John Calipari: 11 Reasons Kentucky's Coach Is Great for College Basketball
Love him or hate him, it seems that everyone has an opinion on John Calipari. Some people think he is the devil in a blue UK tracksuit, and others think he is the most misunderstood man in all of sports.
The truth, as is often the case, is probably somewhere in the middle.
But it is undeniable that Calipari is an interesting character, and it is his many interesting attributes that I think makes him absolutely great for college basketball. See for yourself if you agree.
Always Good To Have a Villain
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Might as well start off with a bang, right?
But the truth is, sports are more fun when there are clear-cut good guys and bad guys. And even if you are a Calipari guy like I am, you have to admit that to most of college basketball—heck, most of the sports world—Calipari is and always will be a villain.
Whether it is his confidence/arrogance, the fact that he seems to perpetually live in the gray area of the recruiting world or the fact that people are just jealous of his success, the fact of the matter is that Calipari is the biggest bad guy in the sport. And again, whether accurate or not, it does make the sport more fun.
Conversation slowing down in the bar on a Friday night? Start talking about Calipari and watch a fight break out.
Running out of topics for your talk radio show? Bring up Calipari and watch the haters come out in full force.
Yeah, Butler was a heck of a story the last two years, but nothing turns the needle and adds excitement to a sport quite like pure hatred. And Calipari supplies that by the truckload.
Calipari Has Restored a Blue Blood Program
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Kentucky fans are surely pleased with how Calipari has brought their program back from the brink, but the rest of the college basketball world should be happy as well. Because just like the NFL is better when the Cowboys are good, college basketball is better when all of the traditional powers are at or near the top as well.
And for much of the past 20 years or so, it seems like it has been rare for almost all of the top traditional teams to be really good. But with Calipari now at Kentucky (along with the continued excellence of Coach K, Roy Williams and others) it seems that we are in the midst of a wonderful era in college basketball.
Within the last five years, Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, Kansas and UCLA have all been in the Final Four. And the sport is just more fun when these teams are good.
For starters they give fans teams to root against, which is part of the fun of being a fan. And they also draw in the casual fan, which is good for the sport. And if college basketball thrives as a whole, then that will eventually trickle down to help your school as well, even if you aren't a fan of a traditional power.
So good for Calipari and Kentucky being back on top of college basketball with the rest of the powers. It's where they should have been all along.
There Is No Such Thing as Bad Publicity
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I don't necessarily agree with the sentiment about all publicity being good, but if you do then you have to love John Calipari, because he keeps college basketball in the news almost year round.
It's no surprise that some journalists seem to absolutely hate John Calipari (see Pat Forde), but it is also true that some journalists absolutely love him (see Dick Vitale). Either way, these two opposite but equally powerful forces both always find a way to either trash or praise Calipari all year long.
There is no offseason for the Calipari watch. And if you want college basketball to get the maximum exposure that it can get, then Calipari is great for college basketball in this regard.
Be it raising money for Haiti or being accused of fixing grades and tests for players, you just can't escape John Calipari in the sports pages. And if you can't escape John Calipari, then you can't escape the man that has largely become one of the faces of the sport.
Personally, I think Calipari is great for the game and I love him keeping college basketball in the news year round. If not for him then this might be a strictly winter-to-spring sport. And that wouldn't be a good thing.
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The NCAA Probably Hates Him
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This is one of those enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend situations. And let's face it, the NCAA should be every college basketball fan's enemy.
Be it the inconsistent rulings on eligibility, the raking in of cash on their student-athletes' backs and the see-no-evil nature of their backing of terrible officiating, the NCAA is largely everything that is wrong with sports. And the NCAA seems to really hate John Calipari.
In my book, that makes him a saint by default. Plus, Calipari doesn't seem to shy away from pointing out some the NCAA's asinine stances and making them look foolish, for which we all can be grateful.
OK, maybe Calipari isn't a saint. But he also never tried to punish a guy for buying a poor kid a hamburger.
He's Not Afraid of a Little Feuding
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Not only are sports more fun when villains are around, but they are also more fun when there are rivalries and feuds. And John Calipari has never been afraid to openly feud with other coaches and programs.
As to the coaches, I think we all know about some of his best feuds. Just in the Commonwealth of Kentucky alone is his long running feud with Louisville coach Rick Pitino. It started way back in Conference USA while he was at Memphis and never really stopped. Now that Calipari is at Kentucky it has only grown.
There have also been the feuds from his days at UMass, most notably with UConn's Jim Calhoun and former Temple coach John Chaney. And while Calipari and Chaney appear to now be friends, there is still no love lost between Calhoun and Calipari.
Sure, it's somewhat silly for a grown man to have so many feuds...but it sure is entertaining.
Competition Improves Products
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Ask any economist worth his salt, and they will tell you that competition is good for markets and improves products. And sports basically applies the same principle.
With John Calipari and the way he recruits and develops teams, that is a good thing for college hoops.
For starters take a look at his recruiting. This season will be the third straight No. 1 class for Calipari, and if he keeps going at this rate, it is only a matter of time before he wins not just one, but multiple titles at Kentucky. And while that's obviously great for Kentucky, it should be a boon to other schools as well.
What coach is going to want to get left in the dust on the recruiting trail again and again. Nobody. And the only way to stop it is for other coaches to step up their games as well to match Calipari's effort.
Down at Louisville, after settling into a bit of a recruiting lull the past few years, Rick Pitino has woken up to find a monster down the road in Lexington and is now back to recruiting like he used to. And other coaches will soon follow that lead.
And as the bigger powers step up their recruiting to match Calipari's, fans should see the benefit as the bigger teams consolidate more of the superstar recruits and get better and better on the court.
He Makes You Feel Better About Your School
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So your team just lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament, and you are mad at the world. Do you blame your coach, look at how your players choked or consider the fact that your team just got beat by a better team that day?
Heck no. You take to message boards and brag that at least your guys do it the right way and don't cheat like John Calipari and Kentucky do.
Now let's see some hands, who amongst you are guilty?
You know you are, and that's part of why everyone should love Coach Cal. No matter how bad things are in your program, you can always count on the feeling of moral superiority you get from slamming Coach Cal.
Never mind the fact that he has never committed an NCAA violation himself; he has had two Final Fours vacated, so he has to be a cheat. And your school would never sink to his level or ever consider hiring him for your school to teach your beloved student athletes.
So rejoice that you don't have his stain of winning on your program. Be glad that he is out there as the example of evil in the world that you can neatly contrast with your saint of a coach, as he too follows 15-year-old boys to public urinals for "accidental" contact.
His Teams Are Fun To Watch
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This one will fit in nicely with the next slide as well, but it stands on its own. Calipari's teams are really fun to watch.
And while you may hate that if you really dislike Cal and Kentucky, for the casual fan it is great. And Calipari's teams are often one of the only teams that casual fans will be able to stomach due to their fun style of play.
Do you like free-wheeling offense and spectacular plays? Then you will like Calipari's offense.
Do you love in your face man-to-man defense? Then watch one of Calipari's teams act like a sweater on opposing teams for 40 minutes sometime.
Do you like watching guys that give 100 percent every time on the floor? You won't find a team that gives more effort than a Calipari team.
The only reason you wouldn't love to watch a Calipari team is if you dislike the coach or hate the school he is coaching. Other than that his teams play like everyone always says they want teams to play, and they usually do it better than just about everybody else.
His Teams Are Full of Future NBA Players
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And part of the reason his teams play their style better than everyone else is because he usually has more future NBA guys on his roster than everyone else. And who doesn't like watching supremely talented players play?
Again, the Butlers of the world are great stories and are great for college basketball. But if everyone was as talented as a Butler or last year's VCU, then college basketball wouldn't be nearly as popular as it is. Upsets and the little guys are OK for the tournament, but for college basketball to survive as it is today, you have to have the superstar teams to keep interest up all season long.
And nobody has teams loaded with talent quite like John Calipari.
Three straight No. 1 recruiting classes and too many first-round draft picks to count are the proof that Calipari is the master at hauling in the most talented teams in the country. And combined with their fun style of play, at times watching a Calipari team can be a breathtaking experience.
And while many hate the one-and-done player in the college game, that's the rule, so why not enjoy those guys for the one year they are around? Are any of us really worse off for having seen John Wall play in college for a year, or Kevin Durant or any number of other one-and-done guys?
Of course not. Watching future stars is fun, and Calipari just happens to have more of them than anyone else.
He Cares About His Players
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Not that he's any different than most coaches in this regard, or at least I hope not, but it should be said that if all college basketball coaches cared about their players as much as Coach Calipari did, then everyone playing the sport would be one lucky person.
Calipari has never been shy about telling his guys to leave school when it's a good decision for them, which I know not every coach does. And while some people may not like that, I think it shows incredible character to look out for their best interest instead of his own.
Also, while some see him as too lenient with players who make sometimes big mistakes, Calipari must be credited for giving his players second chances when others might not. And while I think he can be too lenient at times as well, I'd much rather have a coach take an extra chance on a guy than be a hypocrite like Bob Knight always was.
Finally, one only need to look at how much his players love him back and want to always be around him after they leave school to know what kind of an impact he truly had on their lives. No disrespect to Coach K and Duke, but it's easy to guide a kid like Grant Hill or Kyle Singler through college; they would have done that anywhere. Coach Cal takes the guys that without basketball wouldn't even be in some of the schools they are at and helps them often times become the first in their families to get degrees.
Yeah, it's corny. But it's true, and he deserves respect for that.
He's Different Than Most College Basketball Coaches
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Maybe he's better than most coaches and maybe he's not. That's up for debate.
But what can't be debated is that John Calipari is different than most coaches. From the feuds to his connections to people around basketball like World Wide Wes and to his reputation, John Calipari is just a different kind of cat than most in his profession.
He doesn't always give the politically correct answer. He's not afraid to seek the limelight or cause a controversy. And he's not afraid to call out people in the media or the NCAA.
And isn't always good to have a little variety in life? Sure he may rub a lot of people the wrong way and we might not want every coach to be like he is, but he sure does make things interesting.
And for college basketball in general, that's a good thing.
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