having one poor season and then leading the team to 43 wins and the playoffs the next. He was fired 18 games into his 3rd season after starting 3-15 and really it was the best thing that could have ever happened to him because it allowed him to adhere to his true calling and head back to the collegiate ranks at the University of Memphis. There all Calipari did was take a floundering Conference USA team and turn them into a national powerhouse by recruiting the top classes in the country and popularizing the dribble drive attack. Calipari is a master at making basketball fun for the 18-22 year old kids he’s coaching and because of that he’s become an amazing attraction for whatever school he happens to be leading. At UMass he was able to land #1 recruit Marcus Camby, at Memphis he snagged Derrick Rose among numerous others, and at Kentucky there’s Anthony Davis. I’ll say it again the man can flat out coach collegiate basketball.
I know that a lot of people are turned off by Coach Cal’s willingness to recruit guys he knows are only using college as a stepping stone to bigger and better things but I envy him for embracing the system the way it’s set up. He isn’t cheating he isn’t exploiting the system he’s simply playing the game the right away and selling things that the recruits he goes after want to buy. Even better is that he backs up all the promises he makes to these 17 and 18 year old kids by allowing them to freelance within a dribble attack and kick offense while also harping the importance of the defensive side of the game. The man may seem arrogant and cocky but he can back it up in a big way. He recruits the top talent in the country gets them to play together as a team even if it’s for a single season, look at the way he convinced one-and-done players like Rose and Davis to play a team-oriented defensive game and be leaders on the floor, and produces big-time wins.
If John Calipari continues to win at the clip he’s currently racking em up at no one will care about his reputation while he’s being enshrined in Springfield at the Basketball Hall of Fame. Once you’re in the Hall of Fame all people care about are the numbers you put up and right now Coach Cal is putting up some of the best.
Until we cross paths again…
Geoff Jablonski
Good read here Geoff! I agree with a lot of the stuff you say here. I totally agree with the fact that he doesn't get the credit he deserves. The NBA thing should not be held against him as history has shown that generally it isn't a smooth transition for college coaches no matter who you are.
ReplyDeleteHowever, a part of me can't overlook the vacated banners at Umass and Memphis. When I evaluate Cal, I don't give him too much credit for those trips, but I also don't hold it against him as much as others. The success in my opinion is cancelled out by the violations and I leave it at that. He is the BEST recruiter in the game and a very good in game coach with a national championship. I'm not ready to put him in the category of Coach K and Roy and whatnot, but a clean trip to the Final Four or beyond would help his cause.
Again, very respectable, well-written piece Geoff
Thank Mike appreciate the feedback! As a UMass alum I have my partial biased towards Coach Cal due to the level he brought basketball to while he was there haha I don't think he's fully entrenched on the same level as Coach K and Roy yet but if he continues to win, and doesn't find Kentucky somehow broiled in controversy as has happened at his previous stops, I think he can get up there. That's prob another 10 years or so and another national championship down the road however. I didn't put it in the article, maybe I'll quickly add this, but I do believe as figurehead of the program he runs he deserves some of the blame for the sanctions that have been brought down upon the institutions. As head coach of a major D1 program you have to be aware of EVERYTHING going on around you.
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