Entries from March 2009 ↓

Memphis Coach John Calipari left his home late Tuesday afternoon in a three-car caravan. Several news outlets reported that his ultimate destination was Lexington, Ky., to accept

Calipari was in the middle car while his wife, Ellen, and a son were in the third vehicle.

Before heading for Lexington, Calipari met with the Memphis team one more time to say goodbye, The Memphis Commercial Appeal reported.

UK is expected to announce Calipari as its new coach later Tuesday. A formal introductory news conference would be held on Wednesday.

Before announcing his decision on whether to accept Kentucky’s offer, John Calipari spoke with former UK coaches.

One of them, Eddie Sutton, said he gave Calipari a balanced appraisal. Sutton said that Calipari did not reveal his decision on the job to him.

“I told him all the good things about Kentucky,” Sutton said on Tuesday. “Kentucky has the best things (a coach) would ever want.

“Maybe there are a couple drawbacks.

“I told him it was a great place to coach till our situation occurred.”

Sutton had great success in his first three seasons, winning two Southeastern Conference championships and advancing to a NCAA Tournament region final in 1986.

The fourth season ended with accusations of NCAA rule violations and Sutton’s forced resignation.

“Most of the people there are just great basketball fans,” Sutton said he told Calipari. “There are a few who probably take it a little serious. It’s almost a religion to them.”
Sutton suggested Calipari’s family enjoyed Memphis, making a decision to leave more difficiult.

When asked about drawbacks to the Kentucky job, Sutton said, “You lose some of your privacy. It’s hard to go out and take the family to dinner without a lot of people wanting autographs. It’s something you live with.

“But it also has some real plusses. I didn’t say anything negative.”

Sutton said he had known Calipari since 1995, when their teams (Oklahoma State and UMass) played in the NCAA Tournament region finals.

ESPN commentator Dick Vitale said he’s convinced Memphis Coach John Calipari will take the Kentucky job.

“That’s the impression I have,” Vitale said on Tuesday afternoon. “My strong impression is he ultimately is coming (to Kentucky).”

When asked about the delay in making a decision public knowledge, Vitale said Calipari was “just making sure. He wants to feel 100 percent comfortable” with moving from Memphis to Kentucky.

Memphis Coach John Calipari spoke with former UK Coach Joe B. Hall on Tuesday.

“I guess he’s calling all the former coaches, just to get their feel,” Hall said.

Those former coaches include Eddie Sutton, Rick Pitino and Tubby Smith.

When asked if Calipari said he was taking the UK job, Hall said he did not have “definite” information on that.

“Just looking at it from a coaching standpoint, I know he hates to leave the players there and the friends he’s made,” Hall said. “That’s a big step.”

Hall expressed his hope that Calipari becomes Kentucky coach.

“He could do well here,” he said. “He could help the program in a positive way.”

Meanwhile, Calipari remained in his Memphis home, according to media staking out the residence.

The Memphis Commercial is reporting that John Calipari plans to decide whether to accept Kentucky’s offer to become its basketball coach sometime Tuesday afternoon.

Calipari is weighing a multi-million-dollar offer from UK. Meanwhile, Memphis has made a strong counter-proposal that would make him set for his working life and into retirement.

Calipari is believed to be indecisive and torn about the decision he must make.

Meanwhile, Kentucky remains hopeful. While waiting for Calipari’s decision, UK has a tentative plan in mind: announce Calipari’s acceptance, stage another pep rally in Memorial Coliseum on Wednesday and then have a Wednesday news conference to introduce the new coach.

One problem: Calipari has not yet accepted.

All indications suggest that John Calipari of Memphis is Kentucky’s choice to be its new basketball coach.

Memphis Athletic Director R.C. Johnson said on Monday that he had granted his counterpart at UK, Mitch  Barnhart, permission to talk to Calipari about replacing Billy Gillispie.

“However, I will tell you that we are elated with the job John has done as our head coach and we will do everything in our power to retain his services at Memphis,” Johnson said in a statement .

Potential stumbling blocks remain. No one has a source saying UK and Calipari have agreed to a salary. Memphis is paying him in excess of $3 million per year.

Another potential stumbling block is all the younger players recruited by former UK Coach Billy Gillipsie. When those players, as young as eighth grader Michael Avery, agreed to scholarship offers, it drew criticism based on whether UK might renege on the commitments. UK president Lee Todd gave assurances that those commitments would be honored.

Would Calipari be willing to take the job knowing he had to give scholarships to those players? And it’s not such a small number: Dakotah Euton, Vinny Zollo, KC Ross-Miller, Dominique Ferguson and Avery.

Todd backed off that earlier commitment on Monday. He said he would have to think about whether he’d want the new coach to honor commitments made by Gillispie.

Also unknown is Calipari’s feelings about this year’s signees: Daniel Orton, Jon Hood, G.J. Vilarino and Konner Tucker.
People with an interest in UK’s basketball search have either spoke glowingly of Calipari or acknowledged him as the leading candidate.
ESPN college basketball commentator Dick Vitale spoke enthusiastically about the prospects of Calipari becoming Kentucky’s coach.
“He would be a grand slam,” Vitale said, “an absolute grand slam. He brings the whole package, the (Rick) Pitino package.”
Under Rick Pitino in the 1990s, Kentucky enjoyed one of its finest stretches of basketball in a program used to success. The Cats went to three Final Fours in a five-year period, winning the national championship in 1996.
Former UK All-American Mike Pratt, who is assisting the school’s search for a basketball coach, emphasized last weekend that the ideal candidate would be someone who can handle all aspects of college coaching: working with players, recruiting, public relations and, in Kentucky’s case, serving as an ambassador for the program, university and Commonwealth.
After noting the success Calipari had at Massachusetts (193-71) and Memphis (252-69), Vitale marveled at the winning Calipari could do with Kentucky’s resources.
“He would be an incredible superstar,” Vitale said.

Memphis Coach John Calipari stands as the leader in speculation about candidates for the open Kentucky basketball coaching position.

And no reason has yet surfaced to suggest Calipari is not near or at the top of UK’s list.

The Memphis Commercial Appeal reported in Monday’s editions that Calipari would be open to meeting with UK officials about the job.

That followed ESPN reports of mutual interest between Kentucky and the Memphis coach.

Speculation arose that UK officials met with Calipari on Sunday. If true, the meeting came without the courtesy of asking the Memphis Athletic Director for permission. As of late Sunday night, Memphis spokesman Lamar Chance said UK had not asked for permission.

It’s impossible to say if Calipari is the leading candidate for the job. But there’s reason to think he might be.

Stephen A. Smith of ESPN has put it out there that Calipari is THE candidate on UK’s list. While that makes sense, we caution UK fans to note that Smith also “reported” that Tubby Smith was going to the Philadelphia 76ers late in Smith’s tenure as UK coach.

More importantly. Calipari fits UK’s criteria, as much as its known. UK president Lee Todd and Director of Athletics Mitch Barnhart bailed out of their joint news conference on Friday before reporters could ask exactly what they would be looking for in the next coach.

According to former UK All-American Mike Pratt, who provides commentary on radio broadcasts of games and will assist the search, Kentucky wants a coach who can handle all aspects of a high-profile coaching job: Strategy, recruiting, leadership, role model, motivator, public relations man and, in UK’s case, ambassador for the program, university and Commonwealth.

It also can be noted that friends of Calipari spread the word of his interest in the Kentucky job when it came open two years ago. So it’s easy to presume he’s still interested.

Everywhere Calipari coaches, high-profile prospects and victories are sure to follow. He led Massachusetts to the 1996 Final Four (losing to UK in the national semifinals) and Memphis to the 2008 Final Four (losing to Kansas in the championship game).

It’s no secret that there are a few skeletons in Calipari’s coaching closet. His first big star player, Marcus Camby at UMass, was found to have accepted $28,000 from sports agents while playing in college. That caused the NCAA to order UMass to forfeit victories in the 1995-96 season and return money earned from participation in the 1996 NCAA Tournament.

Then there’s William “Worldwide Wes” Wesley, godfather of Calipari’s first star recruit for Memphis, DaJuan Wagner.

Wesley has also gotten at least partial credit for Memphis recruiting Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans. His association with Calipari has raised eyebrows.

When asked about Calipari, people interested in Kentucky’s search quickly defended him rather than express concern about the skeletons. That suggested UK looks favorably upon Calipari as a candidate to replace the fired Billy Gillispie.

Like air rushing to fill a vacuum, names are being bandied about now that Kentucky officially has a opening for men’s basketball coach.

Florida Coach Billy Donovan seemingly took his name out of consideration when UF issued a statement on Friday, the same day UK fired Billy Gillispie. Donovan said he was committed to returning the Gators to the national elite.

Villanova Coach Jay Wright, a Philadelphia native, seems to take himself out of consideration. In a New York Times column by Harvey Araton, Wright said that any coach would be flattered by being linked to a job like Kentucky’s.

“You’re crazy if you don’t say that or you’re not being truthful,” Wright said. “But I don’t want my name mentioned anywhere. I love Villanova.”

Later in Araton’s column, Wright went even further.

“I’ve got a great athletic director (and) great president,” he said. “As long as those guys are there, I’m good.”

That fits with the feeling I got two years ago when Wright’s name got mentioned for the Kentucky job. The word then was that Wright and his wife had strong ties to Philadelphia and/or Villanova and would not be interested in leaving.

As for names that get mentioned, the ones I’d give credibility to include:

– Thad Matta, Ohio State. Proven recruiter and winner.

– Tom Izzo, Michigan State. Ditto (even more so, including a national championship).

– John Calipari, Memphis. Ditto (even more so as a recruiting, only fate as denied him a national championship).

On the second tier I’d put the Kentuckians, Travis Ford of Oklahoma State and John Pelphrey of Arkansas.

As an aside, I’ve been puzzled by the lack of buzz about Sean Miller of Xavier.

It must be acknowledged that rumors abound that contradict any assessment.

From what I’ve gathered, UK wants a thoughtful, thorough process. If that, that would blow away speculation of a done deal.

Hyper speculation that Donovan being introduced Friday. Of course, that was wrong. You also heard of Ford being lined up. The guess here is that would be premature, at best.

UK released a few quotations from Coach Billy Gillispie about Notre Dame. The Cats play at Notre Dame on Wednesday night in the quarter-finals of the NIT.

Here are the quotes:

On Notre Dame…
“They’re an outstanding team. I think somebody said they’ve played all four number one seeds in the NCAA Tournament, six games against the number one seeds. You look at their record and say, ‘Wow, they’ve lost 14 games.’ Then you start looking at the teams they’ve lost to and they’re all great teams. They’re a fantastic team, a very well coached team with one of the very best players in college basketball. They do a good job of surrounding (Luke) Harangody. They’re a sound defensive team and they’ve got home-court advantage.”

On Luke Harangody …
“He’s as good of a low post player as we’ve seen all year and as good of a low post player as I’ve seen in a long time. They surround him with four guys that can really shoot the basketball, so it makes it hard to help on him.”

On the quick turnaround between games …
“We’re looking forward to playing another game. We had a great win against Creighton on the road. It was a hard fought victory. It is a short turnaround, but our guys will be ready to play, it should be a lot of fun. When you talk about Notre Dame, whether you talk about football, basketball, baseball, tennis, golf, whatever, it’s one of the most traditionally renowned schools. It’s a school with a tremendous tradition and a great deal of exposure. They have a great basketball program and we look forward to coming in and playing them.”

The tornado that hit the SEC Tournament last year seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Until Monday in Omaha.

As Kentucky and Creighton warm up for the second-round NIT game, word is a tornado has been spotted 10 miles. Fans have been asked to enter the Qwest Center Omaha, which, thankfully, looks sturdy.

Hopefully no updates will be needed. Actually, minutes before tipoff I hear that a tornado came within 60 miles of Omaha, but the city will not be hit.

Kentucky plans to return to Lexington tonight only if the game is lost. If UK wins, the plan is to stay overnight and then fly to Notre Dame for Wednesday’s quarter-final game.

Meanwhile, just in case, I’m tapping my ruby slippers together and saying, “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home . . . “