Archive for March, 2009

Both WHAS and Memphis Rivals are reporting that Calipari has chosen to become the next UK coach.

http://www.whas11.com/

http://memphis.rivals.com/

Marc Maggard from True Blue Kentucky is reporting that it is official that Calipari has resigned from Memphis and will be the next UK coach.  There are reports that there will be a press conference sometime this afternoon anouncing his resignation.  His players do believe that he is gone and the meeting with Memphis officials has already taken place.  5:00 Eastern/4:oo Central Time today Calipari is having a press conference today.

Some up to date notes:

According to John Clay, there is a meeting for the UK players at 4:30.  Calipari is supposed to meet with the Boosters at Memphis at 4:30 Central Time.  There are also rumors that Memphis is seeking permission to speak with Missouri Coach Mike Anderson, this according to the Memphis newspaper.

There are some huge numbers being discussed in the Calipari deal.  The numbers that I have heard are between 3.4 million a year and 6 million a year, these numbers are just what I have heard from two very reliable sources.  I have no indication from anyone that these numbers being discussed are correct.
It has been confirmed by several sources that Calipari did in fact meet with UK Officials on Sunday and he has met with his players already today. He is also expected to meet with Memphis Officials sometime today.  There are also reports that Calipari has met with the Memphis team and has left them with the impression that he will accepting the UK job.  UK Officials have received information from the Memphis Athletic Director to speak with Calipari.
From the information that I have received in the last few days, UK can expect to have John Calipari named as Kentucky’s new basketball early this week sometime.
For anyone who has questioned whether or not UK is still a top notch program, I think that question has been answered by the amount of press that we are getting.  The Elite 8 finished up yesterday and we are heading towards the Final Four, and yet UK’s coaching position is at the top of the headlines.
This is shaping up to be a very interesting and important day for the University of Kentucky.
I also have confirmed that there is a group on facebook “Bring Calipari to UK” and there are several big named players in that group(which may or may not be accurate), but I do know 100% for sure that there is a UK player as member.  This player is a key member of the team, and I know 100% for sure that it is his facebook profile, and not some acting to be him.

ESPN’s Andy Katz is reporting there is a mega deal on the table for Calipari to come to UK.

Eric Sorenson

ESPN and CBS are both reporting that Calipari and the University of Kentucky have mutual interest in each other.  This should be interesting to see what materializes throughout the rest of the day and week.  This is shaping up to be very interesting.

More to follow later today.

Last week I was told that Calipari would be UK’s second choice if Donovan was to back out.  Friday several minutes before the press conference I was told that Donovan was wavering on whether he wanted to come to UK or not and that I should expect Calipari to start to be mentioned.  The source that gave me this information did not give me any indication on how accurate this was, but he said it was definitely a possibility.

As today has moved along I am starting to see some chatter about Calipari showing interest at UK.  I will be hearing some information tomorrow that hopefully will clear all of this up a little more.  I personally hope this is true and that the folks at UK are willing to make that kind of a move, because it could have a huge immediate impact on the program.

I obviously can not leave out that this would bring the Calipari/Pitino rivalry back into play, which would also be very exciting to watch.

Jamie Squire/Getty Images

All of the above information is speculation and rumor at this point, and I hope to hear something concrete tomorrow.  If there is no news then we will just still sit and wait for something to happen.  Join the “Bring Calipari to Kentucky” group on facebook, if you would like to show your support.

There is no way I could write a post and not mention how happy I was to see Louisville lose to Michigan State today.

AP Photo/Michael Conroy

Sunday has been no disappointment for those who like rumors.  Stephen A. Smith seems to think Calipari is probable to take the job.  Matt Jones has a whole list of coaches and according to his “sources” says that Donovan should not be counted out despite his comments on Friday.  Tom Izzo obviously is being heavily considered by everyone who is trying to cover this.  Then there is Rick Pitino, who told us his opinion and has now put Travis Ford and John Pelphrey in the mix probably more so then they were before.  One thing that seems apparent is that Pitino is most likely the one guy who is not interested, despite early reports of the boosters contacting him.

The other issue with this is that it will probably come to a conclusion with UK naming its new head coach until the NCAA Tournament is over.  I believe that is also going to force other schools looking for a coach to have to wait for UK to find its next coach, but that is just an assumption.

It seems as though everyone thinks Donovan is still number 1 on UK’s list.  He is a great coach, but he does not seem to know whether he wants to be at Florida or not, as we saw two years ago when he bolted for the Magic only to return.  Donovan might still be in the mix since he does have the past history of changing his mind when it comes to these things.

Calipari is the one that everyone knows coach and recruit, but he has this cloud over him from the past.  In saying that he was never found guilty of anything with NCAA.  I did read where people talk about him having players arrested at Memphis.  Do I need to bring up the arrests that happened when Tubby was at UK?  I feel that it is only fair if people want judge Calipari as a candidate.  Let me follow that by saying that I am not knocking Tubby, but lets not judge Calipari on something that our beloved Tubby had problems with as well.

Izzo seems to be the safe choice in all of this.  He has clean record and is an excellent coach who also is a proven winner.  Today we will see if he makes yet another Final Four, which I hope he does.

Rick Pitino has given his opinion on who should be considered for the UK job.  John Pelphrey and Travis Ford are mentioned as young and upcoming coaches who True UK guys.  Also mentioned in his advice for UK was Pat Riley, but his age was also mentioned.

One notable part of the advice that I noticed was he said Travis and John would be better than himself , Tom Izzo or anyone else in the nation.  How does the UK fan base react to that advice?  I personally would not be upset one bit if Pelphrey or Ford was hired, but the comments about Tom Izzo and anyone else might have rubbed some people the wrong way.

Looking at Ford and Pelphrey, I think they are both very capable coaches.  Ford does have some issues with people within the University of Kentucky and apparently left some people at EKU thinking he was arrogant and somewhat of a jerk.  I am personally a big fan of both coaches and truly appreciate what they mean to the University of Kentucky.

“Well, Kentucky’s a very unique job. I’m sure it’s very similar to Notre Dame football and Alabama football. I say this last time around, although I did speak to people there, I’m not naming the coach, and it’s none of my business, but I’ll stick my two cents in, okay? For me, last time around, Billy Gillespie is a terrific coach. I would have immediately hired either John Pelphrey and Travis Ford last time around. Here is my reason for. My first choice would have been Pat Riley. I don’t say that in jest. He would have been my first choice because he’s a Kentucky basketball player.

It’s such a unique job that you need to win over the fans. You need to win the press conference right away. The reason Pelphrey and Travis, and I don’t say this because I love both guys dearly as ex-players, I think they’re brilliant young coaches. And Jeremy Foley, the AD of Florida, called me when Billy Donovan was at Marshall. He left me and went to Marshall. And I told Billy not to take the Florida job. The program was decimated. Lon left the Final Four team. They had no players. They were going to dwell in the cellar of the Big East. I convinced Billy not to take that job. At that time he listened to me.

I got a phone call 10 minutes later after I hung up from Billy from Jeremy Foley. He said to me, Rick, I understand you’re talking Billy out of taking this job. I said, I don’t dictate what Billy does. I gave my opinion. I think your talent is not there. I think it’s going to take a long time. And I think he’s got a great future. He said, Speaking of that, let me ask you this question. In three years from now, if Billy Donovan would stay at Marshall or wherever he’s at, if I said to you in three years Billy Donovan will be one of the best young coaches in the game of college basketball, how would you answer me? I said, I agree with you 100%. He said, Okay, so why don’t I give him a seven-year contract, give him the three years, and in four years, and you call him up and tell him I’ll hire him, I’ll give him everything he needs. I’ll never forget that. I called Billy up and I said, I think you’re going to work for a great man, Billy, I’d take the job. He did. And in three years, Billy was one of the bright young stars in the game.

If you said to me right now in three years who will be one of the bright young stars in our game, I would say, without reservation at all, that John Pelphrey or Travis Ford would both be young stars in the game. On top of that, they are beloved by the Commonwealth of Kentucky and all their fans, what they call Big Blue Nation. So for anybody, it’s a big adjustment. For those guys, it’s not. Everybody looks for these marquee names, big names. I think football got really smart. Instead of looking for the marquee names, they went after guys that can really coach and really recruit. It takes a little bit of homework.

But those two guys played for me. They’re tremendous young coaches. I don’t care where they’re at, they love Oklahoma State, love Arkansas, but those two guys, you cut them open, and it spells UK. That’s what I would do. But I have no — it was a long dissertation for a very easy question. Last time around I thought that’s what they should do, because three years from now they’re going to have one of the bright young coaches in the game. Everybody loves though guys for what they represent. You could take the whole nation, myself, Tom Izzo, anybody else into the equation, those two guys would be better than all of us for the job.
That’s my two cents that lasted 20 minutes. Thank you.”

After spending most of the day listening to the UK faithfuls opinions about the press conference this morning and listening to the reactions to my post , I wanted to make some things clear.  In no way do I want people to think that I support what Gillispie has done and the comments that he has made.

First, I would never want anyone to believe that Gillispie was fired because of wins and losses.  He was fired because of his image that he made during the last half of this season.  He made some comments that were unforgivable in the eyes of most of the UK fan base as well as the administration at UK.  There are many other issues that the general public do not know about but are now being brought out for everyone to see.  These other issues have to do with the way he treated the players.  I personally do not know how he lasted this long if these things are true, and they certainly will come back to haunt him.  We have seen similar issues when Bobby Knight was at IU, but he was Bobby Knight and times are much different now then they were then.  The things coaches could do 15 to 20 years ago would never be acceptable today.  In saying that, I am not condoning anything unacceptable that went on between Gillispie and the players.

Second, I do not think that he really wanted to touch on the heart of the subject and focused on wins and losses.  However, I did not think he was asking for pity or trying to trick the UK fan base as some have said.  He obviously needs to do all he can to clean up his image, which is now tainted in the eyes of the National Media and especially in the eyes of the UK fans.  Billy did have personal objectives by holding the press conference and he had every right to do so.

Third, and last, whether or not he was doing all of this for the right or wrong reasons, he is no longer the coach of UK.  We as UK fans can now put this to rest and look forward to brighter days.  I do agree that fans have the right to be disappointed and even mad at Gillispie.  I personally I am very disappointed at his behavior this season and hope that he can clean up his act before coaching anywhere else.  Hopefully our next coach will be a man that can lead UK back to the top and do so with the understanding that UK is not just another program.