Entries from August 2009 ↓

Kentucky Coach John Calipari kicked off — or should we say tipped off? — a 13-city, 14-day tour to promote his new book on Saturday.

The book, Bounce Back, chronicles his advice and his encouraging words for people who face adversity in life. Calipari signed books at the UK Student Center and Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington on Saturday.

Here’s the rest of the tour:

Monday, Aug. 31 — Lexington — Barnes and Nobles, 7-9 p.m.

Tuesday, Sept. 1 — Crestview Hills — Borders, 11-1 p.m.

Tuesday, Sept. 1 — Louisville — Borders, 5-7 p.m.

Wednesday, Sept. 2 — Owensboro — Books a Million, 11-1 p.m.

Wednesday, Sept. 2 — Bowling Green — Barnes and Nobles, 5-7 p.m.

Thursday, Sept. 3 — Pikeville — Eastern Kentucky Expo Center, 11-1 p.m.

Thursday, Sept. 3 — Ashland — Kroger’s, 5-7 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 4 — Radcliff — The Book Store, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 5 — Cincinnati — Joseph-Beth Booksellers, about 4 p.m. (or after the UK football game)

Sunday, Sept. 6 — Versailles — Kroger’s, 4-6 p.m.

Monday, Sept. 7 — Paducah — details to be announced.

Wednesday-Thursday, Sept. 9-10 — New York City

Friday, Sept. 11 — Boston

During a Saturday appearance to promote his new book, Bounce Back, Kentucky Coach John Calipari mused about fate and how fickle it can be.

He noted how a friend, Jude Thompson, fretted after losing a job at Blue Cross/Blue Shield. The friend had never failed. Then suddenly, he was unemployed.

The friend became an executive with Papa John’s pizza. That caused Calipari to say, “Would you want to be in health care right now?”

The UK coach also seemed to question the wisdom of “what government’s going to do.” Apparently, Calipari is no supporter of health care reform.

Calipari also suggested fate played a part in his arrival at UK. Instead of having to replace Tubby Smith, a coach who averaged 26 victories a season and a devoted group of fans, he got to replace the fired — and unlamented — Billy Gillispie.

Of the theoretical possibility of replacing Smith, Calipari said, “Part of this community I would have never won over. Ever!”

Calipari wondered aloud of why fate placed him at UK in 2009.

“I have no idea,” he said. “It might not be to win national championships.

“But 20 years from now, we all will look back and say, well, this was what he was able to do or touch or be involved in. None of us knows yet.

“Now, all I know is they hired me to win ballgames, graduate these kids and do it right. To make this university and this state proud.”

During an appearance Saturday at the UK Student Center, John Calipari spoke of his happiness in the new job. His family had settled in and come to enjoy life in Lexington. His wife would join him in promoting children’s issues.

UK had “Disney World facilities” to help do the job.

Calipari also noted how being at Kentucky frees the coach to concentrate on basketball.

“I don’t have to call to raise money for a weight room,” he said. “I do what I’m supposed to do. When they need me, they call.

“I don’t have to call to sell tickets. That’s going to be a first for me. I don’t have to make literally 25 calls (to say) ‘Will you please buy 200 tickets up top so we can give (the seats) to charity.”

No doubt, new Kentucky Coach John Calipari would like a wide audience for his new book, Bounce Back.

But he said he insisted a tour to promote the book begin in Knetucky. His publisher, Free Press, had other ideas.

“They wanted the first week in New York,” Calipari said on Saturday.

When Calipari noted that Kentuckians deserved the debut week, the publishing people tried to insist. “You have to go to New York,” Calipari said of their reply.

Calipari won. The tour began on Saturday morning at the UK Student Center.

New UK Coach John Calipari has come a long way since his first visit to Rupp Arena. That came in 1985 when he attended the Final Four.

His seat location befitted a novice coach beginning his career at Kansas.

“I was nothing,” he said on Saturday after an appearance at UK’s Student Center. He sat two rows from the top of the upper arena.

When led to his seat, the young Calipari had a question for the usher.

“I was, like, these are bleacher seats. How do you know which is yours.”

To which the usher told those already seated to pull in their knees as Calipari moved down the row.

The memory made Calipari recall that his grandfather immigrated from Italy and worked in the coal mines of West Virginia. His parents’ education ended with high school diplomas.

“And I’m coaching at Kentucky,” Calipari told the crowd. “Are you crazy? That would never happen.”

But it did.

At another juncture of his talk, Calipari tried to dampen the expectation of him as a savior. This fit the theme of his new book, Bounce Back, which advises readers on how to deal with adversity.

“Your coach makes mistakes, too,” he said. “Your coach sins, too. I’m a normal human being. Don’t think I’m going to walk on water.”

Not that it’s any scoop, but John Calipari acknowledges by word and deed that being Kentucky coach has a public component.

His predecessor, Billy Gillispie, recoiled from the suggestion that being UK coach required a person willing to be a “celebrity.” Perhaps it was the word “celebrity” that ruffled Gillispie’s feathers.

But Calipari seems well suited for being a man of the people while also coaching UK’s (and Kentucky’s) signature team.

Calipari’s many travels and public appearances prove his willingness to be a public figure. He re-emphasized the point on Saturday during an appearance at the UK Student Center to promote his new book, Bounce Back.

“We’re all temporary in that seat,” he said of being UK coach. “Part of the job is to reach out to the community, let them touch you, let them see you. Because it’s the Commonwealth’s team.”

Calipari said he sensed a responsibility “not to cheat” the fans nor the job by withdrawing form the public.

“I like all the other stuff,” he said. “You have to enjoy it. You’ve got to shake the hands. You have to enjoy the interaction, and I do. But I love coaching the team.”

Jim Fannin, a self-styled “life coach” who has counseled many major league baseball players, called Rick Pitino’s decision to call a news conference Thursday a “very poor move.”

Such news conferences only draw more attention to an issue Pitino no doubt wishes had never occurred. At the news conference, Pitino angrily chided reporters after excerpts of police interviews with Karen Sypher were aired on Louisville television stations.

“Less is more,” said Fannin, who advised Pitino to ignore media reports. “You let police deal with it.”

In the tapes, Sypher accused Pitino of rape and making payoffs to keep her quiet. Written transcripts of the tapes were made public earlier this month.

Pitino said stories in various newspapers and on television about his encounter with Sypher were “100 percent a lie … except what I told you.”

“When you lash the media, you’re saying you’re bigger than the media,” Fannin said.

Fannin, who grew up in Ashland, has counseled such major league baseball players as Carlos Delgado, Casey Blake and Frank Thomas. He speculated that a sporting impulse might have led Pitino to call the news conference.

“As Pitino knows, if you have a problem with defense, you go on the offense,” Fannin said. “I’m going to attack you so you can’t get to my flaws. It’s a classic mechanism in sports.”

Eloy Vargas, a big man who played sparingly for Florida as a freshman last season, tweeted Friday that he would be making a recruiting visit to Kentucky this weekend.

Recruiting analyst Evan Daniels of Scout.com first noted the tweet on his website.

“Will be taking a visit to Kentucky Wildcats this weekend,” Vargas tweeted.

Vargas, a native of the Dominican Republic, averaged only 0.6 points and 0.7 rebounds as a freshman for Florida. An ankle injury limited him to nine games.

The Gainesville Sun has reported that Vargas had academic problems that might jeopardize his eligibility.

“I’m not at liberty to say much at all about him right now,” Florida Coach Billy Donovan told the Gainesville Sun recently. “But I think there might be a time I can come out and say something.”

Scouthoop.com rated Vargas at No. 33 in the high school class of 2008.

Meanwhile, Daniels reported that Marquis Teague, a top 10 prospect in the high school class of 2011, would be visiting UK on Saturday. Teague, who is from Indianapolis, is the younger brother of former Wake Forest standout Jeff Teague.

Earlier this summer, Teague listed Louisville, Illinois, Wake Forest, Ohio State and Purdue as his top five choices. But he said he would put Kentucky in his top five if UK offered a scholarship.

During the hour-long television program devoted to Kentucky’s 2009-10 schedule, new coach John Calipari kept going back to one thought: Fans should have fun and not dwell on any setbacks this coming season.

Perhaps someone told Calipari about UK’s demanding fans, who booed the home team in Rupp Arena more than once last season. Maybe most memorably, the fans booed a Rick Pitino-coached UK team that eventually beat Mississippi State by 29 points.

“Enjoy the path,” Calipari said near the end of the show. “I’m going to have fun. If you want to be miserable, don’t come around me.”

Calipari seemed to slyly make the same point with a tongue-in-cheek response to a question about what he thought the Cats could do this season. Calipari “predicted” a 40-0 record with no margin of victory smaller than 25 points.

Highlights (or lowlights) of the show, which appeared on the Big Blue Sports Network (WKYT-TV, channel 27 in Lexington), included:

– Usually exuberant, Calipari seemed oddly subdued.

– Odder still, Calipari was not on the same set with the four co-hosts. He was in the Craft Center while the hosts were in a television studio.

– Calipari said UK will play in such places as Cincinnati, Louisville and Nashville.
“And I’d like to go to Atlanta and St. Louis to really spread the wings of this program.”

– Calipari on the North Carolina game:
“Roy (Williams), I love. He says I’m not afraid of Kentucky. Bring it.
“It’s an exciting series. We want to continue that series.”

– Calipari on being a favorite in SEC East:
“Everybody seemed to have players put their names in the draft and come back. Except us.”
He lauded Tennessee, South Carolina and Vandy having veteran players.

Here’s all the SEC games that ESPN will televise in the 2009-10 season: