Coach Calipari
Can someone tell me how many coaches in Division I history have been stripped of 2 final four appearances?
Can someone tell me how that coach was given arguably the best job in Division I basketball?
Let me answer my own questions:
Coach Calipari is the only coach to be stripped of 2 final four appearances after his team was stripped of their 38 win season when Derrick Rose ‘allegedly’ had someone else take his entrance exam for him. The other team was UMass when players were given extra benefits but Coach Cal was long gone by then bombing in New Jersey as a pro coach. Seems those guys were already paid to play there.
Coach Cal is a proven winner on the collegiate level who gets great kids to play for him. He is full of charisma and has always got great players where he coaches. At UMASS he had Marcus Camby and a slew of talent that the school hasn’t seen since. At Memphis he got whoever he wanted there and won at a school that hadn’t won in a while and played in a horribly weak conference. Sound familiar? I’m not saying he cheated and wont’ say that. I’ve been part of numerous allegations against my own character when I don’t believe it was warranted so I won’t say players were paid to get there. I’m just saying that Coach Cal succeeds where others haven’t. By getting the Kentucky job he just made that program one of the most targeted schools in the country again. They are back on the map and that is what Kentucky has to have. Coach Cal will win there and he has to win there. He already has a top recruiting class and that won’t change. Now we will see if the guy can actually coach instead of just relying on talent to win.
The last thing I want to have this be like the steroid era in baseball where we were all so enamored with what was going on that we didn’t see what was happening. I don’t want to be that way with Coach Cal but I’m started to lean toward something being fishy. I’m not accusing at all but I’m also not looking at the situation with rose colored glasses. When two programs that you were over have had their final 4 appearances wiped off the records then that warrants special attention. I can’t hide that fact. But I also can’t hide the fact that Kentucky has to win so they hired him and they know exactly what they are getting.
